Imagine being so angry, disgusted, or frightened by a group of people that you don't even want to see them to give them bad news. That's where we find Jonah at the beginning of the book that bears his name. God told him to go to Ninevah to deliver some bad news and he ran away in the opposite direction to avoid going. In her commentary on this text, Kathryn Schifferdecker notes that when we say he left town to run from God, we mean he did the leave- town, jump- on- a- boat, and go- out- to- sea- to- try- to- get- away- from- God kind of running off. He so objected to the call that God gave him that only getting swamped in a storm and swallowed up by a big fish could change his mind. He had to sit in the belly of that fish for three whole days and get vomited up by that very same fish before he finally did what God wanted. And, even then, it was kind of begrudgingly.

     Now, Jonah might have actually had a good reason to dislike Ninevah. Beth L. Tanner’s commentary on this text notes that Ninevah was the capital of the Assyrian Empire, an empire known for its brutality. Assyria had destroyed the Northern Kingdom of Israel and subjugated the Southern Kingdom of Judah. It is likely that anyone who had lived in either territory would hear the name of the city of Ninevah, and automatically think “enemy.” The first hearers of this story wouldn't have wanted to go to Ninevah, either. The thing is, though, when God calls you to do something, it can be very hard to say no, especially if you're a prophet. Jonah, the prophet, tried really hard to say no. In the end though, the big fish made an impression. Jonah saw that some things are bigger than his fear and anger... that God was bigger than his fear and anger. He realized that he had to go to Ninevah and take them God's message.

     When he arrived in Ninevah, Jonah shouted God's message as he walked across the enormous city: "Forty days more, and Ninevah shall be overthrown!" I don't know about you, but if I hear a stranger shouting about the place I live getting ready to be overthrown, I tend not to listen very closely. I tend to assume that the shouter doesn't really know what they are talking about.  The Bible is full of nations that chose to attack God's prophets rather than listen to them.

     That’s not what happened in Ninevah. In her commentary on the text, Callie Plunket-Brewton describes Ninevah as being especially and surprisingly responsive to God’s prophet. The people suddenly proclaim a fast as a sign of repentance. They also begin to wear sackcloth, an itchy, uncomfortable fabric, another sign of repentance. The word of reluctant Jonah's prophecy travels quickly among the people, seeming to reach the king before Jonah does. The king declares an official fast for the city, saying that not only must the people fast, the animals should fast, too. And, everybody, animals, people... everybody should be covered in sackcloth, and "cry mightily to God." Now, take a minute to truly imagine this. Every donkey trough is empty. The hay remains in every hayloft. Forlorn sheep wrapped in burlap are wondering the city streets. Everyone is lamenting and repenting aloud, even the goats... probably especially the goats. They are always quick to complain. The king instigates this whole ridiculous scene in hopes that his people (and animals) will give up their evil ways and that they might be spared by God (who, by the way, isn't even their god... yet one more reason it is surprising that they make such drastic changes).

     God sees the people making changes and making amends. God sees them trying and God changes God's mind. God decides not to destroy them. Jonah finds out about God's change of heart and is not happy about it one little bit. Jonah throws a proper tantrum, saying to God, "See... this is why I ran off to Tarshish. I knew you couldn't go through with it. I knew that you are merciful and loving and willing to be changed when you see legitimate repentance. I knew that you'd spare them if you had the chance. Ugh. I'd rather die than to see you offer compassion to those people. They are sooo awful." God responds with something like, "Wait, what? You're mad I didn't kill them?" Jonah doesn't even respond. He just huffs and puffs out of the city and builds himself a little shelter from which he will watch and wait, hoping God will come to God's senses and destroy the city.

