“….and justice for all.”
Luke 4:14-21

Do you know the sort of hush that comes upon a room when a significant speaker steps to the podium? While the average person may feel uncomfortable with the undivided attention the seasoned speaker knows how to use the first moment or two to intimately connect with his or her listeners. There is dynamism in those brief and silent moments. The people gathered in the synagogue in Nazareth that day quite likely felt an experience just that. Little did they know however that they were really sitting in the presence of God. That’s quite a thought – isn’t it? They see a man who looks like most of them – in fact quite like most of them since this being a synagogue those in attendance – at least in the front rows – would have been men – just like Jesus. In fact they were familiar with him – most had watched him grow up in the same neighborhood as they did or perhaps they were even closer – playmates perhaps – perhaps in that same courtyard outside the synagogue. They look and study him in the rich moment of anticipation and wonder. They wonder what he’ll say – does he have anything to say – will he sound as foolish as they know they might – if they were rising to speak?
While the words spoken are the same for everyone in attendance – each hears them with their own set of ears through the filters of their particular experiences. I spent a little time this week considering the variety of ways these words might have been heard.
At the most basic – unfiltered level – what some heard was a scripture reading – old familiar words of a familiar prophet. Isaiah was one of the favorites of the Rabbis. His prophecies of all the world gathering in a peaceable kingdom – gathering on God’s holy mountain – being a light to the nations – God sending a suffering servant messiah. Israel’s faith is woven from the fabric of his words. These words – which Jesus reads are from what we call Isaiah 61 – a prophecy of justice. The justice however is what is promised to Israel. The context is found in the return from a devastating national exile. The promise is that their imprisonment and their suffering – the exploitation they experienced - these are the things which shall find justice – they will be the captives who find release. This is national rhetoric if you will – it was the rallying cry of the oppressed as much as our national pledge came out of our struggle for freedom. We say …and justice for all and we mean first of all – justice for ourselves and for those who live in our national bounds – then perhaps our thoughts move outward even further. The same would have held true for the people listening to Jesus in the synagogue. These were their words of liberation and justice. And if Jesus would have stopped there everyone would have gone home as please as could be with their hometown boy.
Jesus finishes his reading from the sacred scroll – rolls it reverently back up and ceremoniously hands it to the attendant. Then in another of those pregnant pauses he sits and – then – while all eyes are on him and minds are playing back the scene - in anything but an after thought – he adds these words: Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.
Everyone does a mental double take. Some who have been listening figure he means it like most of the other preachers they have heard read this text and relegate it to the expected – just church words is all – nothing to them – there never is. It’s not much different if he had just read a poem or some other prose – meant to lift one’s spirits – perhaps sprinkle a little beauty but nothing much is meant by it.
Others think a bit more deeply and see it as something akin to nationalistic rhetoric. Yes… they think to themselves – the promises to exiled Israel will be true for us. Our day is coming – right on Jesus. That’s our boy – Joseph’s boy – he knows – he’s one of us.
Still others – I imagine – pause in their assessment a little longer – take a critical moment before deciding to nod their heads. Did he say; in your hearing? That might mean something quite different – could it be that Joseph’s son figures that the promises to Israel come though him? They move to the edge of their seats – turn a careful ear to see if he might say something more.
One last group listening – probably in the back of the room or listening in the women’s gallery – or perhaps from open windows – these are the disposed and marginalized ones. These are the ones who because of social standing, and gender and economic position hear these words of hope and promise for what they truly are – or what they at least desperately hope they are – words of a purer justice. Like the African American chant of our generation hope simmers in their heads as they hear these words and the refrain echoes in their hearts we’re gonna be..free at last … free at last. They also move to the edge of their seats and around windowsills and pillars – they are eager to hear more – and how this will come true.
At this point most everyone is pretty pleasant – polite words about the home town boy. Some issue somewhat typical back handed comments – to the effect of; so this is what Joseph’s boy has been up to not wanting to give too much praise. The mood in general is mild amazement – as if everyone has figured something more has just happened but they have no idea what.
It’s too bad that we don’t usually read further into this story – most lectionaries leave it here and allow it to remain pleasant church words.
But let’s venture out a little further this morning and explore where Jesus was taking them and takes us. I figure Jesus baits them on a bit – he hears their back handed compliments and their naive assessments and decides the lesson isn’t quite done. Let me read the next part for you: 23He said to them, ‘
Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, “Doctor, cure yourself!” And you will say, “Do here also in your home town the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.” ’ 24And he said, ‘Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s home town. 25But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up for three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; 26yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. 27There were also many lepers* in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.’
Now remember what I said at the beginning about the origins of these words – how they were from the prophet Isaiah after the exile in Babylon – that they were words of hope and restoration for Israel. What Jesus has just done here is to remind them of what they don’t want to remember – that God’s gracious justice is for all… for everyone. The widow of Zarapath – Naanman the Syrian – neither of these belonged to the Jews – they were the outsiders – and both received God’s favor. You see what Jesus is doing here? Now it’s clear what Jesus is getting at – what is fulfilled in their hearing is justice alright – but justice for more than just a select and chosen few. It’s no wonder we read next:
28When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. 29They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. 30But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.
In our case study of South Africa and the confession we call Belhar we are reminded that White Reformed Christians like most of us found it as difficult as those original listeners to Jesus to accept that God’s justice is for all. That – to quote the Belhar:
God is in a special way the God of the destitute, the poor and the wronged and that He calls his Church to follow Him in this; that He brings justice to the oppressed and gives bread to the hungry; that He frees the prisoner and restores sight to the blind; that He supports the downtrodden, protects the stranger, helps orphans and widows and blocks the path of the ungodly; that for Him pure and undefiled religion is to visit the orphans and the widows in their suffering; that He wishes to teach His people to do what is good and to seek the right;
We might do well to sit here a few moments so that we might be sure that we don’t make the same mistake. Honesty – Gospel truth challenges us to ask ourselves how we interpret the thought or the phase…and justice for all.
Have you heard of Muhammad Yunus? Considering his name and nationality it’s quite likely he probably doesn’t consider himself a Christian but he’s living out this Christ-like commission and the Nobel Committee on Friday recognized that by awarding him this year’s Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. He’s neither a diplomat nor a public figure really. He’s an economist who in 1976 reached into his own pocket to give his first loan of $27.00, to 42 villagers living near Chittagong University where he said he was teaching “elegant theories of economics.” The borrowers invested the money and repaid him in full, though they had no collateral and signed nothing. He said he asked himself that day, “If you can make so many people happy with such a small amount of money, why shouldn’t you do more of it. From that experience Muhammad Yunus created Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. It has been a leader in micro credit - a program of lending money to the poorest people in the world so that they might have a safe and honest way to borrow money and move themselves out of poverty. His bank is dedicated to helping the poorest people. Loans are as small as $12.00 and the money is used to purchase milk cows or bamboo to construct stools or yarn to weave stoles. His bank’s long term goal is – and I quote: to eliminate poverty in the world. And he began with $27. (the New York Times 10.14.06)
So I guess we’re left with the question – not whether we each have $27 but do we have the will to join in proclaiming Good News to the poor and to care about justice for all.
The Gospel calls us to a ministry of justice not for ourselves but for others – justice isn’t a personal nor a national issue – it’s a world issue – a world so loved by God and entrusted into our care. Amen.

