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FOR ST ANDREWS: Passing of the Peace

Gathering Song 

Call to Worship

Luke 14:25–33 ESV

Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Opening Prayer

Hymn

Confession

Declaration of Forgiveness

Deuteronomy 5:6 ESV

“ ‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

Gloria Patri (Glory to God)

Deuteronomy 5:16 ESV

“ ‘Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

Glory be to the Fatherand to the Son and to the Holy Ghost.As it was in the beginning,it is now and ever shall be,world without end.Amen, amen.

Trouble in the Text

The Brothers Grimm are haunting. They didn’t actually write for children. They wrote down many stories that had been part of the oral tradition for a while, some of which would have been told to children from time to time, but none of which were intended for them originally. I don’t care to go into the gory details of the real Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty, but let’s suffice it to say that the characters in the originals broke a whole lot of commandments and were cleaned up significantly before Disney put them up on the big screen.

Some of their most eerie stories are eerie because they are so painfully real. I’d like to share one of those with you this morning.

One of their most eerie stories is eerie because it’s not actually a fairy tale.

The Old Man and His Grandson

There was once a very old man, whose eyes had become dim, his ears dull of hearing, his knees trembled, and when he sat at table he could hardly hold the spoon, and spilt the broth upon the table-cloth or let it run out of his mouth. His son and his son’s wife were disgusted at this, so the old grandfather at last had to sit in the corner behind the stove, and they gave him his food in an earthenware bowl, and not even enough of it. And he used to look towards the table with his eyes full of tears. Once, too, his trembling hands could not hold the bowl, and it fell to the ground and broke. The young wife scolded him, but he said nothing and only sighed. Then they brought him a wooden bowl for a few half-pence, out of which he had to eat.

They were once sitting thus when the little grandson of four years old began to gather together some bits of wood upon the ground. ’What are you doing there?’ asked the father. ’I am making a little trough,’ answered the child, ’for father and mother to eat out of when I am big.’

The man and his wife looked at each other for a while, and presently began to cry. Then they took the old grandfather to the table, and henceforth always let him eat with them, and likewise said nothing if he did spill a little of anything.

From http://www.authorama.com/grimms-fairy-tales-27.html

The brothers Grimm did not write for children.

This tale sums up the 5th commandment beautifully. 

The only people who would have been reading the ten commandments when they were written were a few educated priests. And the only people they would have been reading them to were adult men. No women. No children. Women and children would have had to learn them from the male heads of household.

When I was young, I was taught that this commandment meant to always obey your parents. Now, that’s not a terrible takeaway, kids. But, the original meaning of the Hebrew word pronounced “Cahved” is not “obey”. It means weighty or important. What this commandment is telling the adult hearers is to treat their parents as valuable. Remember their worth, their importance.

כָּבֵד

This is about caring for the vulnerable.

We have many more provisions for aging parents and grandparents these days than those who were listening to this scripture originally had. And even now with laws and agencies created to care for people as they are less and less able to care for themselves, one of the most vulnerable populations in the world are the elderly.

Grace in the Text

So magnify this. Think about how at-risk elderly people would have been in a world where women couldn’t own any property and were entirely at the mercy of their male relatives. Think about how terrible this could be in a world that didn’t have laws protecting the aging from abuse and neglect. Elderly folks, especially elderly widows (mothers) would have been at great risk for harm in that world.

So here is this commandment encouraging them to remember the importance of everyone - even the vulnerable elderly in their families. That is a beautiful thing. What a gracious and loving God to look out for everyone in such a way.

Trouble in the World

Grace in the World

Homework:

Musical Meditation

Homework:

The only people who would have been reading the ten commandments when they were written were a few educated priests. And the only people they would have been reading them to were adult men. No women. No children. Women and children would have had to learn them from the male heads of household. 

Witnessing God’s Work

When I was young, I was taught that this commandment meant to always obey your parents. Now, that’s not a terrible takeaway, kids. But, the original meaning of the Hebrew word pronounced “Cahved” is not “obey”. It means weighty or important. What this commandment is telling the adult hearers is to treat their parents as valuable. Remember their worth, their importance. 

Prayer for Illumination (understanding)

We have many more provisions for aging parents and grandparents these days than those who were listening to this scripture originally had. And even now with laws and agencies created to care for people as they are less and less able to care for themselves, one of the most vulnerable populations in the world are the elderly. 

Scripture Readings

So magnify this. Think about how at-risk elderly people would have been in a world where women couldn’t own any property and were entirely at the mercy of their male relatives. Think about how terrible this could be in a world that didn’t have laws protecting the aging from abuse and neglect. Elderly folks, especially elderly widows (mothers) would have been at great risk for harm in that world. 

Message:

So here is this commandment encouraging them to remember the importance of everyone - even the vulnerable elderly in their families. That is a beautiful thing. What a gracious and loving God to look out for everyone in such a way. 