     God, who is merciful, moved a plant to offer Jonah shade while he waited. God, who also needs to teach Jonah a lesson, sends a pest to destroy the bush. In the heat of the day, petulant Jonah grows faint and again wishes for death. It’s ok, Jonah, lots of people are miserable when they get too hot. Bitter, he says, "It is better for me to die than to live." God, not yet ready to give up on Jonah, asks him a simple question, "Is it right for you to be mad that the plant was destroyed?" Jonah says, "Yes, of course it is. I'm so mad about it that I could die and that's ok." God, ever patient, says, "You're worried about this plant that you have done nothing to create. It just appeared here as far as you're concerned. You have no investment of time or energy in its life. If you're worried about this plant, that was only around for a day and you did nothing to help it grow, why shouldn't I not be concerned about Ninevah and all of the creatures within her gates? Shouldn't I love them? I made them. I invested time and energy in their thriving. Shouldn't I be concerned?"
Anathea Portier-Young, in her commentary on this text, points out that, interestingly, this is the moment when the story stops. Did you notice that? Chapter 4, verse 10 is the end of the book.  We are given no idea if Jonah learns something new about God and mercy as he sweats in the heat of the day, waiting for God to be as mad at Ninevah as he is. The last time I preached on this text, I wondered if we should read the abrupt ending as an invitation to spend some time figuring out how we fit in this story. Might we be the Ninevites, more faithful than anyone expected, struggling to repent of our brutish ways and surprised by the mercy of a God we really didn't even know? Might we be Jonah, hoping so hard for bad news and bemoaning the grace that shows up instead?

     This story might also be inviting us to really consider what it means to make amends. Beth Tanner notes that modern Jewish communities read this text during the holy day of Yom Kippur, a day of atonement, which falls on September 25th this year. While we, as Christians, don’t need to try to take over a Jewish holiday, it is wise to look to our neighbors for insight about how we might learn from this text. Tanner says that this story shows us that “Salvation is pure gift and grace and Jonah’s story reminds us that we do not own that grace, nor is it ours to dole out as we wish.” May we go through this week remembering that the cruel can change their ways, that God can offer us challenges that we can rise up to, and that even if we have to pout under a tree for a little while, God is still with us, showing us how to love and love and love once more. May we hope for change of hearts as much as we hope for bad news to befall our greatest enemies.
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Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
Kathryn Schifferdecker: https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2347
Callie Plunket-Brewton: https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1214
Beth L. Tanner: https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=229
Anathea Portier-Young: https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=158
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     Today’s reading is terrifying and glorious.  Do you hear it? Do you feel it?  Isaiah certainly did.  And I’d like to invite you now to join Isaiah in this story.  Some people find this practice easier or more effective when they close their eyes. Make a choice you feel safe and comfortable with. But most importantly, open your ears and your heart. Give yourself permission to feel it.

     You remember where you are. You are standing at Isaiah’s shoulder in the calm evening. You are looking out of the huge, heavy wooden doors that close off the holiest of holies. The dwelling place of the ark.  It’s behind you now.  You’re looking out, into the calm of the courtyard beyond. It’s quiet.

     You remember when you are. The king, Uzziah, is dead. Who is king now? It’s not mentioned. Why? It’s not important.  You are with the true king here in this space. The only King that really matters in this moment is God. And you’re in God’s house.

     Suddenly, a rumble behind you. It starts small, some sand on the ground blows past your feet out to the courtyard. Your eyes go to the ground and slowly you look up behind you.  Then all at once everything erupts!  A God enthroned, only briefly glimpsed, whose robe fills the entire temple. You’re blinded by its folds of glorious fabric spinning through the air. Seraphim, six-winged angels of the lord, call out the Trisagion, the acclamation of God as thrice Holy, Holy, Holy! The only such Trisagion in the Hebrew Bible. Imagine the blinding light obscuring your vision of the One enthroned. The soft brush of their robe as it swirls around you still. The wind rushing from the beating of the six wings of each seraphim, the temple is full of them. A hurricane of heavenly wing beats. The sound of their voices shaking the doors of the temple as they sing out praises to your God!