Harold Delhagen
10.15.06

Muhammad Yunus 

Referenced article:
Peace Prize to Pioneer of Loans to Poor No Bank Would Touch
The New York Times
By CELIA W. DUGGER
Published: October 14, 2006
A Bangladeshi economist, Muhammad Yunus, and the bank he founded 30 years ago won the Nobel Peace Prize yesterday for pioneering work in giving tiny loans to millions of poor people no commercial bank would touch — destitute widows and abandoned wives, landless laborers and rickshaw drivers, sweepers and beggars.


Rafiqur Rahman/Reuters
Muhammad Yunus spoke to reporters Thursday with his wife Afrozi in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The Nobel Committee praised Mr. Yunus, 66, and the Grameen Bank for making microcredit, as the loans are called, a practical solution to combating rural poverty in Bangladesh and inspiring similar schemes across the developing world.
“Microcredit has proved to be an important liberating force in societies where women in particular have to struggle against repressive social and economic conditions,” the committee said in announcing the prize.
Mr. Yunus has long been an influential champion of the idea that even the most impoverished people have the drive and creativity to build small businesses with loans as small as $12, and Grameen Bank has dedicated itself to helping the poorest of the poor.
The borrowers used the money to buy milk-giving cows, or bamboo to craft stools, or yarn to weave into stoles, or incense to sell in stalls, among myriad other money-making schemes.
Reached in Dhaka, Bangladesh, by telephone yesterday, Mr. Yunus recalled the day in 1976 when he reached into his own pocket to give his first loan, $27, to 42 villagers living near Chittagong University where he said he was then teaching “elegant theories of economics.” The borrowers invested the money and repaid him in full, though they had no collateral and signed nothing.
He said he asked himself that day, “If you can make so many people so happy with such a small amount of money, why shouldn’t you do more of it?”
Still, over the years, Mr. Yunus faced skeptics and detractors, as it became clear that microcredit loans, alluring as they were, were not by themselves a panacea for poverty.
Some in the microfinance business have questioned the Grameen Bank’s focus on serving the poorest, arguing the industry would grow faster and have more impact if it aimed at a wider pool of borrowers, including those struggling just above the poverty line.
Others have sometimes criticized what they see as Grameen’s unconventional accounting practices (which Mr. Yunus said yesterday were fully transparent) — or maintained that Grameen should have been more of a leader in combining microcredit with health and education services, or in lending to poor people who need money not to start businesses, but to pay their bills, or cover their children’s school fees.
But in interviews yesterday, Mr. Yunus’s skeptics and fans alike credited him and Grameen with helping to fundamentally change the way the world saw the potential of poor people and to popularize the movement to provide financial services to the poor.
“Yunus was one of the early visionaries who believed in the idea of poor people as viable, worthy, attractive clients for loans,” said Elizabeth Littlefield, who heads the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor, a research institution supported by microfinance donors. “That simple notion has put in motion a huge range of imitators and innovators who have taken that idea and run with it, improved on it, expanded it.”
Or, as the Nobel committee put it: “Yunus’s long-term vision is to eliminate poverty in the world. That vision cannot be realized by means of microcredit alone. But Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank have shown that, in the continuing effort to achieve it, microcredit must play a major part.”
The prize was another that fell under a broader definition of peace, awarded by the committee not for traditional conflict resolution, but rather development work, and followed the 2004 award to a Kenyan environmentalist, Wangari Maathai.
Indeed, in the decades since Mr. Yunus’s first loan, microcredit has become one of the most popular antipoverty strategies in the world. Last year, more than 100 million people received small loans from more than 3,100 institutions in 130 countries, according to Microcredit Summit, a Washington-based nonprofit advocacy group that Mr. Yunus helped found. The average loan from Grameen Bank was $130.
Over the years, the movement to provide financial services to the poor has become more capacious, stressing the need for services beyond loans — for safe places to save small amounts of money, for crop and life insurance, for inexpensive ways to transfer money earned in distant cities and foreign countries to families back home.

