R l Dn, Justice! A Worship Design Studio Series for Lent Sermon Fodder and Small Group Resource Ideas INTRODUCTION Greetings, friends, and thank you for bringing this worship series to your congregation! Engaging with the issues of social justice have always been an important part of the church’s role in bringing about a “new Jerusalem” where all are deemed worthy of love. But it seems now more than ever we are faced with understanding and embodying the call to heal divisions, name and transform oppression and speak out against injustice. This document will help you as you discern how to bring those messages inherent in this worship series alive through preaching and small groups. Because this series is not based on a book (but rather a songbook), we are providing you with many suggestions for sermon “fodder” and small group study. We are so grateful to the General Commission on Religion and Race of the United Methodist Church (www.gcorr.org) for partnering with us in this endeavor to bring a diversity of study resources to help you prepare to preach and lead small groups. Indeed, it was their Lent study developed in 2016 based on Mark Miller’s songs that was the original inspiration for this series. The congregations utilizing this series are varied in their context and in their journey of engaging social justice issues. You will want to peruse the materials below and discern which pieces will best move your congregation forward. Many blessings and we are praying for you! BONUS IDEA! If you are in an area where you have neighboring congregations and houses of worship of various faith traditions, think about planning an evening of fellowship and eating together at some point during this series. I recently wrote a liturgy for such an event in collaboration with Ruth Duck (song lyrics) and Mark Miller (music). It is published in Ruth Duck’s latest songbook, “Poetry of Grace.” Order HERE worshipdesignstudio.com/rolldownjustice 1
Transcript
Roll Down, Justice! A Worship Design Studio Series for Lent
Sermon Fodder and Small Group Resource Ideas
INTRODUCTION
Greetings, friends, and thank you for bringing this worship series to your congregation! Engaging with the issues of social justice have always been an important part of the church’s role in bringing about a “new Jerusalem” where all are deemed worthy of love. But it seems now more than ever we are faced with understanding and embodying the call to heal divisions, name and transform oppression and speak out against injustice. This document will help you as you discern how to bring those messages inherent in this worship series alive through preaching and small groups.
Because this series is not based on a book (but rather a songbook), we are providing you with many suggestions for sermon “fodder” and small group study. We are so grateful to the General Commission on Religion and Race of the United Methodist Church (www.gcorr.org) for partnering with us in this endeavor to bring a diversity of study resources to help you prepare to preach and lead small groups. Indeed, it was their Lent study developed in 2016 based on Mark Miller’s songs that was the original inspiration for this series.
The congregations utilizing this series are varied in their context and in their journey of engaging social justice issues. You will want to peruse the materials below and discern which pieces will best move your congregation forward. Many blessings and we are praying for you!
BONUS IDEA! If you are in an area where you have neighboring congregations and houses of worship of various faith traditions, think about planning an evening of fellowship and eating together at some point during this series. I recently wrote a liturgy for such an event in collaboration with Ruth Duck (song lyrics) and Mark Miller (music). It is published in Ruth Duck’s latest songbook, “Poetry of Grace.” Order HERE
The “texts” available to exegete each Sunday are many and your biggest challenge will be to hone it down. Each worship experience offers a “feature song” by Mark Miller and unpacking the richness of those texts in dialogue with the scripture text will be one way to deepen the congregation’s experience of them through the sermon. Additionally, the prayer/poem by Bishop LaTrelle Miller Easterling each week offers yet another text to draw from for the sermon.
You will also discover below that we have offered a connection to some of the ritual actions in the baptismal practices of the early church each week. Including this in your sermons is one way to emphasize the journey toward the remembrance of baptism in the Holy Week Pilgrimage worship experience. Weaving in this information each week is a way to create anticipation and greater participation in that Holy Week experience.
The resources suggested for small group study will also offer you much material to digest as you discern what to offer in the sermon. Our fervent suggestion is to take the time before this series begins (since we’ve given you back some time that you normally spend planning the rest of worship) to really immerse yourself in your own journey of learning through these articles and links so that you can offer some reflection from your own discoveries and challenges with the congregation. You may choose to use one of the following books as suggestions for small group study throughout the season and weave some of that material in your sermons.