     You close your eyes. You are in the presence of the Lord! But who are you? Why are you chosen to be here at this moment? You know you are not worthy to be in this space of heavenly majesty. In the middle of this cacophony of Divine Beings! You feel very small, very, very small. You fall to your knees and cry out! Woe is me! I am lost, for I am of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

     Expecting to be struck down at any moment, you are curled on the ground but look up at one of the seraphim breaks from the chorus, swooping from the altar fire to hover right in front of you. The rustle of the feathers from their wings sounds so familiar, you can almost feel it, you’ve held doves in your hands many times, but these wings. They are strong. The angel lifts a live, hot coal taken from the altar fire and presses to your lips. You recoil for fear of the searing pain it must surely bring, but instead, it is as if you are feeling your mouth for the first time. Once unclean, now made new again, and all through the divine power of God’s forgiveness.  Your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out!  What will you do now? You feel like you could sing the Trisagion just as loudly as the heavenly host assembled before you!

     And then, as if your new-found confidence and faith was broadcasting from you with pulsating lights, you hear the voice of the one unseen. The voice of the Lord asking, “Who shall I send? Who will speak for us?” You don’t hesitate. The liberating kiss of the hot coal’s forgiveness has cracked open your heart and without thinking you say “Here I am, send me!”

     Slowly. Slowly. Return to this space. Carry that feeling of overwhelming conviction and trust and faith. Hold it in your heart as you rejoin us now.

     This reading tells us that even when we think we are not worthy to be in a shared space with the divine, the divine sees through us. God sees not our unclean lips or the unclean lips of those around us, but the pure and eternally lovable center to each of our beings.  And God knows what that centered, open being is capable of.

     Today is about a calling.  A literal call from a God unseen, but whose presence is felt just as tangibly as you feel the chair you are sitting on now. It’s also about a man who thought, “You’ve got the wrong guy! I am very, very small.  I have unclean lips and am surrounded by other people who say things and act in a way that’s even WORSE than that!  How can I belong here, with you?”
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     But today is also about a God that forgives and cleanses, and asks, not demands, but asks, “Who will speak for me? Who will go out and “tell everyone in the world that I’m yours”? Today...  is about stepping up and saying, yes!

     But saying yes? That’s not easy! There are ten words, ten words that, when combined, form a question we’ve all asked and been asked more times than we can count:  What do you want to be when you grow up?

     Sure, this question is posed to kids all the time, but it is more and more unusual for folks well out of their childhood to still ponder this question themselves.  And as people of faith, we need to constantly ask ourselves “What am I called by God to do? What does God see in me through smoke and the swirling robe-filled temple? What has my mouth been unlocked to proclaim? When I lace up or slip on my shoes, where will I go to serve God and be a voice for God’s creation?”

     You don’t need to have it figured out just yet.  I certainly don’t. That’s the beauty of discernment.  We are all on a walk with God while we are out in the world, trying our best to speak up for God through our work, our exchanges with others, our presence.

     It’s also helpful to remember that not every encounter with God need happen in the holiest place on Earth.  It can happen in your office at work, on the bus, my most direct experience with God happened while I was alone in my bedroom when I was living in Canterbury. I had decided to investigate the New Testament a bit to see if there was anything more I connected to than just an academic interest in religion.

     And then I came upon Matthew 11: 28-30:  “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

     I felt a physical weight lift off of me. In the same way that that kiss of the hot coal freed Isaiah from guilt and sin, I felt freed from the voices of self-doubt and self-criticism that hounded me constantly.  For the first time in a long time, I felt like I could say “Here I am! This is me, the me that Jesus sees. The me that can go out in the world and set aside the doubt and fear, even just for a minute. and just exist. Listen to where the spirit would lead me.”