In the 1970’s, when Mr. Yunus was getting started, the idea that poor people were a good credit risk seemed far-fetched. The United States Agency for International Development had conducted a global survey of banking services in poor communities and found failure after failure, said Jonathan J. Morduch, an economics professor at New York University who co-wrote a book on microcredits.
Many of the lenders then were state-owned banks that gave credit to politically connected elites rather than the poor people they were supposed to serve. And often at election time, vote-seeking politicians pressed the banks to forgive loans wholesale, leaving the institutions in terrible financial shape.
In 1974, Mr. Yunus, trained as an economist at Vanderbilt University, found himself teaching economics at Chittagong University when Bangladesh was struck by famine. “I decided I must do something,” he said. He began working in nearby villages, among them Jobra, where he made his first loan in 1976.
He said he tried to persuade commercial banks to give loans to poor people who had no assets and had always been dependent on local moneylenders. But the bankers only did so when he personally co-signed as a guarantor.
Mr. Yunus’s new model of banking for the poor had several unusual features, Professor Morduch said. Grameen lent to groups of five people, who helped ensure that each member repaid his or her share. It lent not only to farmers, but also to laborers and women who had a knack for crafts and shopkeeping. And it required borrowers to repay their loans in manageable, bite-sized weekly installments.
“He proved the impossible: that the poor were bankable,” Professor Morduch said.
But Mr. Yunus’s approach went beyond giving the poor economic opportunity to seeking deeper social change, said Amartya Sen, who, like Mr. Yunus, is a Bengali, an economist and a Nobel prize winner.
Mr. Sen, a professor at Harvard, noted that Grameen’s loans had gone overwhelmingly to women, giving financial clout to women who had little power in Bangladeshi society and often lived cloistered in their homes.
In the overwhelmingly Muslim nation of Bangladesh, Mr. Yunus’s approach also offered hope and ideas to compete with the allure of fundamentalist Islamic causes.
“It’s a very secular movement,” Professor Sen said, “very egalitarian, market friendly and socially radical.”
Those who have watched Mr. Yunus over the years remarked on his gifts as a salesman — his personal warmth, his talent for telling a story, his sheer ability to charm an audience. Those qualities were very much on display last month when he participated in a panel at a Sheraton hotel in New York during Bill Clinton’s gathering of international do-gooders.
The theme was “Building a Sustainable Future,” and Mr. Yunus told about how Grameen gave loans to beggars. He made hundreds of rich people — many of them looking for causes to support — laugh out loud and also tugged at their heartstrings.
“All we are doing is telling beggars that, well, since you go house to house begging, would you like to take some merchandise with you, some cookies, some candy, something?” he asked a crowd that hooted with delight at this clever notion.
“A typical loan for a beggar is something like $12,” he said. “With $12, she has a basket of merchandise she carries around and goes house to house.”
“Today, we have more than 80,000 beggars in the program,” he said. “Many of them have already quit begging completely.”
At that, the audience erupted in a sustained burst of applause. Mr. Yunus beamed.

Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost
October 15, 2006

Unity, Reconciliation and Justice
A worship series based upon the Belhar Confession
From the Uniting Reformed Churches in Southern Africa
The Approach to God
The Prelude
The Church Bell
The Introit: “Come All You Servants of the Lord”
The Call to Worship
L: In Christ, the God of heaven has made his home on earth.
P: Christ dwells among us and is one with us.
L: Highest of all creation, he lives among the least.
P: He journeys with the rejected and welcomes the weary.
L: Come now, all who thirst,
P: and drink the water of life.
L: Come now, all who hunger,
P: and be filled with good things.
L: Come now, all who seek,
P: and be warmed by the fire of love.
* The Hymn: No. 434 “Today We All Are Called to Be Disciples”
* The Salutation -- from Isaiah 42:6-8
L: 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,
to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness.
I am the Lord, that is my name;
my glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to idols.
U: AMEN!
The Prayer of Confession
O God of shalom,
we have built up walls to protect ourselves from our enemies,
but those walls also shut us off from receiving your love.
Break down those walls.
Help us to see that the way to your heart
is through the reconciliation of our own hearts with our enemies.
Bless them and us,
that we may come to grow in love for each other and for you,
through Jesus Christ. Amen.
(Let the worshippers consider their lives in silence.)






