Sermon Tone Analysis

November 21, 2021

Harvest Sunday

Last Sunday in Pentecost

Dr. Seuss meets the Prophet Jeremiah

10 For thus says the Lord: Only when Babylon's seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.

11For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.

12Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you.

13When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, 14I will let you find me, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

Jeremiah 29

This morning we set aside as Harvest Sunday as we look towards Thanksgiving Day this coming week.

It is a time for naming the blessings in our lives and giving thanks to the Giver of all life.

We also close out the liturgical year with images of Christ as King - a king who is unlike any other that the world has ever seen, whose power does not come from military might or rule by degree, but a message of God's reign forever and the power of mercy, humility, service, justice, and love.

And how could I not mention Dr. Seuss this morning?

Theodor Geisel, born in Springfield, Massachusetts, aka Dr. Seuss, wrote so many books that were constantly read and re-read throughout many of our childhoods.

My favorites, whose covers and bindings were pretty tattered due to heavy use were 'The Cat in the Hat,' 'Green Eggs and Ham,' 'Hop on Pop,' 'Horton Hears a Who,' 'Horton Hatches the Egg,' 'One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish,' and of course, the classic: 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas.'

In the production of Seussical Jr. the plot centers around the lovable elephant Horton, who discovers a speck of dust that houses a tiny people known as Whos.

In the writeup of the show, the themes that drive the story are friendship, loyalty, family, and community - ideals that can find ample space within a sacred space of a church.

Six years ago, when this theatre program emerged, we made some assumptions.

First, we knew this would not be traditional youth ministry, the kind that I remembered in my Methodist church back in the 70's.

The culture and terrain have shifted, especially here in New England.

Young people have full plates of choices and opportunities for learning, sports, and community and their parents are often running behind them just to keep up.

Instead of grieving the past and putting endless energy in trying to recreate what was, we set out to try something new that in many ways is not new at all.

The church, after all, has been at the heart of music and art for centuries.

We had a hunch that if we open our doors for children and youth to sing and dance, learn, act and find their voice - and if we made room for occasional disruptions and painted rainbow stages for an altar, that somehow God would find a way in - as if we would ever box God out.

Over these six years many have crossed the threshold of our church who may not have a church - and they may never have a church they claim as their own.

Our calculation hinges on believing that God's grace is not tracked by counting heads on membership.

In today's world where anxiety and sadness are a companion for many young people, making a space for them to be and to create and to be accepted and encouraged is worth, I believe, our support.

Some good people might still ask: does Dr. Seuss belong in church?

One answer was offered by a retired Methodist minister the Rev. James Kemp in his 2004 book, "The Gospel According to Dr. Seuss."

It turns out that many of his books read like parables, which we know was Jesus' preferred way of storytelling.

One example: The author points to Horton the elephant who, by keeping his promise to sit on a bird's egg until it hatches -- despite ridicule from those around him -- is a model of faithfulness.

(Los Angeles Times "Faith, hope and Dr. Seuss too" March 17, 2004).

We can also learn from the Grinch who stole Christmas, the Rev. Kemp writes, as we struggle to love people who are miserable and difficult because they are in so much pain.

Loving our neighbor as ourselves can be Christ's most difficult command to us.

The last book that Dr. Seuss wrote was another of my favorites: 'Oh, the Places You'll Go!' It centers around a theme I return to often in preaching, and that is the image and metaphor that life and faith is a journey.

I have always been drawn to how the early followers of Jesus, before they were called Christians, were called people of 'The Way.' Life is a journey with all of us pain and joys.

Here's the plot: a young boy leaves town on a journey.

Some of its wisdom:

"You're on your own.

And you know what you know.

And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go."

When you're in a Slump, you're not in for much fun.

Un-slumping yourself is not easily done."

"You'll get mixed up, of course, as you already know.

You'll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go.

So be sure when you step.

Step with care and great tact and remember that Life's a Great Balancing Act.

One place the young boy finds is called "The Waiting Place," where not surprising everyone waits around for something to happen.

"Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for the wind to fly a kite or waiting around for Friday night or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil, or a Better Break or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.

Everyone is just waiting."

Hope is a core message that the Rev. Kemp finds in Dr. Seuss.

In the Cat in the Hat, we see that "that something good can come out of bad circumstances; we are never hopeless."

"There is always hope," Kemp writes: "There is always hope in the unlimited richness of God.

Most of our problems are trivial."

Which brings us this morning to the prophet Jeremiah.

In the letters we have mailed out to the congregation leading up to Harvest Sunday, we have highlighted the reality that is separation, exile and return in life.

We want to encourage all of us to say what is true: we've been through a lot.

Our normal patterns of gathering and worship have been disrupted.

Some of our parish household has yet to return, others have moved away without our chance to wish them Godspeed.

We continue to negotiate personal space and safe ways to 'Sing to the Lord a new song.'

At times we have had to confront our deepest fears.

We have focused in one verse from Jeremiah's letter to the exiles in Babylon: For surely, I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.

Jeremiah 29:11.

Jeremiah was also reminding the people to be careful who they were listening to - those who were making promises of a quick return to what was.

All of us today wrestle with who to listen to and what to trust.

Verse 11 is without question one of the more treasured verves in the Old Testament.

It can be found on many bumper stickers, mugs, and T-shirts.

For who doesn't want to worship a God who has a plan for us?

Plans for our welfare and not for our harm.

This is the kind of God I can follow and trust.

Yet many a Biblical commentator has issued a warning to anyone who wants to read verse 11 alone and in isolation.

They remind us of the verse right before: "For thus says the Lord: Only when Babylon's seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place."

The Exiles in Babylon were in Dr. Seuss's Waiting Place -- they had to wait at least seventy years for any return to what was.

And that is where our stories and lives connect and resonate.

We have to wait a little bit longer, knowing as always that we are still on this journey.

It is a journey about much more than returning to what was or the comfort that going home can bring us.

Being follows of Christ means that even when we arrive home, we will be sent out again.

The third letter we mailed out this week said this: There is exile, there is return, and then there is a third movement: being sent back out into the world for the sake of our neighbors and creation as a whole.

It's being sent for the sake of God's love and justice, God's future of hope.

Dr. Seuss would say it another way: (Oh the Places You'll Go) "You're off to Great Places!

Today is your day!

Your mountain is waiting, so get on your way!"

If you came this morning expecting to hear a stewardship sermon to persuade us why we should care about this place enough to give something of ourselves: our prayers, our energy, our concern and financial resources, well then you may go away disappointed or thrilled.

But do remember that any journey needs a place from which to begin.

A font where we are baptized and made a part of a family, and an altar where we are fed.

It is not a bad place to return to again and again.

Let's care for it.

And then go out, in Christ's name, into a grace-filled broken world.

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