     And here I am now. With you all in this uncertain time. We are all being asked questions by God about how we will act. What will we say and do during the weeks, months, and years to come.  How will we speak for God in our community? Do you have ideas? I want to hear them! Do you need a partner? Look at the others on this call with you, journeying with you. What a crew we have! What a blessing God has given us. Let’s work together to say as loudly and clearly as we can. Here I am, Lord! Send me! 

     Amen!

​     Something that we should remember about the Apostle Paul is that he thought Jesus would be coming back at any minute. This anticipation of the second coming of Christ shaped so much of the letters he wrote to both the churches he started and the churches he wanted to build relationships with, like the church in Rome. In a commentary on Romans 13, J.R. Daniel Kirk points to verse 11 of today’s reading as a clear marker that Paul is waiting on Jesus who will return soon: “Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now that when we became believers.” Paul knows that the Resurrection is real and awaits Jesus’ promised return. He wants to be ready... to be prepared for Jesus’ return. This part of Romans is where he sets forth the foundation of his plan for preparedness. He said you have to start with love.

     The preparation was not simply watching and putting your life on hold while you wait. Instead, it was an active preparation. It was doing something... changing how you live. In her commentary, Valérie Nicolet points to Paul’s exhortation to “be in the world but not of the world” as one way Paul describes the complete change of life he believed Jesus could bring about in his followers. How we wait for God's new revelation in the world matters because it is how we practice being transformed by Jesus. And, the changes we make in our lives, particularly in how we treat our neighbors, is how Jesus transforms the world through us while we wait. Paul believed that the love we share from Christ out into the world can change things.

     Nicolet notes in her commentary that this is not a letter that is just telling people how to achieve individual salvation. It is a letter where Paul points to ancient Jewish religious law as a source for building those life-changing, world-changing relationships. Starting just before today’s reading and going into verse 10, Paul asserts the on-going holy usefulness of the Ten Commandments. In his introduction to Romans, Neil Elliott notes that Jewish people would have just been allowed to return to Rome after having been expelled from the city by the emperor Claudius. Just a few years before being expelled from Rome, in a history of the city of Alexandria, Avigdor Tcherikover described there had also been anti-Jewish riots in Alexandria. Jewish people were killed. Leaders in the community were publicly tortured. Synagogues were vandalized and closed. Jewish people ended up being confined to one portion of the city.

     These details of history matter because they would have shaped how Jewish followers of Jesus and Gentil followers of Jesus got along when worshiping together. According to scholars, there was already a tendency towards anti-Judaism among elite Roman citizens. That bias was trickling into Christian communities as Jews were forced to leave. Churches began to be predominantly Gentile. Once Jews began to return to Rome, there was bound to be tension. Paul, himself Jewish, needed to address this tension. He does so, in part, by affirming Jewish religious law as useful in creating a loving life while he also never requires Gentile believers to become Jewish. 

     Nicolet argues that for Paul, the diversity of the Roman church as evidence of God's work in the world. To see Jews and Gentiles, enslaved and free, poor and wealthy, all worshiping together, was an amazing testimony to God's hope for the world in Christ. In Christ, social distinctions that the culture understood to be tools for dividing people would be crossed, evidence of the power of the Gospel to bring people together. Paul believed that when you see a diverse community of people living and worshiping and praying and serving together, you see people who have been transformed by the Gospel. As Nicolet says this is salvation lived out socially... this is the Gospel practiced in community.

     Paul said, "Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law." This is both an affirmation of Jewish law as a standard for behavior and a way to set the expectation of behavior in a way that accessible to Gentile believers.  Remember, “one who loves another fulfills the law.” In asserting the centrality of love to a Christian life, Paul is following Jesus’ own interpretation of Jewish law. Jesus said, “Any other commandments are summed up in this word, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” The scholar has a particular poetic commentary on this text. I’ve shared a portion of it before, but I like it so much that I’ll share it again. Kamudzandu says “love is the grand ground on which everything grows and flourishes.” He goes on to say, “While hate and oppression dehumanize others, love, if well done and exercised, will give birth to a new world order, one in which healthy love can be nursed, grow, and flourish.”