The Words of Assurance -- from Psalm 145:13-14
L: The Lord is faithful in all his words,
and gracious in all his deeds.
The Lord upholds all who are falling,
and raises up all who are bowed down.
P: Thanks be to God.
The Law of God -- from Micah 6:8
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

The Word of God
The Sacrament of Baptism -- Please see insert.
The Children’s Sermon
* The Hymn: No. 405 “What Does the Lord Require?”
The Lesson
Luke 4:14-21 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 62
L: The Word of the Lord.
P: Thanks be to God.
The Sermon: “And Justice For All”
* The Affirmation of Faith
North: We believe that God has revealed himself as the One who wishes to bring about justice and true peace among men;
South: that in a world full of injustice and enmity He is in a special way the God of the destitute, the poor and the wronged and that He calls his Church to follow Him in this;
North: that He brings justice to the oppressed and gives bread to the hungry;
South: that He frees the prisoner and restores sight to the blind;
North: that He supports the downtrodden, protects the stranger, helps orphans and widows and blocks the path of the ungodly;
South: that for Him pure and undefiled religion is to visit the orphans and the widows in their suffering;
North: that He wishes to teach His people to do what is good and to seek the right;
South: that the Church must therefore stand by people in any form of suffering and need, which implies, among other things, that the Church must witness against and strive against any form of injustice, so that justice may roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream;
Unison: that the Church as the possession of God must stand where He stands, namely against injustice and with the wronged; that in following Christ the Church must witness against all the powerful and privileged who selfishly seek their own interests and thus control and harm others.
(paragraph 4 – The Belhar Confession)
The Anthem: “Pillar and Ground of Truth” . . . . . . . . . . . M. Hayes
The Response to God
Presentation of Tithes and Offerings
* The Doxology -- Tune: Nun Danket
All praise and thanks to God
the Father now be given,
the Son, and him who reigns
with them in highest heaven,
the one eternal God,
whom heav'n and earth adore;
for thus it was, is now,
and shall be evermore.
* The Prayer of Dedication
O God, most merciful and gracious,
of whose bounty we have all received,
accept this offering of your people.
Remember in your love those who have brought it
and those for whom it is given,
and so follow it with your blessing
that it may promote peace and goodwill among all peoples,
and advance the kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Amen.
The Life of the Church
Our Gratitude Expressed
Our Concerns Raised Up
The Church’s Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . using ‘debts’ and ‘debtors’
* The Hymn: No. 423 “Canto de Esperanza/Song of Hope”
* The Benediction
* The Choral Response: “Come All You Servants of the Lord”
* The Postlude


Pultneyville Reformed Church
7784 Hamilton Street
P.O. Box 94
Pultneyville, NY 14538
315-589-2703
prc@pultneyville.orgwww.pultneyville.org

"Living the Prayer"