Possible Book Studies: Scandalous Obligation: Rethinking Christian Responsibility – Eric Severson Roadmap to Reconciliation: Moving Communities Into Unity, Wholeness and Justice by Brenda Salter McNeil Jesus and the Disinherited – Howard Thurman The Cross and the Lynching Tree – James Cone Jesus: Uncovering the Life, Teachings, and Relevance of a Religious Revolutionary –Marcus Borg UCC resource on White Privilege Tattoos on the Heart – Gregory Boyle A Very Good Gospel –Lisa Sharon Harper Strength to Love – Martin Luther King The Journey: Forgiveness, Restorative Justice and Reconciliation – Stephanie Hixon and Tom Porter
Preaching Weeping, Confession, and Resistance: Radical Responses to Evil – Christine M. Smith A Healing Homiletic – Preaching and Disability – Kathy Black (distinguishes “heal” and “cure”) Spirit Speech: Lament and Celebration in Preaching – Luke A. Powery
Small Group Study
The first small group study meeting time could happen on the evening of Ash Wednesday, just before or after the service. This could be a brief introduction and getting to know each other. We are suggesting that the bowls of water with floating candles that are described in the Visuals & Media document be present with each small group, whether they meet each week at the church or in homes. You could begin each time together with the lighting of the candle. You will see that there is a time in the Palm Sunday procession for those bowls of water from each small group to be brought forward to be poured into a common bowl or font.
Whether or not you are a United Methodist congregation, you will find the materials offered by GCORR useful for sermon preparation or for your small groups. Under each week below we have listed the original Lent study links based on the Mark Miller songs. This is a good entry-level study group experience. You may, however, choose to supplement that with some of the other articles and videos our friends at GCORR have suggested for each week to deepen the study, especially around white privilege. If you are not a United Methodist congregation, you might check out more resources from your particular denomination on justice issues.
RESOURCES FOR EACH WEEK
Ash Wednesday: “Make Me an Instrument of Peace: Re-Cognition”
Scriptures: (see worship script) Amos 5: 21-24 Psalm 51:1-17
Synopsis: The season of Lent begins with a call to repent, which means to “turn around.” This year, we will turn from our apathy, turn from simply “going through the motions” of our life and worship. Instead we will pray to be active instruments of peace, agents of change in the world. We begin the journey toward renewing our baptismal identity as the hands and feet of Christ by “re-cognizing”–tuning our minds and hearts toward the world and its peoples.
Prayer/Poem: “There are Days” (see worship script)
Journey to Baptism: Ash Wednesday is a later development, not known by the church for several hundred years. When it came into existence, it was a day when “penitents” (those who had been ousted from the church for various reasons) could be registered to undergo Lenten disciplines of fasting and penance in order to re-join the church in Holy Week/Easter. This can point to our willingness to journey deeply into our own separation from the radical justice we are called to as Jesus-followers and a commitment to journey in Lent toward a remembrance of our baptismal call. It can also point to the way the church has, through the ages, cast out those it has deemed “unworthy” of love and inclusion.
Note: The song, “Dust and Ashes” has a new verse that was commissioned from the author, Brian Wren, for an Act of Repentance (regarding oppression of indigenous peoples) ritual at a UMC General Conference. You may want to end the sermon with this verse, weaving in a reference to water and the struggle to protect it at Standing Rock. Here is some possible wording:
“All through this series we will examine how we might change systems of oppression… but it all begins with a change, a “re-cognition” within each of us. Through the water of baptism we claim that all are worthy of God’s love and protection. A new verse of the song by Brian Wren that we sang was written for a service of movement toward repentance for the ways the church has oppressed indigenous peoples…”
Sermon Fodder and Small Group Study Additions: • “Guilt and Shame” (in final editing stages–watch for our update in late January) • “Equality vs. Equity” • “It Starts with You: Race, Racism & Religion” • “Baptismal Covenant I: A Call to Racial Justice and Anti-Racism Work” (specifically referring to the United Methodist baptismal ritual: in final editing stages–watch for our update in late January) • “CUIC Supports Standing Rock Pipeline Protests”
Lent 1: “Child of God: Naming Each Other”
Scripture: Romans 8: 31-39 (see worship script)
Synopsis: In our baptismal rituals, we take a special moment to repeat the precious name of the person being baptized. In a world that seems obsessed with who is “right and wrong,” “good or bad,” “in or out” or on “this side or that side,” it is a radical
endeavor to name each person as “Child of God”–no matter what people say. This, indeed, is where love of the other begins… love for the self, as God loves us.