     So, what does this mean for our modern church? Well, I would argue that this particular moment is one that certainly calls for the church to truly examine our actions by this metric of love. Right now, some of the loudest voices from Christian churches are far from loving. Folks will cry Jesus in one moment and in the next, with the same mouth, scream hate. If you never met a Christian before, what would our current political arguments that target transgender people for exclusion from civil rights, our book bannings, our mistrust of non-Christian immigrants, our restrictions of access to reproductive healthcare, tell you about the followers of Christ?  Would it sound like Christians are a community guided by love?
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     Even if those are not theological stances that this church takes up, as long as those actions get labeled “Christian,” all of us who claim the name Christian must contend with them. While we can’t only shape our lives by the things we don’t believe, with the rise of a dangerous Christian nationalism, now is the time to more fully, more loudly, more completely live out the love that we do believe. Dr. Kamudzandu says, “The church is indeed a place where persons can be organized, socialized, and mobilized to effectively love others.” I am deeply moved by the idea of church as a place where we practice love inside the walls so that we may love more fully beyond these walls. The love that we show each other here is practice for the love we are called to live out in community, especially with those who are different from us, especially in defense of those who are being attacked by Christians, in Jesus’ name. Let us take up this call to, as Dr. Kamudzandu says, have love be our lifestyle. May we put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and go out to love bigger.

     Moses.... have you heard of him? Born to an enslaved people? Saved by the brilliance of his midwives, mom, and older sister? Raised by the compassionate daughter of a man who was considered a God and was also deeply afraid of the power of the people he enslaved and his biological mother who was pretending to be a nursemaid? Murderer who leaves town to hide from punishment? Shepherd? Leader called by God who’s also often too nervous to talk to others so he recruits his eloquent brother to do the talking? Yes. That Moses.

     I don’t know if there are many people in the whole Bible who try harder to talk God out of calling them to great things. I mean, Jonah... you know, the one ended up inside a whale’s stomach for a couple days that one time... he didn’t really want to do the work God called him to. But, that was because he didn’t want to help the people God was trying to get him to help, not because he didn’t think he could help them. Moses, who grew up the grandson of the pharaoh but somehow managed to not learn any of the pharaoh's confidence, doesn’t seem to think he can help anyone.

     Even when God tells him that God will be with him through all of this, Moses isn’t sure he can do the job God wants him to do. In fact, he spends not just today’s reading but all the way to the end of chapter 3 and halfway through chapter 4 trying to convince God that he cannot possibly do the job. He only agrees to do it when God relents and let him take along his Hebrew brother Aaron. Only Abraham’s argument with God to save Lot from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah comes to mind when I try to remember anyone else arguing with God for so long to try to convince God to do something other than what God wants to do in that moment. Importantly, Abraham was able to convince God to spare Lot and his family. Moses was not able to talk his way out of a job. He was able to get a co-worker/confidante/company for when the work of a prophet got hard and lonely. His brother Aaron would be there.

     In a sermon he prepared for this Sunday before Labor Day, Mike Seavey, who you were able to hear from at the beginning of worship, argues that the dispute between the enslaved Hebrews and the Pharaoh can be understood as a labor dispute. He says, “In fact, this dispute is the ultimate of all injustices. The Egyptians have enslaved the Hebrew people, and their slave labor supercharges the Egyptian economy into the most affluent of the world.” The Hebrews were only in Egypt because of a famine back home. They had once been welcomed by a different Pharaoh.

     But, there is a new Pharaoh. And, this Pharaoh began to see the descendants of climate refugees as a threat instead of people who needed a safe place to be. When they were a threat, he could justify harming them. When they were a threat, he could coerce them into making him even more rich and powerful. Too often, the way to power is over the backs of the impoverished and desperate. Work.... labor is necessary to bring life into fruition. But, not all labor is worthwhile. Not all labor brings life. The Pharaoh used forced labor and poorly compensated labor to enrich and empower himself. It is the opposite of the labor to which God called Moses.

