One of my seminary professors talked about there being two kinds of prayers, “help me, help me, help me” and “thank you, thank you, thank you.” I think he got the idea from Christian writer Anne Lamott, who eventually wrote a book called Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers. Lamott, who came to a Christian faith from what I’ve read called her “rock bottom” from drug and alcohol abuse, understands prayer as a central feature of our shared faith. When she paid attention to her prayer life, she saw themes that she refined down to “help, thanks, wow” as an easy way to talk about the heart of her conversations with God. I remembered Lamott’s work and my teacher’s use of it when I read today’s scripture. Christian faith comes with many tools. Here, the first one James recommends in prayer.

     The scholar Cain Hope Felder describes today’s reading as “a litany of pastoral concerns.” As Kelsie Rodenbiker notes in her commentary on this text, though much of James is about pointed critiques of the community and clear instructions on how to maintain faithful integrity, the book as we have inherited it also acknowledges the struggles of the community and points them to the tools of the faith that can help them address those struggles. In her commentary on this text, Dr. Noelle Damico also reminds us that the small churches like the ones being addressed in James were likely made up mostly of quite impoverished people. James does note that there are wealthy people around, and sometimes they are given unearned privileges due to their wealth. Even with that being said, most of these churches were full of mostly poor people. And, it is hard to have what you need to survive when you’re poor.

     James believed that Christ compelled his followers to build a community that relieved suffering, not one that compounded it. An active, engaged prayer life was part of that relief of suffering.  Where the wealthy would have places of honor and privilege outside of the church, within the walls of the church, according to Damico, they were to practice living as equals with the poor. According to Dr. Damico, prayer, with and for one another, became one mechanism by which “the community orders and reorder itself as an assembly of equals, both in fundamental critique of the wider world and in loving support of one another as we seek God’s guidance for how to live.” Listening to and praying for one another helps us see each other as whole people, beloved by God, and worthy of compassion, care, and dignity.

     Prayer isn’t the only tool in the Christian’s toolkit, either. Music, companionship, and the sharing of medication are listed as tools of the church, too. Our church particularly appreciates the music part. Look at our choir and all the folks who have chosen to join. And, later in the service Jeff and Steve will share a piece of special music that Jeff wrote. Jeff wanted to share it today in honor of beloved and recently departed Joan Edwards. James specifically mentions songs of praise.... those sound like “thanks” and “wow” prayers to me, though “help” might show up there sometimes, too.

     The companionship and medication part is interesting, too. “Calling the elders” is a lot like receiving visits from the deacons or from me. I always pray with folks when I visit, if they’d like. And, I use oil in anointing sometimes. That can seem like a weird, ancient holdover into modern practice, it has roots in ancient healing practices. In his notes on this verse, Dr. Cain Hope Felder points that this oil isn’t simply a ritual element that brings a nice smell or holy ambiance to the prayer session. The oil was a common medicinal remedy. He cites some other verses where medicinal oil is used.

      Isaiah 1:6 talks about tending to bruises and sores with oil as a medical treatment. Also, in the healing scene in Mark 6:13, oil, alongside prayer, is used to heal sick people. During a purification ritual in Leviticus 14:10, 12, 15-16 where someone has been suffering from leprosy is examined to see if they are healed, oil was put on the right ear, thumb, and toe of the person who was healed. It wasn’t always easy to afford this medicine, so it is good that the church seems to be encouraging people to share it with one another, along with their companionship and prayers. Prayers and medicine are part of Christian faith, and so is the responsibility to make sure that people have access to both.

     Rodenbiker points out that in James, “the body belongs to the soul and the soul belongs to the body.” The sufferings of our soul and our body are connected, and both deserve attention and care within Christian community. The final portion of our reading addresses this connection. Confession is of use and an honor for us to receive. Gay Byron points out that confession In James also often means confessing to those whom we have wronged. Yet again, the spiritual behavior we are encouraged to adopt is a relational one. The Wisdom of God will shape us into people who care for each other... through prayer, through song, through companionship, through sharing of resources, through confession and amend-making.... if we will let it.

     Like Elijah, we are regular people invited into an active, prayerful faith. And, while we know that it is dangerous to pass along theologies that tell people God must be punishing them if their prayers aren’t answered, we can take this message to heart: The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. Byron points out that the final way that prayer is discussed in this reading is as a way to restore those who have been lost to community. Dr. Byron says of this portion of the reading, “For those who hold fast to an active faith, immersed in prayer and accountability, there is a path to life and freedom from sin.” Sin here is separation from God and from each other. This is ultimately our greatest calling when we pray for each other: we connect to each other and to God. May we not forget these basics of care in our faith and offer them to one another. In our suffering and in our cheer, may we pray our “help mes,” our “thank yous,” and our “wows.”

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
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an interview with Anne Lamott about Help, Thanks, Wow: https://www.npr.org/2012/11/19/164814269/anne-lamott-distills-prayer-into-help-thanks-wow

Cain Hope Felder's introduction to James in The New Oxford Annotated Bible: The New Revised Standard Version with Apocrypha, ed. Michael Coogan (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001)

Noelle Damico, "Proper 21[26]), Preaching God's Transforming Justice: A Lectionary Commentary, Year B Featuring 22 New Holy Days for Justice, Ronald J. Allen, Dale P. Andrews, and Dawn Ottoni- Wilhelm, eds. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011).

Gay Byron: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-26-2/commentary-on-james-513-20-5

     When last we were in conversation with James, we talked about the connection between wisdom and generosity. If you seek God’s wisdom and craft your life in such a way that you follow it, you will grow in generosity. Generosity is a behavior that clearly reflects what we can learn from God. Today’s reading discussed a second behavior: gentleness.

     Tasha and I just finished a tv series called The Perfect Couple. It’s a murder mystery show based on a novel of the same name. The family at the center of the story is very rich and also largely terrible. They are gathered together for a wedding... a son, who seems less self-absorbed and cruel than other members of his family, is marrying someone who appears to be quite down-to-earth and kind. The viewers are shown that this character, Amelia, is going to be “a good one” from the very beginning of the series in a sweet little scene with a ladybug.

     In the scene, Amelia wakes up in her soon-to-be in-laws' swanky Nantucket beach house and sees a ladybug on her bed. She gingerly scoops in up on a piece of paper and carefully walks through the big house in her pajamas. You can see the wealth dripping off the walls as she scoots by her very well-dressed and disapproving almost-mother-in-law to release the small creature outside. It is very clear that this moment of gentleness is supposed to convey something important about this character and also contrast her to the people she is around. Her outward gentleness is a reflection of the spirit within her.

     The show is very much about messy people who are dealing with some of the issues noted in today’s reading, particularly envy and selfishness. I don’t want to spoil the story in case you want to watch it, but I’ll go ahead and say that the standards of behavior lifted up in today’s scripture are... largely unmet by nearly every human you meet in this story. But, the writers and directors know seeing someone be gentle with a person or creature that is vulnerable moves us and can shape our perception of a character. The author of James knows that as well.