Deuteronomy 10:17-19
John 17:20-26

The room began to fill with the usual bustle, people moving to seats - they; pat a friend on the shoulder, exchange hushed greetings. Parents come looking flushed and distracted from Sunday morning primping of their children in tow. It’s a familiar scene in most of mainline church USA – except that on this Sunday there’s more variety to the gathering of worshipers. About half of those gathered are white middle class types like us – the others – mostly Korean – about half of them know little if any English. I look to my Korean colleague and wonder how this is going to go – he knows it will be just fine – he’s an old pro at this sort of bi-lingual thing. For me it will be the first since having been called as pastor of this mixed flock.
We stand together. He says the old familiar words of the liturgy in a far less familiar way – Korean. I wait until I am sure he is done before sharing the same words in English. Well, that didn’t go so badly I think to myself in temporary relief.
The organist hits the first few keys to an old familiar hymn – real old – something along the lines of What a Friend We Have in Jesus. Within a few more notes I am, in some wonderful way, transported to heaven itself as I hear the old, old words of faith sung in unison – two very different languages – woven together into one. I see faces filled with joy and passion – souls caught up in something beyond themselves – above themselves. We all seem to know that we have been taken to a new place – a place in the Kingdom of God - even if only for a moment.
Do you know that sort of experience – perhaps – hopefully - some time in worship when the liturgy or the music lifted you to a new and beautiful place? A place where you knew Christ was present – the Spirit was alive and flourishing – doing her thing - bringing life and wholeness and glimpses of the way our Creator has intended. Do you know that experience? In my case it came as I watched the confusion of Babel turned into the songs of heaven as people who come from such distant places unite heart to heart and voice to voice. I thought to myself – this is what heaven must be like – people coming from east and west sitting at one heavenly banquet – singing the same heaven bound songs.
It came time to preach. I had chosen to use as my text this High Priestly Prayer of Jesus – I realized as I stood in that pulpit on that particular Sunday morning I had no idea what that prayer was all about. Oh – I thought I did. The Spirit flew about the room and touched my heart – it felt like a burning coal, I wanted to say out loud with the prophet; Woe is me for I have seen the face of God. I tried to stay with my prepared text but that was useless – I was confronted with something new and real and I would never preach the sermon I prepared – not then and not now (although a seminary professor would probably have given me a passing grade for it) – in a matter of minutes it had become irrelevant – just ideas. Now – however – I caught a glimpse of what Jesus was really praying about.
This morning I am remembering that day long ago and realizing that it really is no more profound than what we have here this morning even if we all do speak the same language and come from about the same or at - least quite similar backgrounds. I look out among us and I see people who outside of these walls would not belong to one another – people who would never fit together socially. I mean let me ask you to split up a minute and have all of the Republicans go to my right and all the Democrats go to my left – Don’t actually do it – I’m kidding - please! I’d hate to start a church fight this morning. But imagine that in a world of such incredible polarization that we can actually be in community together. Look at the headlines of this week and how our two parties position and politic, taking advantage of missteps and misconduct and misfortune. All trying to make political hay over the indiscretions of a wayward congressman. Think of all the things that could divide and separate us? Even those of us who all come from basically the same culture and class.
The Belhar Confession tells us and the world – that as followers of Jesus we believe that this gift of unity is both a gift and an obligation.
Our unity – that which binds us together across culture and ideology and even preference is a gift of the Spirit. Left to ourselves I could never imagine that we would be able to rise beyond that which separates us. In South Africa the divisions between white and black was bound in the iron shackles of theology, and economics and longstanding cultural myths. Left on its own those shackles were unbreakable. The Holy Spirit would not rest – unsettled with such division the Spirit was restless and worked her way into the conscience of some who held power. One such man was Beyers Naude’. Beyers was the son and grandson of powerful leaders in the White Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa. Beyer’s father was one of the founders of the most powerful white supremacist groups in South Africa called the Broederbond. Rev. Naude joined his father’s group – a group which promoted violence in order to control the black population of their country until a day in March (21) 1960 when almost 100 children of color were murdered by police in the Township of Sharpsville for protesting pass laws. On that day Rev. Naude decided to relinquish his pastoral credentials with the White Dutch Reformed Church and to remove himself from the power and prestige he held with the Broederbond. He took up the cause of abolishing apartheid in South Africa. Over lunch one day he shared quite casually how dangerous his decision became – death threats and attempts upon his life became routine. He shared how he felt compelled to take a stand against all which separated people in his country. For him the gift of unity – which he lived to see until 2004. That gift came at a great cost. His life witnessed to what extent Christians must take responsibility for the gift of unity.
In Jesus’ prayer for his church he prays that we might be one. He prays that the love and the glory which he has shared with the Father might be shared with those who follow him. The church – that’s you and me - are in a unique place in things. We’re drawn to a special place in the world. We are by Christ’s love drawn into the love of our Creator and Jesus says – we are called to reflect God’s glory in the world. Now as one commentator puts it; this is no reason for triumphalism, but for sober wide-eyed mission. We are called to show Christ to the world. You see it’s not about us – it’s about Christ. What he is praying for is that the gift he gives to us at the cost of his own life is a gift given to share – that’s the heart of real mission. This mission must always have Christ as the reason and the center. It’s not about us nor about us growing or prospering as all sorts of denominational propaganda would have us think. To live out this prayer faithfully we will need to loose ourselves and keep our eye on the gift.
Jesus prays that we will be one – that’s part of the gift – but it’s never an end in itself. Contrary to how most of us feel most of the time about being united – its not given as a gift so we can feel good. As much as I felt the warmth and comfort of the Spirit in that bi-lingual worship service long ago what I have learned is that those feelings simply tell us we are on the right path – but the purpose of our visible unity as the body of Christ – our responsibility in tending the gift is – as Jesus prays; so that the world may know him – that the world might come to know this love which lies at the center of the universe.
We are not called to set aside all that divides us just so we might play nice. We are called to be one and to transcend the boundaries of race and class and petty differences so that Christ will be known to the world.
When I glimpsed a vision of the Kingdom of God that glorious Sabbath morning what I now know is that the Kingdom was not in the warm fuzzies of being nice to one another – that’s just a beautiful by product. The Kingdom of God is in the witness that we made to anyone who would care to notice. We were a place where others could see the power of the Gospel that those who by the world’s standards don’t belong together not only gather in one place – but make commitments – covenants to belong together beyond their differences.
As I look out into this gathering today – I am compelled to ask – are we committed to such a mission or will we allow our petty differences – our preferences – even our own ego needs and need for power to keep us from our mission – from tending the gift? We can understand the high stakes our South African brothers and sisters faced. Now we are left with the uneasy question – are we ready to tend the gift of unity – are we prepared to live the prayer?

HMD 10.8.06

Resistance and Hope, South African essays in honour of Beyers Naude’
Edited by Charles Villa-Vinencio and John W. De Gruchy
Wm. B. Eerdmans: Grand Rapids 1985

Beyers Naude 

Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost
October 8, 2006

Unity, Reconciliation and Justice
A worship series based upon the Belhar Confession
From the Uniting Reformed Churches in Southern Africa
The Approach to God
The Prelude
The Church Bell
The Introit: “Come All You People”
The Call to Worship
L: Jesus, Risen Lord,
P: we gather in your name.
L: Jesus, Good Shepherd,
P: we gather in your name.
L: Jesus, Word of life,
P: we gather in your name.
L: Jesus, friend of the poor,
P: we gather in your name.
L: Jesus, source of all forgiveness,
P: we gather in your name.
L: Jesus, Prince of peace,
P: we gather in your name.
Lord Jesus Christ,
you call us together in faith and love.
Breathe again the new life of your Holy Spirit among us
that we may hear your holy word,
pray in your name,
seek unity among Christians
and live more fully the faith we profess.
All glory and honor be yours
with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever.
* The Hymn: No. 442 “The Church’s One Foundation”
* The Salutation -- from Philippians 1:2
L: Grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ.
U: AMEN!
The Prayer of Confession
L: There are many ways to be unfaithful to what we have become through baptism, to our commitment and our obedience to God.
We offer him now our prayers of repentance.
U: We confess to you, living God,
our failure to live as brothers and sisters, and as your children.
We confess to you, loving God,
that we have not loved you as you have loved us.
Kyrie Eleison -- Please see Kyrie at end of prayer.
U: We confess to you, gracious God,
that we have doubted your word and failed to obey its teaching.
We confess to you, merciful God,
our desire to own you and contain you within our doctrines and theologies.
Kyrie Eleison -- Please see Kyrie at end of prayer.
U: We confess to you, almighty God
that we do not acknowledge you as Lord of all the earth.
Forgive us and redeem us
for we have not allowed your presence to shine among us.
L: There are many ways in which we have failed in our commitment and obedience to our fellow men and women. We turn towards our neighbors and our friends and offer them our prayers of repentance.
Kyrie Eleison