Feature Song: “Child of God”
Prayer/Poem: “Speak a Word” (see worship script)
Journey to Baptism: The early church was not uniform in its baptismal practices by any means (although things move toward more uniformity in the 4th century) but Jesus’ baptism is consistently referenced as the raison d’être for the development of the rituals handed on to us through our Christian ancestors. Although the ritual of speaking the name of the baptismal candidate is not mentioned heavily in the earliest historical documents about baptism, the idea that God’s voice proclaimed Jesus as family, as “beloved,” in whom God was well-pleased is inherent in our focus this week–naming each one as a precious Child of God. A powerful video possibility to use in the midst of the sermon this week is this: “I Trust You” https://vimeo.com/193125533 What shifts when we make the first move to extend love toward each other as God has extended this to us?
Sermon Fodder and Small Group Study Additions: • Small Group Study utilizing the Feature Song • Article Resource – learning engagement around Buzzfeed’s Privilege Checklist
(in final editing stages–watch for our update in late January) • “Entering into the Stories of Others” (in final editing stages–watch for our update
in late January) • “Racial Justice Conversation Guide”
Lent 2: “How Long: Renouncing Evil”
Scripture: Psalm 13 (see worship script)
Synopsis: Over half of the liturgical songs of the Israelites were Psalms of Lament. Penned in a time of exile and persecution, these were poets trying to give voice to the pain of the people. Today we lament the injustice of our time and yet, like the Psalms of Lament, we end in praise anyway for “God is good, all the time.” We remember that even and especially in times of despair, through our baptism we are given the “freedom and power to resist evil in all its forms” as we “put our whole trust in God.” How will we put these words into action to show hope to the world?
Journey to Baptism: By the 4th century, the church had instituted a powerful symbol of the transformation of candidates for baptism away from evil and toward good. Before going into the water, they would face the direction of the West (the direction of the setting sun) and renounce evil. Then they would turn away from that direction to face the East (the direction of the rising sun) as a sign that they were leaving the forces of evil behind and facing the Light of God in their lives. The language of renouncing evil has come to us through the ages as our rites of baptism invite us to renounce evil in all its forms (the ones that rise up within us and the systemic oppression inherent in our societies). We affirm that we have the freedom to do so and that it is God in whom we put our trust. Incorporating this aspect of the ritual in the sermon this week prepares the congregation for doing this “turning” in the Holy Week experience.
Note: The call and response “God is Good… all the time…” has become a widely-used expression. It is important to remember that this originated in the African American community as an expression in the tradition of lament (such as the Psalm for today). This tradition offers the worshiper to praise God, who is good even and especially in the midst of pain–even and especially when the world is not good. It is the ultimate trust in God who works through us to transform injustice. It is possible to cry “how long” and also claim our agency to do something in that waiting–to “resist evil” and in that resisting, expose evil to the light.
Sermon Fodder and Small Group Study Additions: • Small Group Study utilizing the Feature Song • “Ongoing Acts of Repentance” • “When Video Evidence is Not Enough” (in final editing stages–watch for our
update in late January) • “Is Reverse Racism Really a Thing?” (in final editing stages–watch for our update
in late January) • “Affirm Diversity; Challenge Racism” • Video: Robin DeAngelo: Deconstructing White Privilege
Lent 3: “I Dream of a Church: Christ’s Representation”
Scripture: Matthew 25: 31-40 (see worship script)
Synopsis: At our baptism, we promise to nurture others and are reminded that we are to “serve as Christ’s representatives in the world.” Today we ask the question, “do we as the church look and act like Jesus?” Our song of justice today invites us to dream of a church “where justice is flowing with hope and peace growing.” What thoughts and behaviors do we need to shed in order to make room for hope and peace to grow in and through our lives and this church?