     “Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom.” Kelsie Rodenbiker, in her commentary on this text, points out that this conversation about gentleness seems to be in response to the first part of chapter three, which is about how people use their words for good and for ill. Verses 1-12 have a central theme: tame your tongue or start a problem you can’t control. Rodenbiker argues that God’s Wisdom, at least according to James, will help you build a consistent internal ethic that will keep you from using your words for harm.

     The author of James uses a kind of argument that is common in the Bible: there are two ways of doing something- a Godly way and an earthly way. Given that God created the earth and called it good, I am inclined to be cautious when equating the world with all that is “unspiritual and devilish.” I also got called “worldly” by a friend’s deeply devout Christian mom once, and she definitely meant it as a bad thing. That being said, James opts for comparing two things to make a point even though we know that there are more than two ways to act in the world. James is not know for mincing many words, and that is true in today’s reading. James thinks there is a right way and a wrong way to act. The right way is rooted in gentleness.

     Because James is addressing humans in relationship with other humans, James must address conflict. Paul was the same way, as were the Gospels. When you have people living and working together, you’re bound to have differences of opinion and disagreements about behavior. James argues that God’s Wisdom will ground our interactions with others in mercy, compromise, impartiality, and trustworthiness. Behavior shaped by bitterness, envy, and selfishness will lead to “wickedness and disorderliness.” This isn’t disorderliness like my messy desk in the office. James isn’t trying to convince you to tidy up your room. This is about disruptions that lead into ruptures in relationships and lack of care for neighbor.

     That which is inside us will make its way out. If Wisdom is inside of us, stability, reliability, and gentleness will be clear to those who observe us. But, James argues, if your desires and jealousies are at war within you, that tension will make its way out into your interactions with others. This is particularly true in spaces where there are extreme economic disparities. Cain Hope Felder, in his notes on this text, argues that envy that leads to violence that the author is addressing in chapter four, is likely evidence of a Christian community that is being shaped by economic inequality that is causing tension within the community. Some people simply, in not having what they want, create conflict with out of that envy.

     Casey Thornburgh Sigmon points out in her commentary that James had already had to call out this community for giving preferential treatment to the wealthy. We still need to hear from God’s Wisdom that the poor deserve as much respect, gentleness, and care as the wealthy. That’s part of why James continues to be meaningful today. In a world where we see that cruel results of unkind words wielded by powerful and envious people, people who often call themselves Christians, against the vulnerable on a regular basis, it is good to be reminded that Christians are called to do something different. Our faith is best lived out in our practices of mercy, gentleness, and impartiality. The book of James is clear: what is within us will be made clear outside of us. May we remember that God has offered us grace overflowing. May we cultivate that grace into wisdom. And, may that wisdom bloom into generosity and care. Our care might start with something as small as a ladybug. But it will assuredly grow from there.

 Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
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Kelsie Rodenbiker: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-25-2/commentary-on-james-313-43-7-8a-2

Casey Thornburgh Sigmon: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-25-2/commentary-on-james-313-43-7-8a

Cain Hope Felder's introduction to James in The New Oxford Annotated Bible: The New Revised Standard Version with Apocrypha, ed. Michael Coogan (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001)

Who is John the Baptist?

• A miracle child born to a couple who had given up hope that they would conceive.
• Jesus’ cousin who baptized him.
• A wild-man prophet accuser of kings.
• One who was killed in an act of political violence.
• Not Jesus

Who is Elijah?

• An Israelite prophet
• Enemy of Jezebel and accuser of kings
• Champion over the priests of Baal
• One who ascended into heaven
• Not Jesus

     Who are some other prophets from the Hebrew Bible? Isaiah, Elisha, Moses, Aaron, Miriam, Joshua, Deborah, Jeremiah. And, many more. Importantly, Jesus is not any of them (though the Gospel writers reference several of them when telling the stories of Jesus’ life).

     You maybe remember last week, as I was offering the blessing of the backpacks, I mentioned that Jesus asked a lot of questions that have been recorded in the Gospels. “Who do people say that I am” is one of them. “Who do you say that I am?” is another.  These questions about identity come after two interesting miracle stories with a story about an argument between them. The first miracle story is one of the stories about thousands of people coming to hear Jesus and him realizing they don’t have food, then taking a little bit of food his disciples round up and then making more than enough for the crowd (Mark 8:1-10). After this story, is a description of an argument between Jesus and some Pharisees (Mark 8:11-21).

     The Pharisees, who, like Jesus, were very concerned with following God’s law, ask for some kind of sign that Jesus is actually from heaven. He could just be tricking everyone, after all. Jesus gave them no sign and left with his disciples. Perhaps because everyone had bread on their mind after the big miracle, he tells his disciples to watch out for “the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.” They had no idea what he was talking about, and think he’s complaining about not having enough lunch. I think he’s telling them to be careful about listening to people who are suspicious of him and who are threatened by his work.

     Then, there’s this odd little miracle in Bethsaida that doesn’t seem to work the first time (Mark 8:22-26). Loved ones of a man who was blind brought him to Jesus to be healed. Jesus led him out of the village and put spit on his eyes. Laying his hands on him, he asked if he could see anything. Turns out that the spit did not work. The man appeared to be able to see a little more, but not fully. People looked like trees walking. Jesus touched his eyes again. This time, the man could see. Jesus sent him home but told him not to go back to the village. This is part of that whole secrecy thing that Jesus does in Mark. He often heals people and then instructs them not to talk about it.

     Jesus’ questions to his disciples follow this odd little miracle. Maybe you notice this pattern. A thing happens that shows us who Jesus is: A miracle.... A bit of teaching... An argument. Then, Jesus sits down with his disciples to see if they understand what they just witnessed. There’s a solid chance they don’t understand. What he wants to know is how they understand his identity. Why he needs to know is because their understanding of his identity will shape how they follow him. And, he needs to make sure that they follow him in ways that reflect who he really is.

     If you believe that hating transgender people is a core part of Jesus’ identity, you’re going to behave hatefully to transgender people. If you believe that Jesus hates non-Christians, you’re going to behave hatefully to non-Christians. If you believe that Jesus set this country aside for white Christians with ancestors from Europe to run, then you are going to craft a government that excludes people who aren’t white Christians with ancestors from Europe. Those are all things that some Christians believe and that affects how they act, both historically and in this very moment. It is wise to consider who you think Jesus is. I hope you will pay attention to the Bible when you make that determination.

     Peter answered Jesus’ question with “You are the Messiah.” Jesus then told him and the rest of the disciples not to tell anyone about him. In this moment, Peter seems to actually understand who Jesus is and it’s curious that Jesus wants to prevent him from sharing that insight more broadly. In her commentary on this text, Dr. Courtney V. Buggs notes that Jesus is described as silencing the disciples with the same language he rebukes demons and dangerous weather. Dr. Buggs points to the work of Emerson Powery to help explain why Jesus might be hesitant to allow his disciples to talk about him as a Messiah:
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“For Peter and most Jews, ‘Messiah’ (Christos) refers to a militaristic, political figure who would overthrow Rome’s power and establish a new Davidic kingdom, which itself would inaugurate the kingdom of God. Such a divinely authorized figure could not be the one who … would ‘suffer many things … and be killed.’”