The Words of Assurance
L: God of grace, we grieve that the church,
which shares one Spirit, one faith, one hope, and one calling.
has become a broken communion in a broken world.
The one body spans all time, place, race, and language,
but in our fear we have fled from and fought one another,
and in our pride we have mistaken our part for the whole.
Yet we marvel that you gather the pieces to do your work,
that you bless us with joy, with growth, and with signs of unity.
Forgive our sins and help us to commit ourselves
to seeking and showing the unity of the body of Christ.
P: Amen.
The Law of God -- from Matthew 22:37-40
L: What is the great and first commandment?
P: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
L: What is the second commandment like it?
P: Love your neighbor as yourself.
L: What does this mean?
P: Love is the fulfilling of the law.
L: To what does this call us?
P: To a life of faith working through love.

The Word of God
The Children’s Sermon
* The Hymn: “When the Church of Jesus” . . . . . . . .Please see insert.
The Lessons
Deuteronomy 10:17-19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 186
John 17:20-26 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 116
L: The Word of the Lord.
P: Thanks be to God.
The Sermon: “Living the Prayer”
* The Affirmation of Faith -- Unison
We believe that Christ’s work of reconciliation is made manifest in the Church as the community of believers who have been reconciled with God and with one another; that unity is, therefore, both a gift and an obligation for the Church of Jesus Christ.
We believe that this unity of the people of God must be manifested and be active in a variety of ways: in that we love one another; and that we experience, practice and pursue community with one another.
Excerpt; The Belhar Confession
The Anthem: “One Spirit, One Church” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .K. Keil
The Response to God
Presentation of Tithes and Offerings
* The Doxology -- Tune: Nun Danket
All praise and thanks to God
the Father now be given,
the Son, and him who reigns
with them in highest heaven,
the one eternal God,
whom heav'n and earth adore;
for thus it was, is now,
and shall be evermore.
* The Prayer of Dedication
God of unfailing love, in your holy mysteries
you have graciously fed us with the body and blood of your dear Son.
We pray that we and all who faithfully receive him
may grow together in the communion of the body of Christ
and finally attain to the glory of the resurrection,
through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
The Life of the Church
Our Gratitude Expressed
Our Concerns Raised Up
The Church’s Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . using ‘debts’ and ‘debtors’
L: Lord of heaven and earth, we have begun to listen to your Holy Spirit, calling us to unity in Christ:
P: We thank you, O Lord.
L: May we be more attentive to your inspiration and more ready to listen to one another.
P: We ask you, O Lord.
L: We have begun to dialogue with one another, celebrating our common faith and seeking to understand our differences:
P: We thank you, O Lord.
L: May the patient work of pastors, theologians and Christian people continue to progress and bear lasting fruit:
P: We ask you, O Lord.
L: For the agreements reached on matters of theology and pastoral life:
P: We thank you, O Lord.
L: That we may be able to face and resolve the difficult issues which still divide us:
P: We ask you, O Lord.
L: For common witness in Christ which we have given in times of crisis, for justice, peace and humanitarian aid:
P: We thank you, O Lord.
L: That our unity may one day become such that the whole world may believe in the Christ you have sent:
P: We ask you, O Lord.
L: For progress in inter-religious dialogue throughout the world:
P: We thank you, O Lord.
L: That engaged in this dialogue, we may sense the urgency of full communion among Christians as a witness to other believers:
P: We ask you, O Lord.
L: For all living witnesses of personal communion in the love of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
P: We thank you, O Lord.
L: May their family life contribute to the Christian joy of the members of their churches:
P: We ask you, O Lord.
L: May the hope of one day sharing the same table and drinking from the same cup, increase our desire to do your will so as to receive from you this gift:
P: We ask you, O Lord.
L: We raise before you the concerns raised before us this day:
* The Hymn: No. 241 “Behold the Goodness of Our Lord”
After singing verse 3 please sing verse 1 again.
* The Benediction
* The Choral Response: “Go With Us Lord”
* The Postlude


Pultneyville Reformed Church
7784 Hamilton Street
P.O. Box 94
Pultneyville, NY 14538
315-589-2703
prc@pultneyville.org
www.pultneyville.org

Embracing the Different
I John 11-16
John 10: 11-18


A brown skinned calloused hand reaches heavenward fingers gently grasp the firm red fruit and pull it gently into a felt lined bucket. Soon enough that apple will sit on a grocery self if Peoria or perhaps Charlotte or perhaps Brazil. When it does something of us in this little hamlet is joined to another community and another family – one we don’t know. The rain and sunshine which has showered us yesterday now feed another and we are connected – even if we don’t realize it. The world has always been connected but never as it is in our day. As I worked on this sermon this past Wednesday I began with a conversation with a colleague in Oman on the Persian Gulf and listened to music from a radio station in California. We can’t avoid each other – we’re wired together – economically dependent upon one another. And that can be good and rich and that can feel bad and vulnerable. For most of us the different is scary and uncertain business.