Prayer/Poem: “Before It’s Too Late” (see worship script)
Journey to Baptism: The early church used multiple anointings with oil during the ritual of baptism. One such anointing was an “exorcism” as part of the the cleansing of the candidate in preparation for the Spirit’s movement within them. This oil was a coarse and gritty oil unlike the next anointing after the water immersion which was with an “oil of chrism.” This sweet-smelling oil made of a mixture of herbs was akin to the anointing of kings at their investiture or priests at their consecration. With this anointing, the newly baptized became part of a “royal priesthood of all believers.” This is important to note as we dream of a church where each one is empowered ministry and to act on behalf of justice. Another anointing happened at the “confirmation” with a bishop signing the cross with oil on the forehead of the baptized. This was described as a “seal” of Christ–a kind of “stamp” of identity that the person carried with them. While our concept of “exorcism” might be clouded with visions of 20th century movies, we might also reframe this stereotype with unpacking the question, “with what are we possessed that prevents us from the movement of the Spirit in this church in our work to transform the world?” The Holy Week script includes an anointing with oil on the forehead as part of the remembrance of baptism.
Sermon Fodder and Small Group Study Additions: • Small Group Study utilizing the Feature Song • “10 Ways to be More Faithful than Post-Racial” (in final editing stages–watch for
our update in late January) • “Next Steps after Talking about White Privilege” worksheet (in final editing
stages–watch for our update in late January) • “When You’re Used to Privilege, Equality Feels Like Oppression” • “What Is Internalized Oppression?” • “Talking about Race: United Methodist Pastor’s Tips” • General Conference (UMC) sermon that includes “why isn’t racism incompatible with
Christian teaching”
Lent 4: “I Choose Love: Communities of Forgiveness”
Scripture: Luke 23: 32-43 (see worship script)
Synopsis: Each time someone is baptized, the whole church body gathered also makes vows. One of the things we promise is to be a community of love and forgiveness. Each day we must choose between letting the difficult things about life create resentment in us or allowing the work of forgiveness to make way for love. Our song of justice this week was written as a response to a modern-day act of forgiveness that reminds us of the power of Jesus’ forgiveness, even on the cross.
Journey to Baptism: Originally a “Kiss of Peace,” our “Passing of the Peace” is a tradition handed down and adapted over time from the earliest Christians. In their rites of baptism, our ancient spiritual ancestors included the Kiss of Peace as part of the sign that the Spirit had taken up residence in the newly baptized persons. The Spirit was believed to reside in the breath and in exchanging a kiss, persons exchanged the Spirit of Christ Jesus. This kiss was on the mouth–as radical an act for those communities as it would be in ours! Only intimate family members kissed in that way. But the symbolism of union with the Body of Christ as family (as “Kin-dom”) comes through in this act. When we think of the early Christian’s context, this could have in fact been significant for those who had not been able to share their conversion to the Christian faith with relatives for fear of putting them in danger. While we will not endeavor to reintroduce the “kiss” of peace in our Holy Week pilgrimage (!) to offer this story of its origins will help recast our Passing of the Peace in a more significant way than just a time when we say “hello” to one another. And in doing so, we can also connect this deepening with how we are called to deepen our interactions with others in a radical way. If we are part of the human family, how does this change our attitude toward forgiveness? What is necessary for a “just peace” with our neighbor?
Note: If using the reference to the context of Miller’s song (a response to the shooting of the Emanuel AME bible study group members), it is important to not only highlight the willingness that some family members showed to forgive the shooter but also unpack the complexity of forgiveness, especially the expectation that is placed on those oppressed to forgive the oppressor, repentant or not (for instance, African Americans, Native Americans, LGBTQIA, Japanese immigrants during WWII, Muslim Americans and the list goes on). See articles below for more.