     Buggs notes that when explaining his understanding of his identity to his disciples, Jesus uses the phrase “Son of Man.” This phrase means “Human Being” or “Human One.” Jesus will often call himself this rather than Messiah. The Human One will not be one who rides in triumphantly. The Human one will be persecuted and killed. And, he means real persecution. Not fake US political culture war persecution. The Human One’s loyalty to his mission will come at great sacrifice on his part.

     Peter is appalled by this and says so to Jesus, taking him aside and rebuking him. Now, I’d like to have a word with Jesus about why he zapped that fig tree that one time. I don’t think I’d go so far as to rebuke him if he was sharing his own understanding of his life and mission. Peter made a different choice than I would. And, he got called Satan for it.

     As Dr. Buggs makes clear in her commentary, the question of suffering and sacrifice in the context of following Jesus has been a contentious one since the time of Jesus himself. Peter did not want to imagine Jesus suffering and being harmed. Which, I understand. I would fear for a friend or teacher or even a messiah who I knew expected to anger people so much that they would kill him for it. I regularly do fear for friends and colleagues who make sacrifices of their physical safety in service to others. This scripture makes clear, though, that if our ideas about how who Jesus is are limited by concerns about safety in the face of oppression, we will find ourselves unwilling to make sacrifices necessary for following him.

     The Cross was a tool of political violence, often enacted on populations of people Rome sought to control. Notice that Jesus does not tell people that following him will allow them to put other people on the cross... will provide them with the power of life and death over someone else. Jesus does not invite people to follow him so that they can get revenge on the people who threaten them will violence every day. Jesus identifies with those who are harmed by the powerful. If you understand him as one who enacts violence, you are understanding him incorrectly. He is clear that he will be one who risks being a victim of violence to stand with the ones who are beloved by God. If you understand this part of his identity, you must follow him in doing the same.

     We must be careful not to take these words and turn around and demand suffering that we call redemptive from people who are already burdened. Remember those hungry people and that blind man from earlier in chapter 8? Jesus alleviated their suffering. What Jesus is talking about here is how to use power. He would not use his power to treat his adversaries the way that Rome treated theirs. Those of us who follow him will not use the power granted to us through the Holy Spirit to harm others. We will, instead, not consider our own comfort to be more important than the mission to which he calls us. That mission is healing and feeding, as we saw him do earlier in this chapter.

     This week, when you are presented with the opportunity to choose between what J. B. Blue calls “a life complicit with the old age ... and a life that witnesses to [God’s] realm,” you’ll point yourself to God’s realm rather than the status quo. It may be disruptive to plans you had already made or expectations you that were sure, but Jesus shows us that after the suffering comes the resurrection. Suffering is a part of this life, but not the purpose of it. New Life is. Who do you say Jesus is? May what we say always shape what we do.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:

Cheryl Lindsay: https://www.ucc.org/sermon-seeds/identity/

Alexander Rofé's article on Elijah in the Harper Collins Bible Dictionary, Paul Achetemeier, ed. (New York: HarperCollins, 1996)

Courtney V. Buggs: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-24-2/commentary-on-mark-827-38-6

Richard Horsley's notes on Mark in The New Oxford Annotated Bible: The New Revised Standard Version with Apocrypha, ed. Michael Coogan (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001)

J.B. Blue, "Proper 19 [24]," Preaching God's Transforming Justice: A Lectionary Commentary, Year B Featuring 22 New Holy Days for Justice, Ronald J. Allen, Dale P. Andrews, and Dawn Ottoni- Wilhelm, eds. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011)

     We’ve talked about Proverbs a couple times recently. Does anyone remember what the overarching goal of the book is? Right. To pass God’s wisdom, as experienced by elders, on to younger people. And, to encourage young people to develop a relationship with God. The book is also clear about what is and isn’t God’s wisdom, that is, wisdom worth seeking. Chapter 22 is about a specific aspect of wisdom: developing a reputation as a generous and fair person. How you get to be known as a generous and fair person is by taking care of people in need.

     Community UCC in Champaign, Illinois hosts a free weekly meal they call Jubilee Cafe. The people who come to eat are students from the local university, members of the church, and people who live in the broader community. Some people who come to eat have regular housing and easy access to food. Some of the people who come may have housing, but not a lot of extra money. Some people who come have no stable housing and very little access to good and safe food. The people who serve the food are members of the church and people in the community that who want to make sure everyone has something to eat.  I’m friends with their pastor, the Rev. Leah Robberts-Mosser, who shares stories about how the meals go each week.

     Proverbs tells us that “the rich and the poor have this in common: the Lord is the maker of them all.” This week, one of the folks coming for meal said: "This is the one place I visit each week," one of our Jubilee Cafe CUCC guests said to me tonight, "where I don't feel judged. I mean, look at me, Pastor Leah, I look homeless. I see how people look at me. But not here." That’s a common refrain that Pastor Leah shares: some of the people who come to eat don’t have a lot and that is clear to strangers who meet them. The strangers then make it clear that they think that poverty is a sign of moral inferiority. This church, and the people who work the dinner are working to see everyone who walks in the door as people made by God.
“Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity, and the rod of anger will fail. Those who are generous are blessed, for they share their bread with the poor.” On August 5th, Jubilee Cafe served Ukrainian vegetable soup, complete with sour cream and a side of perogies. They serve dine in and take out meals, 52 of the first and 15 of the second. For dessert, there was chocolate cake, chocolate mousse cake, mixed berry cobbler, or nectarine blueberry cobbler. That night, a man came in and asked, "Is this where the line starts?" Pastor Leah, like the rest of the volunteers, knows many of the regulars and didn’t recognize this man. He was new. She helped orient him to how they run dinner.

     She said, "Well. Welcome. You don't have to go through a line. You just have a seat and we'll serve you." It sounds a lot like our fish chowder set up. The man was floored though. He didn’t expect to be served. He said, "For real?!?" he exclaimed. "You serve me?" Hospitality is key to Jubilee Cafe. You all who have worked fish chowder or volunteer at the food pantry probably know this, too. People who need help surviving deserve to be treated with dignity but often aren’t, even at places that are supposed to be helping them.
Pastor Leah shared these thoughts on hospitality: “Hospitality has become an industry in our world, not a principle by which we live, not an ethic with which we shape our lives. When something is an industry, it becomes something poor people do not have access to.” The volunteers at Jubilee Cafe work hard to be consistent in their hospitality. It does people good to be cared for without judgement. In fact, this may be the most foundational act of Christian faith: caring for people. It certainly, according to Proverbs, is a sign that one has been shaped by God’s Wisdom.

     “Do not rob the poor because they are poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate, for the Lord pleads their cause and despoils of life those who despoil them.” People end up poor for lots of reasons, often systemic ones. And, there are plenty of people who are happy to take advantage of people who are desperate. That was true in the era in which Proverbs was written and it is true now. Have you seen that some grocery stores are experimenting with surge pricing so that if they find out that there is a disaster or a heat wave that they can change prices quickly and charge people more for things they need in an emergency? That is the opposite of God’s wisdom. Pastor Leah shared a story from Jubilee Cafe that shows us something more like the compassion God calls us to.

