Category: Michael D
Paragraphs from SSCSJ
Two paragraphs from Sacred Steps: Children’s Sermon Journal for June 24. SSCSJ is a study aid for those preparing the children’s sermon (message) each week based on the Lectionary. It is a journal that contains commentary, exegesis, and ideas.
1 Samuel17:(1a, 4-11, 19-23), 32-49
Why do we have these 3 introductions to David? It could be that the compilers of the DH knew of 3 traditions about King David, and they decided to include all of them. Each does lift-up a characteristic of David: Samuel’s anointing shows David to have a good heart and the Divine spirit; soothing Saul by his music shows David as originally being a beloved member of the king’s court (and gives a nod to the legend of David as a musician); and slaying Goliath shows David as brave and a good fighter. With his resume complete, David will face the obstacle of getting the throne from a paranoid and greedy Saul. Goliath is just the first of many “giants” that David will face as he lives into being God’s anointed and brings unity and structure to the actual nation of Israel.
What makes-up a good resume for a leader today? While we would never expect a person to do something so fantastic as David’s slaying of Goliath, what do we want from people who will be our leaders? Metaphorically speaking, what are the “giants” that we face in our own lives? What “giants” does your congregation, does the whole church, face in the 21st century? From where do we draw the courage to face these “giants” that stand between the way things are and the way God wants us to live?
2 Corinthians 6:1-13
“We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry” (v. 3). It might be good to think about the word, “obstacle.” Some are judged “good” while others are “bad.” There are obstacles that are judged as “necessary” in our culture and within the Church. When cars became the norm in this culture, a necessary obstacle, the driver’s license was created to make sure that everyone driving a car knows the rules of the road and can demonstrate the ability to control a vehicle. This license somewhat ensures that persons behind the wheel of a car have a minimum level of knowledge and skill, before taking to the streets, as a way to protect everyone. The same can be said for professions where the public good is served by ensuring that providers are licensed/certified to offer a particular service, so that there is not so much “buyer beware” in our society. Within Christendom, depending on one’s denomination, there are obstacles to: the communion table, church membership, ordination into Christian ministry, baptism, leadership positions, who can teach whom, and who can preach. For some, sexual orientation is an obstacle to “heaven”, as well as their welcome to be preachers, teachers, and leaders within faith communities. For Catholics, in particular, and some Protestants, gender is an obstacle to being recognized, affirmed, and holding leadership positions within the church.
Take a few moments and create three lists of obstacles that you consider good, bad, or necessary. Do these obstacles share anything in common? Which obstacles are you comfortable with being found at “fault” for supporting? Have we rationalized that some obstacles, like fences, make for good neighbors or effective Christian ministry? Paul is arguing for a unity that is not “separate, but equal,” and he provides his list of hardships endured, virtues required, and the contradictions that are revealed, when a believer/group of believers take on a total lifestyle commitment.
Adventure Literature?
I’m not sure what to make of books and films like the “Hunger Games.” Here is a paragraph from an article in The New Yorker Magazine about the “boom of dystopian fiction for young readers.”
The youth-centered versions of dystopia part company with their adult predecessors in some important respects. For one thing, the grownup ones are grimmer. In an essay for the 2003 collection “Utopian and Dystopian Writing for Children and Young Adults,” the British academic Kay Sambell argues that “the narrative closure of the protagonist’s final defeat and failure is absolutely crucial to the admonitory impulse of the classic adult dystopia.” The adult dystopia extrapolates from aspects of the present to show readers how terrible things will become if our deplorable behavior continues unchecked. The more utterly the protagonist is crushed, the more urgent and forceful the message. Because authors of children’s fiction are “reluctant to depict the extinction of hope within their stories,” Sambell writes, they equivocate when it comes to delivering a moral. Yes, our errors and delusions may lead to catastrophe, but if—as usually happens in dystopian novels for children—a new, better way of life can be assembled from the ruins would the apocalypse really be such a bad thing?
Read more: http://goo.gl/P1aI