Tenth Sunday after Pentecost Tenth Sunday after Pentecost – 9 August 2020 This material was written before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Worship leaders can use the most up-to-date sources of information and take into account the experience of their communities for creating appropriate worship at this time. The Faith Nurture Forum would like to thank Nicola Whyte, PhD Student at Princeton Theological Seminary, for the use of this archive material from 2017 for the tenth Sunday after Pentecost. Our new online music resource is now live: here you can listen to samples of every song in the Church Hymnary 4th edition (CH4). The search function allows you to bring up a list of songs by keyword, tune, theme, author, composer and metre, covering all of the indexes in the hymnbook. The site features Weekly Worship and thematic/seasonal playlists, alternative settings and background information on the hymns. Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28 ..................................................................................... 2 Psalm 105:1-6, 16-22, 45b .............................................................................. 2 Romans 10:5-15 ............................................................................................. 2 Matthew 14:22-33 ......................................................................................... 3 Sermon ideas ................................................................................................. 3 Prayers .......................................................................................................... 4 Alternative Material ....................................................................................... 5 Musical suggestions ...................................................................................... 12
Transcript
Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
Tenth Sunday after Pentecost – 9 August 2020
This material was written before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Worship leaders can use the most up-to-date sources of information and take into account the experience of their communities for creating appropriate worship at this time.
The Faith Nurture Forum would like to thank Nicola Whyte, PhD Student at Princeton Theological Seminary, for the use of this archive material from 2017 for the tenth Sunday after Pentecost.
Our new online music resource is now live: here you can listen to samples of every song in the Church Hymnary 4th edition (CH4). The search function allows you to bring up a list of songs by keyword, tune, theme, author, composer and metre, covering all of the indexes in the hymnbook. The site features Weekly Worship and thematic/seasonal playlists, alternative settings and background information on the hymns.
In this passage from Genesis, we read the beginning of the stories about Joseph – the passage featuring the famed “coat of many colours” (which is actually not described as such, except for in a KJV mistranslation of the Septuagint). In the lectionary passage, we learn first of Jacob’s favour for Joseph over his other sons, and then skip a few verses to the terrible, immediate, horrifying tale of Joseph’s brothers taking his robe, throwing him into a pit, and ultimately selling him as a slave to be taken to Egypt. The skipped verses, in which we read of Joseph’s arrogant dream-talk, will be familiar to most listeners, either from their reading of scripture or from their viewing of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s work, but even without them we perhaps don’t find it too difficult to understand the brothers’ frustration and anger. This particular part of the Joseph narrative is perhaps difficult to preach, particularly because it does not in fact mention God, and also because the story’s unfolding lessons and testimony to the role of God in Joseph’s life take several chapters to become clearer. However, in conjunction with this week’s psalm, important insights about God’s provision for God’s people can be gleaned.
Psalm 105:1-6, 16-22, 45b
Psalm 105 tells the story of the people of Israel with God, exhorting the reader or hearer to praise God and recount the good things which God has done. The lectionary for this week selects verses which home in specifically on the Joseph story, which makes a helpful link to the Old Testament passage for this week, and might move us to a reflection upon God’s providence. We, like Israel, are called to remember what God has done for us – and this includes both reflecting on the stories of scripture, such as the story of Joseph wherein God made good of a truly awful situation, and reflecting upon the stories of God’s goodness in our own lives and in the life of our community. This remembering and sharing of stories can form us as a community, remind us that God is with us, and strengthen us, even in dark times.
Romans 10:5-15
This is an exceptionally difficult passage for the preacher, fraught with contextual issues and exegetical problems. Commentaries demonstrate a remarkable breadth of interpretation of just about every verse in this passage, which there is not space to explore here. Verses 11-13 seem to be promising for preaching, in terms of their focus upon the universality of God’s offer of salvation.
For the second week running, Matthew’s narrative is an extremely familiar one. Having fed the great crowd on the grass by the lake, Jesus dismisses His disciples to go ahead of Him to the other side of the body of water. Meanwhile, Jesus retreats up the mountain to spend some solitary time in prayer. The disciples’ boat is battered by wind and wave, far from the shore, and yet early in the morning they see a figure walking toward them across the water. They are terrified, thinking that they are being pursued by a ghost; but Jesus speaks to reassure them, saying “take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” Peter’s response is well-known. He asks Jesus to demonstrate that it really is Him by bidding Peter to approach Him on the water, which Jesus does. Peter defies the laws of physics and walks out toward Jesus on the surface of the lake, until suddenly he notices the waves and, fearful, he begins to sink. Jesus, as we well know, reaches out to rescue Peter, reprimanding him for his lack of faith. The response of those in the boat is one of recognition of who Jesus truly is, and of worship.
There are a number of interesting points in this passage, including an instance of the common motif of Jesus’ focus on retreat and prayer even (especially) amongst the busiest moments; the way the stormy waters can serve as a metaphor for human life; and the question of what it means to have faith.