Homework:

I love this because the first neighbors that God is concerned about us looking out for are the vulnerable ones - the ones that cannot look out for themselves like the grandfather in the Grimm Brothers story who gets put in the corner. 

Hymn

And the first neighbors that God tells us to look after are our first neighbors. Who are the people that first teach us about human interaction? Our parents. So God starts with the first neighbors we ever have: our family of origin. If we can’t treat them with importance, who can we treat with importance?

Apostle’s Creed

The ripple effect of this commandment goes so much further than that, though. Think about how the little grandson’s actions are mimicking his own parents’ actions. The things we do and say and the way we treat others ripple down from generation to generation. So this is far bigger than just caring for two people. This is about modeling healthy community, it’s about caring for the vulnerable as a society. The end of this commandment says that it matters so that things will go well for them in their new land. 

I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit; the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.

This commandment is about protecting the past to secure the future. 

Prayers of the People

Protect the past to secure the future. 

After each petition, the pastor will say, “Lord, in your mercy,” and the people respond, “Hear our prayer.”

This doesn’t mean to drag everyone into the past. If we look at this as a church trying to figure out how to make it in a new and different world, we have to be careful not to read this as a call to hold on tightly to nostalgia and empty tradition. But we also have to take seriously the idea of honoring those who have gone before us. 

Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who’ve sinned against us. Lead us, not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

We have to think about how to honor and care for the spiritual mothers and fathers who have come before us here in this place while still considering the future. 

Communion

Pastor: May the Lord be with you.

I saw a quote a while back that said “From a principal’s publication, 1815: “Students today depend on paper too much. They don’t know how to write on a slate without getting chalk dust all over themselves. They can’t clean a slate properly. What will they do when they run out of paper?”

Congregation: And also with you

Pastor: Lift up your hearts.

Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord

Pastor: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God

Congregation: It is right to give God our thanks and praise.

Sharing our tithes and offerings

Doxology (Song of Thanksgiving)

Slate was a great thing. It helped countless children learn how to read and write at a time when paper was hard to come by. But our society changed and now paper is cheap and easy to find. And now it’s changing again and people rely more on computers and smart phones than paper. 

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.Praise God all creatures here below. Praise God above, ye heavenly host.Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen

My point is not to argue for or against any certain technology like slate or paper or iphones, but rather to say that this is an ongoing problem. It’s not new. We will always have to find ways to balance recognizing the importance of the past with progress into the future. 

Prayer of Thanksgiving

I have a feeling that principal in 1815 was feeling like a bit of a dinosaur. His ways had become the old ways and he was starting to feel irrelevant. Often when we do when we start to see our old ways slipping away is to hold on tighter to them. And it’s ok to want to honor them. But it’s also ok to let them retire.

Hymn

Jesus doesn’t say that we should turn away from family because he believes this commandment is irrelevants. His point is that if we are to follow him, we have to trust him and follow him, even if it feels like we’re turning our back on the past. 

Charge and Blessing

You are not going to come in here next week and find the sanctuary was remodeled and band is warming up in the front. But I will continue to challenge you all to think of ways we can nod to the past - continue to honor the history of the church - while remembering that if the future isn’t considered as well, we’re going to find ourselves in the corner alone eating from a wooden bowl someday.

May the peace of our Lord Christ go with you wherever he may send you.May he guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm.May he bring you home rejoicing at the wonders he has shown you.May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

I know not all of you are able to make it to mid-week Bible study on a regular basis, but I encourage you to get to at least the first week this fall. On September 18th, we will have a “Story Night”. This is a chance to gather together and share stories about this congregation’s history. This is a joint event for both churches, so you’ll be able to hear one another’s stories of the past. If you have an elderly friend or relative who can’t come, or you can’t make it for some reason, let me know. I hope to record audio from some of our homebound folks and will also take letters/written stories to share that night. Keep an eye out on the announcements, bulletin, and church emails for more information in the weeks to come. 

Amen

As we continue seeking out our way into the future, it’s important to remember the importance of the past. To languish in nostalgia or tradition, complaining about paper vs slate, until the church fizzles is to fail to honor those before us. Everything we do in church was once a new thing that surely someone had a problem with. There used to be arguments about if it was right to have one of these new fangled organs or not or if stained glass was too ostentatious for a church. 

We have to treat those who came before us with great honor. We also have to remember that it’s not because they are owed some blind obedience, but because it’s through the honoring of the past that we are secured a future. We are given the freedom to be our own people, to grow and change, because of the faith of those before us. Let’s continue to honor them through our creativity and innovation as we move into the future. 

Prayer Prompt:

Ask God to reveal what old ways have us stuck in the past. What are the stories of the life of this congregation that are important to hold onto? Who are the vulnerable around us that we should be caring for?

Prayer:

God of the ages, help us to honor the saints who have gone before us here while remembering to care for the wellbeing and nurture of the saints who are still developing. Help us to treat all those around us with importance, while caring for the most vulnerable in our midst. Give us imagination and creativity as we work to move toward the future. Amen.