     Sometimes generosity is simply feeding people. Sometimes it’s figuring out why they are hungry.  Back in July, Jubilee Cafe was able to partner with some researchers who are trying to gather information that will ultimately be used to address food insecurity. Researchers from the Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy from University of Illinois Chicago came by dinner to talk to the people who came about their experiences with housing insecurity and food insecurity.

     What I appreciate about these researchers is that they didn’t just demand information and time from the people they talked to. They also offered them something in return. Everyone who responded to their survey got a modest $5 stipend and some snacks. Pastor Leah said, “I was so glad to partner with people who valued our guests enough to pay them for their wisdom.” Any work done to serve a population must be done in a way that doesn’t just extract information and energy from that population. I’m glad these researchers did something to address an imbalance that often comes with this kind of work.

     When I read of the good work this church and their friends are doing, I am struck by the ways that their actions, that is their hospitality and organization, have built a reputation for them as a place of dignity and care, as well as a place with good food. This is, to me, a community working on having the good name that Proverbs is talking about. May their wisdom help us see opportunities for generosity in our own spaces. May we remember that our wisdom will be made clearest in our compassion. And, may we extend compassion to all those made by God.
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Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
Rev. Leah Robberts-Mosser's posts about Jubilee Café:

• https://www.facebook.com/share/p/CYQjnWgiMwFPWS4N/
• https://www.facebook.com/share/p/pCEuooRW8unSweCE/
• https://www.facebook.com/share/p/LZGrckTrmz71mw4h/

Here's some good background on the Proverbs text:

• Megan Fullerton Strollo: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-23-2/commentary-on-proverbs-221-2-8-9-22-23-6
• Valerie Bridgeman: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-23-2/commentary-on-proverbs-221-2-8-9-22-23-5
• Wil Gafney: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-23-2/commentary-on-proverbs-221-2-8-9-22-23

     I’ve heard people say that a sermon can be “three bullet points and a poem.” I remembered that description when I read Margaret Aymer’s commentary on today’s scripture. She argues that it is an odd choice, or at least a choice that complicates preaching, to put these verses together as one reading. She says that this chunk of verses is really three introductions to three arguments that will be expounded upon later in the letter. When you were learning to write an essay, were you ever told to construct that essay by “saying what you’re going to say, say it, and say what you said?” I was... in fact, I was told that a good model for sermon writing, too.

     The letter that we know as the book of James is a letter that, according to Cain Hope Felder, began as a sermon written by James, Jesus’ brother, probably in the months before he was killed. Then, someone who was a very good writer and editor took that sermon and added to it. The editor then shared it with churches who shared it with other churches 20 or 30 years later in the late 80’s or 90’s. This was an era when the line between Judaism and Christianity wasn’t yet very clear, and many of the people who understood themselves to be followers of Jesus also understood themselves to be Jewish. Some churches of this era were predominantly Gentile. Some were a mix of Jewish and Gentile. And some were predominantly Jewish. The churches that circulated this letter were predominantly Jewish churches. Felder argues that this was a challenging time for those churches and it was useful and helpful for them to hear from a leader of the Jerusalem church. James, as leader of the Jerusalem church, would have been respected by Jewish Christians who lived in other parts of the Roman empire. So much so, that a letter credited to him would eventually become Holy Scripture.

     The letter that started as a sermon from someone nearing the end of their life, possibly knowing that they were in danger, written to uplift their own church, became a message to several churches about how to develop what Felder calls a “courageous faith that will help them cope effectively with the trials of life.” The ultimate goal for each Christian in developing this faith is to foster a deep integrity that leads them to acting lovingly and justly in the world. In James, there is a strong sense that your faith in Jesus is supposed to change how you behave in the world. James 2:17 says “[f]aith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.” You might recognize, as Felder points out, that this is a different view of the place of good works from other parts of the Bible, particularly the letters of Paul. Paul is very much concerned about what people believe. James is very much concerned with what people do because of their faith.
I told you earlier that I learned that one way to construct a sermon is to say what you’re going to say, say it, and then say what you’ve said. So far, I haven’t done that at all. I haven’t given you much a clue at all about what my point will be, have I. This is another way to write a sermon, by the way: Invite people to hear what you’re saying and hope they trust you enough to hang in there while you make your way to your point. I imagine that you might have gotten one hint from my sermon title: Do something. I actually think James is making a significant and important point here. Your faith should not just inspire you to think something. It should inspire you to do something.

     Our reading for today is an introduction to James’ ideas about how faith inspires action. First, we should consider ourselves children of God first, not simply products of the things we desire. As Margaret Aymer points out in her commentary, God has given birth to this community through grace. God is not tempting us as a test, because God does not give us what can harm us. God gives us what can give us life. That which destroys us is not from God. God gives us a word of truth that grows in us, as a blossom becomes a fruit on a tree. Our faith, first and foremost, is a gift, not a burden.

     Secondly, we who are inheritors of a word of truth, are to let that word bloom into relationships through faithful communication. Our first actions inspired by our faith are listening, thoughtful and care-filled speech, and patience. In acting in humility, according to Aymer, we cultivate righteousness with God. In attending to our communication with others, we are showing people something about how we understand what it means to be faithful to God.

     Thirdly, in understanding ourselves as having been given gifts by God as tools to build relationships, we are to use those tools in service of others. Our faith does little good in the world if it stays as a thought or feeling inside of us. Faith is to be expressed in the world. To be a doer of the word is to help create a world that looks like God wishes. That’s how Margaret Aymer describes a world shaped by God’s law... seeing things as God wishes. And, God wishes for the most vulnerable people in a community to be cared for. In the language of scripture, God calls for care for orphans and widows. These are people without relationships that will sustain their lives. To follow Christ is to build sustaining relationships. Blessings will come to those who live out this life-sustaining faith by being moved into action on behalf of neighbor.

     What are the relationships that are sustaining your lives these days? Who are you being called to listen to more patiently? What is God calling you to do in this moment? This present moment is one that requires great care, deep listening, and real relationships. I think James is a useful word in helping us navigate our current complexity. Because this is a moment that needs faithful doers of the word invest in care for those who need it most. May we remember that our faith is born out of holy generosity. And, may we cultivate a faith, with Christ, that grows more love and justice in this world. It is time to do something. Let us pay prayerful attention while we discern what that something is.
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Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
Margaret Aymer: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-22-2/commentary-on-james-117-27-6
Cain Hope Felder's introduction to James in The New Oxford Annotated Bible: The New Revised Standard Version with Apocryphya, ed. Michael Coogan (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001)

Proverbs 9:1-6  Wisdom’s Feast

Wisdom has built her house,
   she has hewn her seven pillars.
She has slaughtered her animals, she has mixed her wine,
   she has also set her table.
She has sent out her servant-girls, she calls
   from the highest places in the town,
‘You that are simple, turn in here!’
   To those without sense she says,
‘Come, eat of my bread
   and drink of the wine I have mixed.
Lay aside immaturity, and live,
   and walk in the way of insight.’