     In her book Womanist Midrash: A Reintroduction to the Women of the Torah and the Throne, Dr. Wil Gafney has done some powerful work lifting up the labor that allowed Moses to survive the fraught life of a slave into which he was born. Laboring by the side of many Hebrews who gave birth were Shiphrah and Puah, the midwives who refused to kill Hebrew children. They would risk their lives and lie to their boss to save the children. It is the labor of his mother, Jochebed, that welcomes Moses to life, and it is her labor of love to hide him for three months so that he will not be killed as the pharaoh had ordered. It is her desperate, but ingenious, plan that gets him in the arms of the Pharaoh’s daughter. And it is Jochebed’s bravery and skill that gets her the position of wet-nurse for Moses, thereby assuring that she is able raise him in his earliest years.

     Dr. Gafney notes that Jochebed may have been able to nurse Moses for five years. Five years that helped him know his identity as a Hebrew... that helped him maintain his relationship with his brother Aaron and sister Miriam, both of whom would accompany him in his labor as a prophet. Miriam herself had also worked as part of the plot to save Moses as a child. It is no wonder that she, who had learned the work of outsmarting a cruel pharaoh alongside her mother as a teenager, would later sing a song of freedom for her people after God saved her people at the sea.

     The princess, her servants, Jochebed, Miriam, Shiphrah, and Puah... all of their work together helped to raise up a man, Moses, who, as Dr. Gafney points out, cared enough about being Hebrew that he is willing to defend a Hebrew slave from an Egyptian overseer, killing the overseer and necessitating his move to Midian. And, even though he is not sure that he is capable enough to do the work God asks of him, it is clear that the labor of so many had loved him into adulthood and could carry him through his mission from God. Maybe some small part of him realized he could do the work he was called to if he wasn’t trying to do it alone.

     It is rare that we labor alone. And, perhaps Moses has some wisdom in asking for a coworker. Workers are always stronger when they join together, right? That’s the lesson we learn from Moses’ family. And, that may be the lesson that got him to stop arguing with God and go with his brother to fight for his people’s right to no longer be coerced into harmful work that did not benefit them so much as it benefited the rich person who owned them. May the Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Shiphrah, the God of Puah, the God of Jochebed and Miriam, inspire us to work together for good, even in the midst of systems that benefit from the kind of labor that destroys life, rather than creating it. And, may we remember Moses, who felt unable to do the labor to which God called him when he thought he had to do it by himself. May we find our Aarons, and walk with them, guided by God, into freedom.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:

Mike Seavey, Labor and Faith Liaison for the Maine AFL-CIO, shared a Labor Day sermon he'd written with me. I quote a line from it here. Mike came to church today to share some about ways faith communities and workers can work together.
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Wil Gafney's chapter on Exodus in Womanist Midrash: A Reintroduction to the Women of Torah and the Throne (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2017).

Romans 12:1-8 The New Life in Christ
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I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. 

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgement, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness. ​

     Pop quiz from last week: Who wrote the letter to the Romans? That’s right: Paul. Do you remember why he wrote them a letter? Right. He had a new mission, a trip to Spain, and knew he’d need the support of the church in Rome in order to do it. Did he know anyone at the church in Rome? Right. Probably not. He wrote the letter, in part, to introduce himself and explain what he believed about Jesus to a church that was not one he started.

     Paul talks about a lot of different things in this letter. One of the things that seems particularly useful today is the way he wants to help people figure out how to be a church together when everyone is different from each other. One of my favorite ways that Paul tried to help people understand how to work together as a church was to invite them to think of each of themselves as different parts of one body. He used this metaphor in today's reading and in another letter that we call 1st Corinthians. He explains it a little more fully in 1st Corinthians, so I'd like to share a little of that letter because I think it's helpful. If you want to practice being one body:

• Imagine that you are a foot.
• What does a foot do?
• Does a foot do all the same stuff that a hand does?
• Should a foot feel bad if it can't do the things a hand can do?
• What about an eye?
• What does an eye do?
• Can it do the things an ear can do?
• What about the nose?
• What if the whole body was a big nose? Would it be able to do all the things our body needs to do?

