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 Home: Worship: Samuel: March 28 
Liturgical color: Violet
Isaiah 43:16-21 with Psalm 126 AND Sermon Seeds Focus Scripture:
Weekly Theme:
Focus Statement: "I am about to do a new thing." Questions: How do you define “extravagance”? How would your family define it? How would your congregation define it? How would you and your family and your congregation define “waste”? What sorts of limits have you placed on what you spend or give away or use that define what is “reasonable,” and what is “excessive”? Paul speaks of “loss” and “rubbish” in today’s reading from Philippians when he places all his accomplishments and credentials before the “surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” Nothing he has done and nothing he has been can measure up to knowing Christ and the power of his resurrection. This conviction enables him to “press on” to make his goal of gaining Christ “who has made me his own.” And so he strains forward to what lies ahead. What do we think lies ahead, in this age of terror alerts and economic dis-ease? Do we see beyond passing conditions and indicators to a greater reality? On the other hand, can we look so easily beyond the economic realities that press hard on the day-to-day realities of so many in our midst? What does it mean to “know Christ” and to care that each of our brothers and sisters has enough bread to eat and a roof over their head? What does “enough” mean to you? To us as a church? Then, read the story from the Gospel of John. A woman takes an expensive jar of perfume and extravagantly pours it out on Jesus’ feet in a heartfelt gesture toward the future, a broken-hearted sense of what is to come at the end of the journey to Jerusalem. What are her feelings? Did she think about it carefully ahead of time, calculating the cost and making the commitment? How do we think about our giving and our gestures of love and generosity, the things that come from deepest within our hearts? Do we calculate and figure, or do we give extravagantly? Do we hold back our words at moments that may need our courage; do we hold back our feelings when others need to know that we care; do we hold back our “stuff,” our expensive perfume and costly treasures, when all around us are sisters and brothers who may need bread and milk, jobs and houses? How do you think Mary felt the next day? Did she clean up the remnants of the perfume, changed in any way by her act? She had “seized the day,” sensing she would not have Jesus much longer so close at hand. How is the day and the moment before us in such a way that our acts of extravagant generosity can wait no longer? Lectionary texts Isaiah 43:16-21 Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings out chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick: Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise. and Psalm 126 Refrain:
When God restored the fortunes of Zion,
Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy;
God has done great things for us,
Restore our fortunes, O God,
May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy. Those go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing,
and Philippians 3:4b-14 If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. and John 12:1-8 Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” Sunday bulletin back page Fifth Sunday in Lent
THE UCC AND THE NATIONAL FARM WORKER MINISTRY Unlike some pastor’s children, Erin Balleine did not follow her parent’s footsteps into the ministry. But she didn’t choose a lucrative secular career, either. After college, Erin secured an internship in the Washington, D.C. office of the United Church of Christ’s Justice and Witness Ministries. There her efforts to involve UCC youth and young adults in the Coalition of Immokalee, Florida, Workers’ Taco Bell boycott caught the attention of the National Farm Worker Ministry and they offered her a job. After completing her year in Washington, Erin moved to Miami, Florida, to work with the National Farm Worker Ministry, educating faith groups in the Dade County area on farm worker issues, and urging them to become active in supporting farm worker campaigns. The United Church of Christ’s commitment to justice for farm workers goes back at least thirty years to the Ninth General Synod in 1973, when a plane-load of delegates flew to California to stand and pray in solidarity with Caesar Chavez and the striking grape pickers. That commitment has been reaffirmed many times since, most recently when the 23rd General Synod endorsed the Taco Bell boycott in 2001. It was not an action taken lightly by the delegates. But when they learned about the tomato pickers in Immokalee they could not do otherwise. These farm laborers earn just forty cents for each 32-pound bucket they fill–the same wage that has been paid by local growers since 1978. Taco Bell, which buys those tomatoes, refuses to pay the penny more a pound that would enable the growers to nearly double the workers’ wages. The Congregational Church of Coral Gables, Florida, also has a long record of social justice ministries. The congregation provided the grant to the National Farm Worker Ministry that funds Erin’s position. But her educational and advocacy efforts are larger than the United Church of Christ. The National Farm Worker Ministry is an interfaith organization that brings together forty denominations, state councils of churches, religious orders and congregations to support farm workers as they organize for improved living and working conditions. Thus, when Erin Balleine talks to groups about the farm workers’ low wages, substandard housing, and exposure to pesticides, her listeners may as well be Presbyterians, Mennonites, or Unitarians. But when she urges them to contact their state representatives, join a candle-light vigil, or boycott Taco Bell and the Mt. Olive Pickle Company, whatever their denomination they become part of an interfaith movement united in the quest for justice and dignity for the men and women–and children, too–who labor in the fields. Liturgical notes on the Readings In ecumenical liturgical practice, there are normally three readings and one psalm at each Sunday service, in this order:
First Reading: Hebrew Scripture The first two lessons are normally read by laypeople, the Gospel by a Minister of the Word or a layperson. In Roman Catholic, Anglican and liturgical Protestant churches, it is uncommon for an ordained minister to read all of the lessons. The psalm is not a reading but a congregational response following the lesson from Hebrew Scripture: it is normally sung with a refrain or recited by the congregation as poetry. Occasionally, a canticle is appointed in place of a psalm; it is sung or recited in the same way. The New Century Hymnal provides a complete liturgical psalter with refrains and music. A hymn may be sung as an introduction to the proclamation of the Gospel. During Ordinary Time (seasons after Epiphany and Pentecost) two alternative sets of OT readings with responsorial psalms are provided. The first option is a semi-continuous reading through a book of Hebrew Scripture; the second is thematically related to the other readings.
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The Revised Common Lectionary is © Consultation on Common Texts. Texts are from the New Revised Standard Version of Holy Scripture, © 1989 by The Division of Christian Education, National Council of Churches. The psalm antiphon is from The New Century Hymnal, © 1995, The Pilgrim Press. Used with permission. Music for the psalm and antiphon are available in The New Century Hymnal, plus a complete index of hymns appropriate for each Sunday's lectionary readings. To purchase the Hymnal, call 1-800-325-7061. |
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