     In his introduction to the book of Proverbs, Harold Washington describes the purpose as “transmit[ting] insights whereby one might learn to cope with life.” This is a book of wisdom collected from elders and from life experience to pass along to younger people, particularly young men who are approaching the age of adult responsibilities. Washington notes that while this collection of knowledge is attributed to Solomon, it was likely collected from many sources over many years before it became what has been passed down to us. A key instruction in Proverbs is to seek God’s Wisdom above all things. And, Wisdom is quite appealing.
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     Wisdom is a woman at work. In just six verses, she builds an entire house. It sounds like it’s not a very small house either. She needs a big space to host all the people she has invited. You see, Wisdom’s invitation is open to everyone. She will always make more room at her table. To make sure she can host everyone, she directs her staff and works alongside them. Her home will be both practical and beautiful.

     I learned a while ago that the seven pillars mentioned here are more like monuments than simple structural elements in the home. They would have been hewn from trees or carved from stone with the intention of honoring God and marking this home as a site of something holy and good. This is skilled work, work done with years of training and practice. They were crafted, beauty drawn out of raw material to give glory to God and show hospitality to her guests. Her work didn’t stop with construction though. Next, she started cooking.

     Close your eyes and imagine a good host at work in a busy kitchen. How many of you are imagining a woman? Who are some of the women you are imagining? That is how I picture Wisdom in this story. She asks for help if she needs it and will give you a job if you walk in the door.  Wisdom brings out the good wine and the sparkling grape juice for the guests in recovery. The table is set. I know the whole house smells good.

     There is a home. There is a space to honor God. There is food and drink. All that is left is the guests. She sent the girls from her household out to bring the neighbors. Then Wisdom herself went out with the girls, and started shouting an invitation from the highest places in town. I have often wondered if this reference to “the highest places in town” is supposed to remind us of the places in the Bible that are called high places, that is, places where altars have been built to honor the various gods of the region. People also worshiped this God in those places. In 1st Samuel 9:12-24, Samuel makes a sacrifice to Yahweh at Ramah. So, in this introduction to Wisdom, she starts at the place of worship and then invites people to her home. There is an increased measure of intimacy in going from a public place of worship to a cozy place for a meal.

     She is not just inviting the wealthy or the powerful or even people she knew particularly well. This is not a dinner party for the well-connected and important. She invites strangers, people she’d never met before, especially the people with the greatest need... this translation calls them “the simple” or “those without sense.” They are issued a special invitation to this dinner. The great thing about Wisdom is that she always has enough to share. The kind of Abundance Wisdom offers is used to help the ones who need it most first. And, Wisdom will make sure there’s enough insight ready so that anybody can have some if they ask. 

     Several years ago, I read a commentary on this text by Dr. Wil Gafney who offered what I think is a useful explanation about what this Bible usually means when it’s talking about “wisdom.” She says that wisdom is not simply intellect. It is also skill, expertise honed by experience and practice. A person who is wise does not come to wisdom immediately. Wisdom is cultivated in the same way that an apprentice learns a skill from a master. Wisdom is your grandmother showing you how to add enough flour to dough to keep it from sticking as you roll it out. Wisdom is the one who makes sure to teach you to point the knife away from your thumb, not towards, when you whittle, so you don’t slip and cut yourself. Dr. Gafney calls this kind of knowledge “heart-and-head knowledge.” So, when we read about wisdom, we’re reading about teaching, practicing, listening, and knowing all wrapped up together.

     Dr. Gafney also made a list of some people who are called wise in the Hebrew Bible: the people who build a resting place and home base for God in the book of Exodus; in Deuteronomy, the people of Israel who keep the Torah, God’s commandments, are called wise; the shrewd woman who leads her people and saves them from death in 2 Samuel 20:22; and King Solomon, in 1 Kings 4, who was able to build a country because he uses his wisdom to build up his people. With their lives as examples, Dr. Gafney crafts a definition of wisdom that is what she calls “craft: statecraft, Torah-craft, craftwomanship, craftsmanship and craftiness.” Wisdom is using all your wit, all your training, all your intuition honed by experience, to honor God and to save your people. Your wisdom is not just for you, it is for your community. But, you have to want it. You have to seek it out.  The portion of Proverbs that we read today is about teaching people to crave insight and understanding the same way they crave a good meal in a lovely home crafted by a strong and smart woman. When Wisdom invites you over, you would do well to accept that invitation.

     From the earliest days of our faith, well before there was anything called Winthrop Congregational Church United Church of Christ, well before there was even anything called Christianity, there was Wisdom and there was an invitation. Our faith began with hospitality and practice and people working together to build something beautiful and useful. We who read these words in this day are returning, yet again, to Wisdom’s table when we hear her call. May we ever learn to build with her... to craft a table of welcome, to offer a meal of compassion and care, to construct monuments in our hearts to God’s love and justice. May we be inspired by the girls of the household, servants who take to the streets to invite others to the feast. We can always add another leaf to the table and pull up another folding chair. Let us not forget that the model of our faith is a full table and a full house where there is always enough to eat if you but ask for it. May we share Wisdom’s invitation, God’s invitation, with others who need some space at the table and a little food to eat. Wisdom is building her house. May we pick up our tools and work along with her. 

     Sometimes, you just need a nap and a snack. That, I think, is among the greatest lessons from today’s reading: sometimes, you just need a nap and a snack and then you can keep going. Elijah has found himself laid up under a tree in a foul mood after a tense, but ultimately victorious, run-in with the prophets of Baal. He was a prophet during the reigns of two different kings, Ahab and Ahaziah. His primary antagonist was a queen named Jezebel, who was married to Ahab. She was Phoenician and as devout to her god Baal as Elijah was to his God. In fact, as Cheryl Exum notes in a brief introduction to Jezebel, we might consider Jezebel to be a “a zealous missionary” for her God. She exerted a fair amount of influence on her husband, much to God and Elijah’s annoyance.

     Ahab and Jezebel, in opting to worship Baal, set the northern kingdom of Israel, also called Samaria, on a course towards great conflict with God. There was a great famine called down upon the nation due to what scripture called Ahab and Jezebel’s sinfulness. Unfortunately, all too often, regular people suffer due to the actions of their leaders. Elijah was able to hide out and survive the famine due to God providing food for him, first by ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and evening (does that sound familiar to anyone?) then through an empowered widow who shared what she had with Elijah.

     When we read about the conflicts between Elijah and Jezebel, Ahab, and the priests of Baal, we are also reading about a conflict between gods. Part of Elijah’s role as prophet is to demonstrate that his God has the true authority over Israel. The conflict came to a head when God told Elijah to go see Ahab, and, once there, Elijah told Ahab to assemble four 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah at Mt. Carmel. Ahab also called up everyday Israelites to observe the showdown, hoping to entice them to following Baal. They show up but seem to ignore the king. Then, Elijah describes the competition he is going to have with all of the hundreds of other priests. Him versus all of them. 
       
     If it was a Western movie, this would be the showdown in the main street of the town. Instead of a shoot-out, it’s a complex, hours long ritual involving asking the gods to set some sacrificed bulls on fire. Baal’s priests tried first, shouting for Baal to answer them while walking around their altar and even offering sacrifices of their own blood. All their effort was to no avail. Elijah, however, had great success. Inviting the Israelites to crowd around him and help him, he prepared his altar and bull, even inviting the crowd to soak the butchered animal with water.  When he prayed aloud, “ O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your bidding. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.” And, of course, God’s fire falls onto the bull that has been butchered as offering, as well as the altar, and burns it up. The fire even burns up the water that had pooled around the altar.