It was for those who heard Jesus message that day – the day he told them about the Good Shepherd. Most spins on this old favorite stay with the cozy images of nurturing and shepherding and belonging. But read on past where I left you – where most lectionaries take us – read verses 19 through 21 – go ahead take a peek – I’ll wait for you – there are Bibles in your pews. For those lest acquainted its on page____.

Apparently when Jesus finished his seemingly pleasant lesson the unpleasant reared its ugly head. His listeners “where divided” by what he had to say – they actually accused him of the demonic – of his being out of his mind! Now go back a scan what he said – protection – safety – belonging – love – love to the extent of self sacrifice. What could all the ruckus be about? Any ideas?

Take a look at verse 16;
16I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

It seems the problem is not that Jesus has come to be a nurturing, protective, loving savior – it’s that he does it for more than those who were listening – they’re not exclusive recipients of this grace. They’re special enough but so apparently are a host of unnamed others. Thoughts probably swell with in the minds of some who heard him; Who! Who else Jesus? Other sheep? We’re the flock of God - the chosen of the God of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachel – Who else Jesus – you’re crazy! It can’t be.

Two weeks ago we reflected upon the human tendency to sort sift and differentiate – to marginalize and distinguish between people and to use those distinctions to our advantage.

This morning we are challenged to consider what God does about this? Does God do this sort of sorting? Of course the well versed among us may call our attention to the familiar story of judgment in Matthew 25 – the one where in the last days the same Good shepherd sorts out the sheep from the goats. But let me caution you as you go there – notice even there that the reach of the shepherd is universal as all the nations will be gathered. (Matthew 25: 32). If we’re to find justification for exclusion or some sort of divine favoritism we won’t find it here. The loving embrace of the Good Shepherd is universal.

We al know what a stretch this was to the Jewish listeners of Jesus time but I wonder if we realize how it stretches us?

The lesson before us in the Gospel tells us there are no strangers – no one should feel out – we’re all in – we all know and are known. And that can lead us to believing that we’re the insiders – it’s all about us. And I suppose that the original listeners felt pretty good thus far. The words of Jesus through verse 15 fit in the world view and faith framework of his listeners. It sounded like familiar paradigm Jews in – gentiles out – chosen – not chosen.

And those of us who stand in this 21st century in a flattened world may think shame on them. We know better – don’t we? One woman recently asked why Belhar was under discussion at all – wasn’t what it says obvious?


Well let me take you again to the confession under consideration and it context. The Belhar is written in such a way that it states explicitly what we believe and also what we don’t. It lists rejections of doctrines which at first glance we might think obvious. One such rejection is:
Therefore, we reject any doctrine which absolutises either natural diversity or the sinful separation of people in such a way that this absolutisation hinders or breaks the visible and active unity of the church.
If we go back to the origins of this confession we can see the importance of stating the seemingly obvious. I fear that the lessons of apartheid in South Africa may too easily be forgotten. There was a day not so long ago when people of our particular faith – Reformed Faith – Dutch no less – finagled and corrupted the words of Scripture to justify what they wanted. In their case it was to justify social policy which radically and violently separated people according to skin color. And not just black and white but separating out those of mixed race as not belonging to either of the others much like the way it was done in Rwanda by facial features ( you may remember that powerful film Hotel Rwanda and if you don’t make I suggest you consider viewing it as a follow up to this sermon). In South Africa the underlying roots were economic – white landowners needed to justify exploiting and controlling a cheap labor force – and acquisition of land that wasn’t their own. They used our Reformed Faith to justify what they did. It was – they suggested the way God had intended for things.
Of course that left those of color asking what kind of God would do such a thing.
Belhar asks us to consider if we believe there are others who belong and if we are willing to embrace those who are different from ourselves and to acknowledge that they also belong to our God.
In our day the challenge continues – none among us I trust would come close to agreeing with the architects of apartheid. Yet allow me to apply the Gospel to our new day. What about sisters and brothers of Mohamed? Could our God be at work in the faith of Islam? Could that also be of God? How sure are we?

Its interesting that the common lectionary places these words of Jesus with the reading I shared with you from the First Letter of John. The reading sets the stage for what it has to say by reminding us of two bothers and the violence that can occur when one brother cannot accept the fact that grace is offered to the other. Cain’s jealousy leads to death. The answer to such brokenness is love. For this is the message you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. (vs. 11) We know this John says that he (Christ) laid down his life for us. (vs.16).
This love - we learn is not just theory – or good philosophy – it is something modeled for us at great expense. In Christ’s action on the Cross we learn how to love and how to act in love. It leads us to consider, that the love which led Jesus to the Cross was love for you and me as well as for those who we may not seem to be like us – for those who believe differently and look differently – sometimes very differently.
I’m wondering if we are ready for that? Will our world view allow it? Will our fear of terror place such ideas to the side as we attempt to secure our selves from that which is different. Will we dare to see the loving arms of the Good Shepherd embracing those who are different from ourselves or will we justify our behaviors which profile and separate in the name of security or even theology?
Are we ready to live and act embracing those who we think are unlike ourselves? Are we prepared to discover that they are more like us than we realized – that they are the other sheep belonging to the other fold also loved by God?