     You can tell from your answers that no one part of our body can tell the other parts that we don't need it. We need all the parts to work. And, if one part isn’t working, we need the other parts to help it. Church is like that, too. We need each other so that our body can be whole. And, when one part needs help, the other parts are there to pitch in.

     When Paul wrote the letter to the Romans, he also told their church that he thought the church was like a body. He said that God wants us to find a way to serve God by working together as a body works together. He said that it's important for us to not imagine the things that we each can do are more important or better than things the other members of our body can do. We must remember that we need all the different things that each one of us can do in order to be the church. Some of us will be teachers and some of us will be compassionate hosts and some of us will preach, and some of us will teach everyone how to share (and we'll all probably do a little bit of each one of these things). We really need to appreciate all the gifts each one of us brings. We need to love each other, be excited about our service together, be hopeful and empathetic when someone suffers, and we need to pray together. All of those things make our body stronger.

     Since school will be starting soon for the students and teachers and everyone who works at the school, while I don’t think public schools need to be like churches, I have been thinking that schools are kind of like bodies, too. Everyone has things they are supposed to do all together for school to work right. A few years ago, one of my friend's churches (many thanks to the Congregational Church UCC in Exeter, NH and Rev. E. Heath) shared a list of things that are important to do at school so that the school works well, like a body. I think it sounds a little like the things Paul wrote about church. Here's some things that they said that the student part of the body could do to help the whole body:

• Be a Good Friend- What are some ways that you can be a friend? Say hello to new students. Ask if you can eat lunch with someone who looks like they may be sitting alone. Share. If your friend seems mad or sad, ask what's wrong and if there is some way you can help. Any other ideas?
• Play Fair- Follow the rules of the games you play. Make sure everyone gets a chance to try to play. Don't get mad when you lose fairly. Practice. If you play team sports, encourage your teammates. Shake hands with the people you play against. Help others who don't know the games learn. Any other ideas?
• Don't Be A Bully- Don't make fun of people because they look or talk differently than you do. Don't make fun of someone just because they are new and don't know how to do everything. Make sure your friends know you don't like bullying. If you see someone being bullied, offer to be their friend. Ask a grownup if you need help when you see someone being bullied.
• Learn- Be excited about new things you read or hear. Ask questions. Work hard. Imagine ways to take what you're learning and help other people. Like with games, learning takes practice, too.

​     Do those things sound like good things for students to do to make sure the school body works well? Anything you'd like to add?

     Remember how Paul said there were some things that we all need to do in church to work as a body? He said, we need to love each other, be excited about our service together, be hopeful, be empathetic when someone suffers, and pray for each other. I think loving each other, being hopeful and excited together, and trying hard to understand other people's feelings are probably important for school, too. Maybe we get to practice these things at both at church and at school.... maybe we can practice them anywhere where are.
I was reading a professor named Frank Crouch who said that we carry with us in our bodies our faith. That’s one of the big lessons from Paul. Our faith in Jesus is supposed to shape how we live in this world and the actions we take in this world, both inside our church and outside of it. I hope, as the new school starts, we can pray for the members of this body returning to school... may they be safe, offer safety to others, learn so many good things, have great fun together, and work hard. May the students, teachers, lunchroom workers, janitors, coaches, and office staff all feel appreciated as members of their body of learning. And, may we in this church body, support them. 

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:

Frank L. Crouch- http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3375.
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The list for the kids comes from a post shared by the Congregational Church UCC in Exeter, New Hampshire, at the return of school in 2017. It was so good that I brought it back out to share once again.