     As always, the miracles have a purpose, and this is to show that God is more powerful that Baal. The Israelites in attendance are duly awed by what they see. Then Elijah orders something harsh. He has the crowd round up his opponents and they kill all of them. As a Christian pastor who is aware of our long history of killing people of different religions specifically because they don’t follow the same one as ours, I find this mass killing disconcerting, especially as it is celebrated as a sign of God’s provision and power. I don’t think a large force killing a smaller group of people is a sign that God is standing with the people who won. But the people who compiled this story and wrote it down and passed it along as holy certainly saw this battle as a sign of God’s power. We modern readers must contend with that.

     For now, though, in order to get to the tree where we first encountered Elijah, I will offer that the text finds this battle of the priests to be a good thing, and a sign of how empowered Elijah is. Even though Jezebel threatened him with retribution after the massacre of her priests, you still might expect someone who had just had such a resounding win to feel optimistic about his work and his capabilities, and, frankly, God’s willingness to show up and support him. But, as Iain Provan points out in his notes on the first few verses of chapter 19, Jezebel is made of tougher stuff than her husband, and Elijah takes her threats to heart, and flees to south out of Samaria into Judah to hide.

     If we were going to psychologize this ancient story, which I don’t always recommend we do, we might note that lots of people describe feeling down after achieving a major goal. I’ll share an article about this phenomenon when I share the sermon later in the week. David Garber, in his commentary on this text, notes that this contest with the priests of Baal and Asherah one of the most memorable and important events in Elijah’s life as told in 1st Kings. Between the down feelings that accompany the end of a major life event and the threats from the powerful queen, it’s no wonder that Elijah ends up grumpy under a tree. That being said, if we who aren’t in the midst of the post-event crash remember the story about the ravens and the widow, we might also remember that God has always provided for Elijah, and therefore can be trusted to continue to do so.

     Last week I talked about the Israelites being hangry. Maybe that’s what happened to Elijah. Or maybe he’s burnt out. Or, maybe having so many deaths on his hands is weighing on him. Whatever ever the case, his grumbles of “take away my life,” seem dramatic and also familiar. Garber, in his commentary, notes other prophets shared similar sentiments. Jonah also sat under a tree wishing he might die (Jonah 4:8). Moses, after a big fight when the Israelites, asked God to end his life (Numbers 11:15). Fortunately, in all of these stories, malaise and despair are not as powerful as God’s word. 

     An angel brings a message from God along with a poke in the arm. “Get up and eat.” Fortunately, Elijah had the sense to listen. He got up and ate and drank, but went back to sleep. Then the angel went into what one of my friend’s called mamaw mode, prodding the exhausted prophet to wake up and eat some more. “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.” Who here has had the good fortune of having someone love you enough to hassle you into taking care of yourself? That’s basically what God is doing for Elijah through the angel. This thing that felt like the end isn’t and I will keep taking care of you as I always have. Having been bolstered by a nap, food, drink and divine pestering, Elijah no longer feels like he must curl up and die. And, he has enough strength to make the 40-day journey to Mount Horeb, the mount of God.

     Horeb is also called Sinai. It was where Moses had a great encounter with God. There, Elijah will get the next part of his mission from God. God tells him to anoint three different men to be kings of different areas, and to anoint Elisha to be the prophet who will follow in Elijah’s place. Three new kings and one new prophet. Man, it’s amazing what a nap and a snack can do! This is the third Sunday in a row where our readings are about someone being fed. Miracle stories are here to show us something about the nature of God. And, the God we encounter in this story realizes that our physical needs are not disconnected from our spiritual ones. Rather than chastise Elijah for his lament, Garber points out, God just feeds him, because that’s what he needs in that moment.
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     If you are in Elijah’s place right now, I hope you find the rest and sustenance you need, maybe right here in this church. If you are in the place of the messenger, I hope you take seriously the call to offer food and respite to those who have been pushed to despair. May we have space to nap when we need it and sustenance for our journey.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
David Garber Jr: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-19-2/commentary-on-1-kings-194-8-7

Alexander Rofé's entry on Elijah in HarperCollins Bible Dictionary, ed. Paul Achtemeier  et al (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1996)

J. Cheryl Exum's entry on Jezebel in HarperCollins Bible Dictionary, ed. Paul Achtemeier  et al (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1996)

Iain Provan's notes on 1 Kings in The New Oxford Annotated Bible: The New Revised Standard Version with Apocryphya, ed. Michael Coogan (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001)

About feeling down after a big accomplishment: https://hbr.org/2015/02/staying-motivated-after-a-major-achievement

The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. The Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. The Israelites said to them, ‘If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.’
Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not.
Then Moses said to Aaron, ‘Say to the whole congregation of the Israelites, “Draw near to the Lord, for he has heard your complaining.” ’ And as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the Israelites, they looked towards the wilderness, and the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. The Lord spoke to Moses and said, ‘I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them, “At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.” ’
In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, ‘What is it?’ For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, ‘It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.
.

     I saw a shirt somewhere that said “please don’t be mad at me for what I said when I was hungry.” As it happens, some people get a little cranky when they haven’t eaten in a while. Some people call it being “hangry,” that is, hungry and angry. There are apparently scientific reasons having to do with blood sugar and cortisol levels that explain why some people get hangry. I think the Israelites in the wilderness are sounding pretty hangry.

     When we encounter the Israelites in the desert, we learn that many of them have grown very worried and possibly hangry out in the wilderness. Despite having experienced the great power of God... the plagues that rained down upon Egypt... the opening of the sea so they could cross unscathed... the destruction of the Pharoah and his army... the miraculous pillar of fire and cloud that led them towards freedom.... they had seen all of that, and still weren’t sure that God would care for them in the desert.  In their fear, they began to complain. The very first thing they complained about is the food... or the fear that they won't have enough of it. What is the use, they say, of escaping Egypt if we are just going to die of starvation here in the desert?

     Several years ago, while researching for another sermon on this scripture, I came across this quote from Margaret Atwood's book, A Handmaid's Tale that expressed a sentiment so similar to what I hear in the fears of the Israelites. This is the third or fourth time I’ve preached on this scripture in the last ten years, and I still think the Atwood quote is worth sharing. It is a few lines spoken to women who have been recently enslaved, who will soon be coerced into carrying children for the people who have enslaved them. This overseer-type character says, “Girls, I know this must feel very strange. But ordinary is just what you're used to. This may not seem ordinary to you right now, but after a time, it will. This will become ordinary.” The quote is from portion of the book that shows the process by which Christian fascists physically and mentally break down these women in the process of enslaving them, a process that very much mirrors tactics of enslavement inflicted on Black women throughout US history.

     I think what I appreciate about the quote in particular, and what reminds me of the Israelites when I read it is that it shows clearly that something that has been made ordinary, that is, what has been made common particularly by coercive measures, is being called good. We’ve seen this process before. Slavery was common in this country, and it was certainly not good. Racism is common, and it is certainly not good. People who are ill are discarded with no social safety nets in place, and it is certainly not good. Just because something happens all the time, that doesn’t make it good.