HMD

Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost
October 1, 2006

We thank you, God of the universe,
that you call all people to worship you
and to serve your purpose in this world.
We praise you for the gift of faith
we have received in Jesus Christ.
We praise you also for diverse faith
among the peoples of the earth.
For you have bestowed your grace
that Christians, Jews, Muslims,
Buddhists, and others
may celebrate your goodness.
In wonder and awe
we praise you great God. Amen.
from the Book of Common Worship
The Approach to God
The Prelude
The Church Bell
The Introit: “We Bring the Sacrifice of Praise”
The Call to Worship
L: The God of creation makes us one in body!
P: Let us join hearts and voices in praise of the Lord!
L: The God of Christ makes us one in the Spirit!
P: Let us join hearts and voices in praise of the Lord!
* The Hymn: No. 371 “Lift High the Cross”
* The Salutation -- from Jude 1-2
L: To those who are called,
who are beloved in God the Father
and kept safe for Jesus Christ:
May mercy, peace, and love be yours
in abundance.
U: AMEN!
The Prayer of Confession
L: Across the barriers that divide race from race:
P: reconcile us, O Christ, by your cross.
L: Across the barriers that divide rich from poor:
P: reconcile us, O Christ, by your cross.
L: Across the barriers that divide people of different cultures:
P: reconcile us, O Christ, by your cross.
L: Across the barriers that divide Christians:
P: reconcile us, O Christ, by your cross.
L: Across the barriers that divide men and women, young and old:
P: reconcile us, O Christ, by your cross.
Confront us, O Christ, with the hidden prejudices and fears
the deny and betray our prayers.
Enable us to see the causes of strife,
remove from us all senses of superiority.
Teach us to grow in unity with all God’s children. Amen.
(Let the worshippers consider their lives in silence.)
The Kyrie -- The congregation will repeat each English verse
after the cantor.






The Words of Assurance
L: Pour out your Spirit on us again,
as your Word is proclaimed,
that we may be faithful to our baptismal calling,
ardently desire the communion of Christ’s body and blood,
and serve the poor of your people and all who need your love,
P: through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
ever one God, world without end. Amen.
The Law of God -- from John 13:34
Hear the teaching of Christ:
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another just as I have loved you.”

The Word of God
The Children’s Sermon
* The Hymn: “We Are Members of Christ’s Body”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Please see insert.
The Lessons
I John 3:11-16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 260
John 10:11-18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 107
L: The Word of the Lord.
P: Thanks be to God.
The Sermon: “Embracing the Different”
* The Affirmation of Faith -- Unison
We share one faith, have one calling, are of one soul and one mind; have one God and Father, are filled with one Spirit, are baptized with one baptism, eat of one bread and drink of one cup, confess one Name, are obedient to one Lord, work for one cause, and share one hope; together come to know the height and the breadth and the depth of the love of Christ; together are built up to the stature of Christ, to the new humanity; together know and bear one another’s burdens, thereby fulfilling the law of Christ that we need one another and up build one another, admonishing and comforting one another; that we suffer with one another for the sake of righteousness; pray together; together serve God in this world.
Excerpt; The Belhar Confession
The Anthem: “Break the Bread, Pour the Wine” . . . . . . . M. Hayes
The Meaning of the Sacrament and Invitation
The Communion Prayer
L: The Lord be with you.
P: And also with you.
L: Lift up your hearts!
P: We lift them up to the Lord.
L: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
P: For it is holy and right to do so!

The Sanctus:

Together we proclaim the mystery of the faith:
U: Christ has died!
Christ is risen!
Christ will come again!
The Communion
The Prayer
God, who nourishes us for the journey,
it is strengthening to know that
as we have gathered at your table today,
your people throughout the world
are offering praise and thanksgiving
as bread and wine are shared.
May the mystery of your presence, experienced in our worship,
bind us together into one worldwide community. Amen.
The Response to God
Presentation of Tithes and Offerings
* The Doxology -- Tune: Nun Danket
All praise and thanks to God
the Father now be given,
the Son, and him who reigns
with them in highest heaven,
the one eternal God,
whom heav'n and earth adore;
for thus it was, is now,
and shall be evermore.
* The Prayer of Dedication
Lord of life, you promise abundant life to all who live together in Christ. We offer these gifts as a sign of our desire to share our resources for the common good and building of your kingdom. We humbly ask that you use them to strengthen our unity and deepen our witness and healing presence in this needy world. Amen.
The Life of the Church
Our Gratitude Expressed
Our Concerns Raised Up
The Church’s Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . using ‘debts’ and ‘debtors’
* The Hymn: No. 436 “We Are Your People”
* The Benediction
* The Choral Response: “Threefold Amen”
* The Postlude


Pultneyville Reformed Church
7784 Hamilton Street
P.O. Box 94
Pultneyville, NY 14538
315-589-2703
prc@pultneyville.org
www.pultneyville.org