Isaiah 49: 1-26 (links validated 1/2/23)
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John Claypool was a Baptist pastor who later became an Episcopal priest. In his early days, as a Baptist, he served in Louisville, Kentucky. There, in 1960, he was involved in the civil-rights movement. One time, he went to a meeting between white and black clergy which was held at a local synagogue. The meeting grew quite tense, and eventually the black clergy stormed out in anger, accusing the white ministers of not having enough courage to face the opposition. What began as a “hopeful endeavor,” John says, “ended in total frustration.” John turned to his friend, the rabbi who was hosting the meeting, and said, “I think it is hopeless. This problem is so old, so deep, so many-faceted, there is simply no way out of it.” His friend, at that time in his 70’s and with a lot of experience in pastoral ministry, took his younger colleague into his study where the two of them sat down. The rabbi said, “I need to tell you something, young man. To the [Jewish person], there is only one unforgivable sin, and that is the sin of despair. Humanly speaking, despair is presumptuous. It is saying something about the future that we have no right to say because we have not been there yet and do not know enough. Think of the times you have been surprised in the past as you looked at a certain situation and deemed it hopeless. Then, lo and behold, forces that you did not even realize existed broke in and changed everything. We do not know enough to embrace the absolutism of despair and, theologically speaking, despair is downright heretical. If God can create the things that are from the things that are not, and even make dead things come back to life, who are we to set limits on what that kind of potency may yet do?”...Sermon Starters (Epiphany 2A)(2023)
The image in Isaiah 49 of kings rising to their feet and princes bowing low to acknowledge and affirm the supremacy of the Servant of the Lord reminds me of one of the closing scenes from the final “Lord of the Rings” films. The great man, Aragorn, has just been coronated as King of Gondor and as he and his soon-to-be wife Eowyn make the rounds to the assembled crowd, people bow and curtsey as they pass. When Aragorn comes to the four little Hobbits who were the true heroes of the epic tale in destroying the one evil Ring of power, the Hobbits too begin to bow. But the King stops them. “My friends, you bow to no one.” The King and Queen—followed by the entire assembled throng, then bow before the bewildered Halflings of the Shire. Tucked just behind this scene is the great reversal of the Gospel itself: how the carpenter from Nazareth went from the crucified one to the Cosmic King of kings and Lord of lords.God Loves Barking Pigs and You, Too
Robert Fulghum, the author of All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, tells a story about a boy named Norman. Norman’s elementary school class was asked to put on a dramatic version of Cinderella for a teacher’s conference. All the parts were quickly swooped up, leaving nothing for Norman. The teacher was willing to create a part for him, so she asked, “Who would you like to be?” Without any hesitation, Norman answered, “I would like to be the pig,” The teacher said, “The pig? But there is no pig in Cinderella.” Norman just smiled and said, “There is now.” As the class got ready for their performance, Norman designed his own costume. He turned a paper cup into a snout and added a curled pipe cleaner tail to a set of pink long johns. When it came time for the play, Norman’s pig followed Cinderella wherever she went on stage, and mirrored her emotions. If Cinderella was happy, the pig was happy. If Cinderella was sad, the pig was sad. One glance at Norman and you knew the emotion of the moment. At the end of the play, when the prince put the glass slipper on Cinderella’s foot, the couple ran off happily together and Norman went wild with joy, dancing around on his hind legs and barking. Yes, I said barking. When Norman first did that in rehearsal, the teacher tried to explain to him that even if there were a pig in Cinderella, pigs just don’t bark. But Norman explained that his was a barking pig and that was that. If nothing else, the teacher had to admit that the barking was very well done. The play turned out to be a smash hit, and I bet you can guess who received a standing ovation at the curtain call. Who else but Norman the barking pig? Norman never doubted who he was and what he could do, and clearly he did it very well...
Resources from 2020 to 2022
Sermon Starters (Epiphany 2A)(2020)
Consider the difference between a script and a prescription. One of the reasons some scholars can’t accept my interpretation of the identity of the Servant is their inability to believe in predictive prophecy. It is simply impossible that Isaiah could know the details of Jesus life hundreds of years before he was born. What really happened, say these skeptical scholars, was that Jesus took the words of the prophets and imitated what they had said. He orchestrated his life so that it would resemble the picture of the Messiah given in the prophets. Jesus was following a script written years ago about other people. My interpretation argues that, rather than following a script, Jesus was fulfilling a prescription. God had prescribed how Israel should act in the world in order to be a light to the world. But they didn’t fulfill that prescription. So, God sent his own Son to do exactly what Israel had not done. He fulfilled all those prophecies...
Resources from 2017 to 2019
Laboring in Vain?
This past week was the 55th anniversary of the March on Washington and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. King did not start out by speaking to a quarter of a million people in Washington. It all began with the Montgomery bus boycott – it was a local and then a regional issue and became a national concern and led to changes in our laws. Martin Luther King in time understood his calling not simply as working for equality African-Americans in the south, but as working for God’s justice for all people everywhere. At the time of his death, he was in Memphis working for the rights of poor people. We may sell ourselves short. What we may see as laboring in vain may be very valuable. It may be just the kind of work God needs. And it may lead to a larger calling...
Resources from 2014 to 2016
The Call to Serve
("Every Christmas since 1945, the parents of a young soldier killed at Okinawa had received an unsigned card. It read only, "I too, have not forgotten." Finally, in 1950, they received a letter explaining the mystery with a most heartwarming note. The letter read, 'This year I am not sending a card, but an explanation. Perhaps I have been too mysterious, but I was ashamed to sign those cards. You see, your son Carl gave his life to save mine..." and another illustration)
Resources from 2011 to 2013
Go Light Your World
On January 8, 2011, we were all stunned by the senseless shootings in Arizona. We struggle to make sense out of these tragedies but there are no easy answers to the questions we always ask in these circumstances: "why did it have to happen?", "why couldn't God have stopped it?", "why do bad things always seem to happen to good people?". The answers probably won't be there until we ask our Maker directly in the next life. For now, we have to settle on knowing that God is there, not in the tragedies themselves, which he is powerless to prevent since he gave us free will to do either good or evil, but in our responses to the evil deeds.Ordinary 8A (2011)
In one of his fine sermons, Frederick Buechner relays a dream he once had. In this dream he was staying at a nice hotel somewhere and he had a room in this hotel that he just loved. He loved being in the room for some unknown reason. It brought him a feeling of contentment and peace and joy just to be in the room...
Resources from the Archives
Grand Introductions
("When members of my family introduce someone, they always give that person an automatic promotion. If she's a doctor, they will exaggerate, introducing her as a brilliant surgeon...")Too Light a Thing
("There was a man who coveted his neighbors' silver lamp. One day he went to them, asked to borrow an earthen mug, and was given it. The next day he returned it with a little mug inside....")
Children's Resources and Dramas
The Classics
Currently Unavailable
Laboring in Vain?
("William Willimon, longtime chaplain at Duke and now a Methodist bishop, told about someone who was a great Sunday School teacher--the best he remembered from his teenage years. He treated the teenagers like adults, talked about problems in his business. Willimon remembered loving his class. So when he saw this man at a gathering a few years back, Willimon went up to him and mentioned his memories of that class..." and several other illustrations)