     And yet, even when people know that just because something is ordinary that does not make it good, it can still be terrifying to do something new. Even though humans are capable of adapting to so many difficult situations, a new, good situation that is different from a familiar, bad situation will stop people short. Sometimes it is just too hard or too scary to be in the unfamiliar place full of potential.  Some would choose the ordinary, even when it is slavery, rather than reach for the extraordinary, even when the extraordinary promises liberation and grace and new life.

     In the midst of the wild and unknown desert, the Israelites crave the ordinariness of their lives of slavery. In Egypt, they least they knew what to expect in their days. As they clung to their former routines, romanticizing an oppression that was stable rather than embracing a liberation that was unpredictable, they complained to Moses and Aaron. It’s like they forgot, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that God could take care of them. Even though God was actively taking care of them in the moment, they were still afraid.

     I appreciate God’s response to the Israelites hangry complaints to Moses and Aaron. God doesn't lash out at them and call them big whiners or say “hey, if you don't like freedom, you can turn around and go back to where you came from.” Instead, God just feeds them. And, in feeding them, teaches them a new way to live guided not by the oppressive stability of Pharaoh’s slavery but by God’s ever-sustaining care.

    God asks the people to harvest their food on a particular schedule. Scholars I have read point out that this schedule is far from arbitrary. When you have lived under government-enforced scarcity, you might develop a habit of storing up more that you need because leaders control access to resources as a means of controlling your behavior. God is going to be different though. God is not be going to be an enslaver who withholds food to punish you. God will always provide enough.

     In a commentary on this text, Scholar Anathea Portier-Young offers a beautiful connection between the rhythm of the first creation story in Genesis and the rhythm of the Israelites' harvest to help show how God is helping the Israelites reorganize their lives around the liberation and interconnectedness God intended for humanity at creation. Portier-Young notes that Genesis repeats the glories of each day's creation and finishes with the statement, "there was evening and there was morning" and then counts the day. Exodus gives us different words to similar beat. There was quail, and there was bread, and then there was another day. Within God’s required harvest rhythm, there is even a reminder of the special nature of the seventh Sabbath Day of holy rest. On the sixth day of Israelite food gathering, there will be extra so that they don't have to gather food at all on the Sabbath.

     I’m not going to tell you that the manna and quail fixed everything for the Israelites. If you keep reading Exodus, you’re going to see them complain a lot more over the next 40 years. And, yet, at this point in the story, we watch them begin to shift their habits away from the habits designed to keep them alive while enslaved into the habits that will reintroduce them to liberation and connection that God had intended for them. The meaning of their labor will shift. Instead of labor that further enriched an already rich man, their work would go to feeding themselves and their people. They would have constant reminders that hoarding was contrary to what God hoped for them. And, time for rest and worship became ordinary for them once again.

     Just like the Pharaoh, there are people who benefit from us being too comfortable in living situations that do us harm. Today’s scripture reminds us that we don’t have to continue those patterns of living simply because we know how to do them. God did not create humanity to toil away for someone else’s gain. God did not create us to ignore our neighbor’s pain. We have been created to live lives marked by meaningful labor and communal care, lives shaped by trust in God’s provision and not by fear of scarcity. My prayer for the day is that we may never mistake comfort for faithfulness and that we may be confident that there is more than enough for humanity to survive without taking from each other. May our hunger for justice always outweigh that hanger that makes us afraid.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
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Why some people get mad when they are hungry: https://health.clevelandclinic.org/is-being-hangry-really-a-thing-or-just-an-excuse

Anathea Portier-Young: http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3433

Thomas Long: https://www.onscripture.com/imagining-economic-justice

Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 1986)
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     The last time I preached on this passage from 2nd Kings, I asked some folks what they would do if they had to suddenly feed a bunch of people. The answers ranged from “order a bunch of pizza” to “buy out all of the pasta and sauce at the local convenience store” to cooking up giant buckets of chili and pots of lentils and roasting veggies and garbanzo beans. Feeding hungry people is a vital part of scripture, both in the Hebrew Bible and the Gospels. Today’s reading is about a time when a prophet, Elisha needed to feed a bunch of people. In doing so, he showed them something important about how God’s love works in the world.

     We are continuing to work our way through introductions to ancient biblical prophets. In a summer when there is so much political upheaval in our country, it seems wise to pay attention to those whom God directed to offer corrections to their own nations. The scholar Walter Brueggemann argues that the books of First and Second Kings are books that offer theological interpretations of Israel’s history from the time of Solomon’s reign over a united Judah and Israel through the eventual return to a separate northern and southern kingdom into the time of Judah’s defeat by Babylon. Elisha, the prophet in today’s reading tasked with feeding 100 people, was from the northern kingdom and successor to the prophet Elijah. In his description of Elisha, Dennis Bratcher describes the former farmer as “a man of wisdom and worker of miracles both on behalf of his nation in times of crisis and in the lives of individuals in time of need.” Miracles weren’t just for showing off. They were for showing people something about the nature of their God.

     If you are the prophet Elisha, and a group of a hundred people is sitting in front of you, people who are living in the midst of a famine, as the 100 people in this story are, you know that they need to be fed. And, because you are a prophet, you want to remind people of the love and compassion of God. Everything you do is an attempt to reconnect people with their covenant with God. That’s how the scholar Dora Mbwayesango describes Elisha’s work: reconnecting the people to their covenant with God. In such a case, if people are hungry, the most appropriate use of your God-given prophetic powers is to feed those hungry people.

     Importantly, though, he doesn’t do this miracle alone. Because he is a prophet and known to be close to God, a stranger brought Elisha an extravagant gift as an offering to God: twenty loaves of barley and many fresh ears of grain. Dr. Mbwayesango said that kind of offering is usually made to a priest at a sanctuary. This offering is also far more than was asked to be given to a priest (Leviticus 23:10-14). Elisha, who follows a caring and powerful God, knows what to do with extra, unexpected food: Share it. Even with the extra food, the other people in the story are pretty sure it won’t feed all 100 people. Elisha’s servant even worries that the people will fight over what little there is.

     While we know that scarcity can inspire people to all manner of conflict, Elisha was sure there would be enough food and told the servant, “Give it to the people and let them eat, for thus says the Lord, ‘they shall eat and have some left.’” Thankfully even though he was worried, the servant put out the food. And, all the people came. All the people ate. And, just like Elisha knew would happen, there was some left over.