Sermon Fodder and Small Group Study Additions: • Small Group Study utilizing the Feature Song • The Journey: Forgiveness, Restorative Justice and Reconciliation • “What Would Jesus Do?” (an article on restorative justice in a church) • Honoring Relationships • “The Spirit and Art of Conflict Transformation: Creating a Culture of JustPeace” • On the complexity of forgiveness and the Charleston shooting
“Forgiving Dylann Roof is Taking Heavy Toll”“It’s Not Black Folks Burden to Forgive Racist Killers”“What Should Forgiveness Look Like in Charleston?”
Lent 5: “God Has Work for Us to Do: Faithful Disciples”
Scripture: Isaiah 58: 6-12 (see worship script)
Synopsis: Our featured scripture this week speaks of being a “well-watered garden like a spring of water that won’t run dry.” Baptismal waters continue to feed the streams of justice as we allow the Holy Spirit to work within us every time we set our hands and feet to the work God has for us to do. As we break bread today, we remember that as long as there are those who are hurting, hungry, excluded and oppressed, we are called be faithful disciples, setting a table and inviting all to the feast.
Feature Song: “God Has Word for Us to Do”
Prayer/Poem: “Righteousness” (see worship script)
Journey to Baptism: Communion was a culminating act in the ritual of baptism for the early church. On the table was not just a cup of wine, but also cups of water (these newly baptized persons have come through the Red Sea of deliverance) and cups of milk and honey (they are newly born–called “little children” in a 4th century text). This recalls God’s promised “land of milk and honey” and offers powerful symbolism of a community that is gathered around a heavenly feast. Much earlier references (Paul’s letter to the Corinthians) speaks of a community that is to share all things in common and certainly this extended to the “pot luck” or “agape meal” that precedes the ritual of communion as we know it. When Paul is admonishing the community in Corinth, it is likely because they were not making sure all persons had equal access to the food of the communal table. “This is not the Lord’s Supper!” The economic significance of Eucharist is one we can focus on this day. You will notice in the script for Holy Week that we suggest that people bring donations for a food back or shelter as part of coming together to remember Jesus’ meal practice. On this Sunday, we pray for a time when hunger is no more. But in the meantime, God has work for us to do!
Sermon Fodder and Small Group Study Additions: • Small Group Study utilizing the Feature Song • “Intergenerational Collaboration” (in final editing stages–watch for our update in
late January) • “Moving from Ageism to Equity” and “Ageism – What It Looks Like” (in final
editing stages–watch for our update in late January) • “4 Ways to Increase Equity for All Physical and Mental Abilities” (in final editing
stages–watch for our update in late January) • “4 Ways to Diversify the Table” (in final editing stages–watch for our update in
late January) • “9 Tips for Fostering Vital Conversations”
Scripture: Isaiah 35: 1-3 (see worship script) Matthew 21: 1-11 (see worship script)
Synopsis: The entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem was a vision of a coming day when power is displayed not with military might but through the solidarity of all people in the name of love and justice. We pray this day for a time when we are one and we support one another on the road of life, not tear one another down because of our differences. We will affirm our oneness with the whole human family this day.
Feature Song: “The Day is Coming”
Prayer/Poem: “The Call to Prayer” (see worship script)
Journey to Baptism: The canon of Epistles began first as letters circulated between Christian communities. Perhaps much like inspiring blog posts that go “viral” in our day, fledgling communities started by the first apostles relied on these letters as encouragement, often in the face of persecution. Descriptions of early baptisms include the direction to read this body of work, along with singing and praying, as the catechumens were undergoing the rituals of anointing and immersion in the water as a kind of vigil in the night. As we prepare for Ho.y Week, how might we keep vigil with our neighbors–Christians around the world and also with those of other faiths (especially those in modern-day circumstances of persecution) who–along with us–dream that the day will come when violence and abuse of power will be no more.
Note: It would be a good idea to include a description of the highlights of the Holy Week Pilgrimage experience on this day in order to encourage folks to participate. The script was developed as one night that touches on all three rituals of the Triduum (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Saturday Vigil) as a way to increase the likelihood that people will come out for it and to help folks experience the fullness of the Holy Week story. Hopefully you have created anticipation every week through the inclusion of these notes about the history of the early church baptismal rites and people will be yearning to attend!