     In just a few short verses, we get a lovely example of how the God we encounter in scripture is involved in the world. First, we have empowered people ready to respond to needs that they observe. God tasked Elisha with tending to the people. When Elisha paid attention to the people around him, it was clear how he could serve them. Second, we have faithful people who follow the best of their traditions, in this case, a man bringing food to a priest, even in times of famine. In challenging times, it is good to remain grounded in your values, and carry on traditions that are meaningful and useful. Sharing food with the priest ended up being both. Third, we have an example of a person who, despite having reasonable fears, chooses to act in the most faithful way possible. Though the servant was concerned that they wouldn’t have enough and that the people would respond to what they lacked with violence, in the end, he trusted Elisha and did what he asked. He didn’t allow his fear to stop him from trying to help those who needed it. May we all have an Elisha who won’t allow our fear to overwhelm our ability to be generous with what God has provided us.
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     The Divine creates and nurtures life in occasions like this, and connects us to one another by allowing us a part in this creative and loving work. This story from 2nd Kings shows us what covenant is all about: remembering the promises we’ve made to love our neighbors, working together for God’s purposes in this world, sharing our abundance, refusing to allow fear to stop us from helping each other, and, possibly most importantly, remembering how God has empowered us to be a part of the covenant. In writing about this text, Casey Thornburgh Sigmon notes that “God does not act unilaterally without human collaboration to bring life from death.” We do not have to see suffering and ignore it because none of us can address it by ourselves. Every day, the Spirit brings us the people and resources we need to take care of each other. May we hear the voice of the prophets that remind us that we are not in this world alone, and may we remember that the God who loved us into existence is with us when we extend that love, in concrete ways, to those who need it most.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
Walter Brueggemann, An Introduction to the Old Testament: The Canon and Christian Imagination (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003)
Dennis R. Bratcher, "Elisha," HarperCollins Bible Dictionary, ed. Paul Achtemeier  et al (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1996)
Casey Thornburgh Sigmon: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-17-2/commentary-on-2-kings-442-44-5
Dora Mbwayesango: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-17-2/commentary-on-2-kings-442-44
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     It is challenging to write a sermon while the news rolls in of what looks to be an assassination attempt of the former President while he is on the campaign trail. Political violence is not new in our country, unfortunately. Most of the adults in the room were alive when someone tried to assassinate Pres. Reagan. Many remember the assassinations of Pres. Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X. Gabby Giffords was attacked while she was meeting with constituents in her home state of Arizona in 2011. A group of men plotted to kidnap Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer just four years ago.  Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul was attacked in their home just two years ago.

     We might even remember the attempted assassination of Teddy Roosevelt while he was campaigning in 1912. Professor Marcelius Braxton notes that Roosevelt was shot before his speech, ordered that his shooter not be lynched when he was immediately captured, and went on to give his speech with a bullet in his chest. He survived, carrying that bullet in his chest the rest of his life, but lost that election. Presidents Mckinley and Lincoln were not so lucky, both succumbing to injuries from assassins.

     Political violence is not new to our country. I barely scratched the surface by describing attacks on well-known politicians and activists. Attacks on union organizers, kids integrating schools, houses of worship, and people registering community members to vote are political violence, too, and have long shaped our shared lives as Americans. And yet, just because something happens regularly, that doesn’t make it right. Just because political violence continues to be a reality with which we much contend, that doesn’t make it an appropriate part of our political process. Even as our history shows us groups and individuals willing to deploy violence to shape our political process, if our goal is to have functioning democracy, we cannot rely on political violence to govern.

     The violence of last night could easily beget more violence in retaliation. Some people will benefit from violence. In a letter sent out last night, Common Ground USA, an organization that, among many things, works to address political violence, pointed out that those who deploy political violence want to “inflame tensions, sow chaos, and drive escalation of further violence.” That violence does not benefit humanity or, frankly, the world. That violence has not yet happened though. And, we do not have to let it.

     Here is what Common Ground USA reminds us. First, we have a choice. Each of us individually and all of us collectively. We can choose to pursue a shared political life with no tolerance for threats of violence, for harassment, and for violence towards activists and politicians. We can opt to develop the skills and relationships to make sure that our public spaces are safe enough for all American to gather, speak, and organize politically. They’ve got something called “The Peacemaker’s Toolkit” that I’ll share with the church in our Newsy Note. They offer up a definition of peace as “the presence of justice, belonging, and fellowship.” This is a peace that we can build, not something that just blooms out of thin air.

     When Common Ground USA talks about peace, they also note that this peace they believe we can cultivate usually has what they call “vital signs”:

• Safety- how safe do people feel in a community and what makes people feel safe
• Personal power- do people believe that they have the ability to create positive change in the community and are they taking steps to create those changes
• Unity- how much do people trust each other? Especially across difference? Do people feel polarized? Do some people feel like another group is a threat to their ability to be a part of the community?
• Trust in leaders- do people feel like their leaders and institutions actually take all people’s needs into account while making decisions? 

     We can cultivate peace by being attentive to each of these vital signs. And, each of the vital signs impacts the others. People with low trust in leaders often feel like they have little ability to create positive change. People who don’t trust their neighbors don’t feel safe and don’t make the community safe for other people.
We’ve spent several Sundays this summer talking about prophets. Today’s scripture introduces yet another. Amos, like other prophets, was called up during a time of conflict in the nation, though it wasn’t a time of war per se. It was a time of deepening inequality. The book of Amos is addressing two significant culture issues of this era: 1) the increasing wealth of the elite of the both the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah that was being built on systems of mistreatment of poor people and 2) the looming threat of Assyria, which was itching to build up their own empire.

     What is likely of most use to us today is that Amos understands that faith in God not just to be about an individual person’s religious commitments, but about an entire community’s ethical behavior. Gregory Mobley, in his introduction to Amos, puts it this way: Israel’s covenant with God did not provide it with a special privilege to do whatever they wanted. The nation was required to live up to an ethical standard of justice and righteousness. In her commentary on this passage, Elaine James says, “God’s love demands righteousness, and breaches of God’s call to justice and love cause God grief.” Today’s reading is from one of Amos’ visions where he believes God is deeply aggrieved and ready to punish the nation. God says to Amos, “I will never again pass them by; the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”

     A plumb line is a tool that builders have used for literally thousands of years to make sure that what they are building is aligned properly so that it can be strong and stable. In Amos’ vision, God clearly states that the nation is out of alignment. What is also clear, perhaps not in today’s reading, but in other parts of Amos, is that it is possible to realign a nation, to become plumb, once again, with God’s priorities. As I observe a different nation out of plumb, I think the Peacemaker’s Toolkit could be actually be of use to those of us interested in realigning ourselves with love and justice as God demands. It’s not the only set of tools available to us, but it is a good one.

     At the time that I finished this sermon, the former president seems to have minor injuries from a ricochet of glass. He was well cared for by the team who ushered him off the stage. One rally attendee has been killed. Let us pray for the ones who mourn their loss. And, two more attendees were significantly wounded. Let us pray for their healing as well. I haven’t yet seen verified the identity of the shooter, who was also killed. Mostly, though, today, I hope that we can remember that we are not without power or without choices about how to respond to the violence that it out of step with our values. We may not totally be sure of our next steps, but we have instructions from God and a vision of peace that can draw us towards plumb once again. May God’s Spirit guide us in building a peaceful kindom of justice, belonging, and fellowship.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
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Marcelius Braxton: https://x.com/Marcelius_B/status/1812289008476553431
The information from Common Ground USA: https://www.sfcg.org/news/statement-on-violence-against-former-president-donald-trump-in-pennsylvania/

Elaine James: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-15-2/commentary-on-amos-77-15-4
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Gregory Mobley’s introduction to Amos in The New Oxford Annotated Bible: The New Revised Standard Version with Apocryphya, ed. Michael Coogan (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001)