Sermon Fodder and Small Group Study Additions: • Small Group Study utilizing the Feature Song • “10 Ways to Honorably Learn about Another Culture” • “Identity Politics and Social Location” • “Joys and Benefits of Cross Racial and Cross Cultural Settings”
Holy Week Vigil “Traveling Companions: Journey to the Water”
Scriptures: multiple (see worship script)
Synopsis: Holy Week is a time to mourn when love is crucified on the cross of fear and hate. We bring the story of Jesus into reflection with the story of our world in which this continues. And yet, that is not the end of the story. Our Lenten journey heightens and culminates in a journey to the waters of baptismal renewal in the dark of night. The earliest Christian communities saw this time of the year as the ultimate time for baptisms because this was when Christ died and was raised–just as we die to the old and rise again to new life through our baptisms. Drawing on the ancient Vigil ritual that incorporates Light, Water, Word and Table, we will go on a pilgrimage as traveling companions through the church, offering us a deeply moving experience of our faith story then and now.
Feature Song: “Traveling Companion” and “Christ Has Broken Down the Wall”
Prayer/Poem: “That it Might be Buried” (see worship script)
Journey to Baptism: This is the night when all of the teachings about baptismal rituals through the entire series will become embodied in our act of remembrance. There are churches of various denominations utilizing this series so please adapt to incorporate your denomination’s particular liturgy.
Sermon Fodder:
Here are scriptures to consider for the meditation on Jesus’ table practice that is part of the section on Maundy Thursday. Please note that in the Gospels, “sinners” would most likely describe those folks who didn’t (or were not able to because of circumstance) follow the Jewish laws exactly, therefore they would have been deemed “unworthy” to share a meal with the “faithful.” Read some of my thoughts about the radical nature of that Last Supper in THIS excerpt from a chapter I wrote for a book called Conflict and Communion.
Jesus invites Zaccheus (a tax collector) to dinner (Luke 19:1-10) Jesus eats with tax collectors and “sinners” (Matt 9:10-13)
Jesus eats at the home of Simon, the leper (Mark 14:3) Jesus eats at the home of a Pharisee and a woman (a “sinner”) anoints him and he
forgives her all her sins (Luke 7:36-50) Jesus uses the example of a wedding feast in a parable - “go out and compel people on
the street to come in” (Matt 22:1-14) The resurrected Jesus appears to the disciples on the beach
and cooks breakfast for them (John 21:4-12) A woman anoints Jesus at a meal (Luke 7:38-45)
Jesus teaches about taking the place of honor at a banquet… or not (Matthew 23:6)
Jesus uses a story about a father welcoming home a “prodigal” son with a feast (Luke 15)
Jesus breaks bread with all–even the one who betrayed him (Mark 14: 17-21)
Easter “Welcome: The New Jerusalem”
Scriptures: Matthew 28:1-9 (see worship script) Jeremiah 31: 1-6 (see worship script) Synopsis: This is the day we proclaim that justice does indeed roll down in a stream of love that cannot be stopped! No matter what, we will continue to work to invite and welcome all people to “a city built of love and light, the new Jerusalem.” For it is in walking together, talking together and dreaming together that we are all saved from the things of death and made heirs to life as we create a better, safer and more hospitable world.
Feature Song: “Welcome”
Note: this song’s refrain “all are welcome here…” is a wonderful introduction to articulating your congregation’s welcome to the many guests as well as to offer the vision of a church that is anything but “business as usual” and is committed to being a place of radical welcome inside the walls but also in the way that it witnesses through its mission to the world. The song is incredibly rich and could easily provide a structure for the sermon this day in dialogue with the scriptures.
Prayer/Poem: “New Life” (see worship script)
Sermon Fodder: • “Enough is Enough” (includes steps “so where do we go from here?”) • “The Trouble with Conformity” • “25 Traits of the Beloved Community”(in final editing stages–watch for our update
in late January) • “Exercises for ’25 Traits of the Beloved Community” (in final editing stages–watch