Sermon ideas
Should you wish to focus on the Old Testament, the combination of the Genesis text and the psalm make for a powerful reflection on the faithfulness and providence of God. The tracing of a collective narrative has long been important to many cultures in creating a communal identity, and functioning as a society. For us as the Church, the story of the faithfulness of God to God’s people throughout history is the one that defines us. This story can be understood at a macro-level, in terms of the sweeping arc of salvation history (as we see in Psalm 105), and at a micro-level when we consider God’s work amongst us in the here and now. We are a part of God’s amazing story with humanity, and what the Bible tells us is that despite the twists and turns, sorrows and joys of our existence, we are never abandoned.
In the Gospel reading, many opportunities for preaching present themselves. Perhaps especially in recent times, it is difficult not to get overwhelmed by the twists and turns of history, the apparent chaos of the world, the impression of encroaching darkness. The combination of the earlier readings with Jesus’ encounter with Peter here remind us of the power of faith – the kind of faith that remembers even when we are surrounded by scary or distressing things that we are beloved of a God who has been faithful to God’s people
throughout countless storms. More than this, though, Jesus’ reaching out a hand to Peter reminds us that even when our faith falters, our God does not falter.
Prayers
Approach to God (Confession) Faithful God, We gather this morning in Your presence:
Those of us who come here often and those who have not been for a long time.
Those who are full of faith and those who don’t know what we believe.
Those who can hardly keep from singing, and those who can barely face the day.
We gather because You have called us, because You love us, because You are our God.
We gather, not because we are good or pure or holy, but because of our need.
We gather, knowing that again and again we have failed to live as You would have us live, that we have not loved one another, that we have not loved Your creation, that we have not loved You, that we have not loved ourselves.
Forgive us, God, and renew us to be Your people. Make us one, and reassure us in our true identity as children of the One who is above all things. For we pray this in the name of Jesus Christ,
Thanksgiving Before the world began, You loved us.
Before You had created us, You were faithful to us.
And we, as Your people, are thankful for Your great and abiding love, shown again and again down the ages.
You have never abandoned us, even when we have abandoned you.
You have never forgotten us, even when we have strayed far from the path.
We praise You, faithful God, for the steadfast love which has always guided us, for the promise which has never faltered, for the light which has lightened our way, for the story which has reminded us of those who came before us. For Your steadfast love and mercies new with each morning, We join with one the voice To give You praise and thanks.
Alternative Material
This material has been supplied by kind permission of Spill the Beans and allows you to explore the readings or theme of the service in creative ways that include everyone gathering for worship.
New material from Spill the Beans is provided in the latest issues available from their website.
Liquid Mountaineering – Matthew 14:22-33 A famous footwear company sponsored a brilliant mini-movie introducing the new sport of “Liquid Mountaineering”. The YouTube clip’s (see below) description says, “Liquid Mountaineering is a new sport which is attempting to achieve what man has tried to do for centuries: walk on water. Or to be more precise: running on water.” This super parody of typical Red Bull-style extreme sports videos is part of a ceaseless fascination with walking on water. Illusionist Dynamo (aka Steven Frayne) was filmed for his TV show walking across the River Thames towards the Houses of Parliament before being picked up by the killjoy river authority police. Even the American Mythbusters TV show has an episode devoted to walking on water.
Yet this week’s story is also one that provides a stumbling block for many readers. What? Really? Do I have to believe this happened? Many have been the attempts to explain away Jesus walking on water: perhaps it was a sandbar on which he walked creating the illusion of walking on water (the favoured technique of illusionists today is to create a clear walkway just under the surface of the water), or Jesus was walking in the shallows along the edge of the lake, or perhaps this is one of the resurrection stories mistakenly placed earlier in the narrative (see John 21:1-8).
In the first century people probably also asked whether it was possible that Jesus walked on water, but not from a modern understanding of physics and natural laws, when we might ask, “Is it possible?” They had a more flexible understanding of the setting aside of natural laws by divine fiat, and so the question of whether Jesus did this was more a question of the identity of Jesus than the nature of miracle. It thus makes sense for us, in our context, to similarly set aside the questions of “how?” that were not that important to Matthew and think about what was important to Matthew when including this story in his gospel: “why?”
Here it would seem that Matthew was motivated to express how God worked through Jesus, enabling him to do things beyond our ken, to go beyond expectations, to find success where others might only see the possibility of failure. It is thus very important that Jesus is fully human, but portrayed as empowered by God to do things beyond what a human could ordinarily do. This makes sense of Peter also being granted this special power by God, at least until his own faith in that power wavered.
The disciples themselves had been sent out alone, without Jesus, and almost immediately had got themselves into troubles upon the lake, a metaphor perhaps for the faltering steps of the Christian community trying to build a new community of faith reliant on their own
endeavours without faithfully being empowered by the Spirit of God to carry out their mission and ministry.
When Jesus appeared, encouraging the disciples, perhaps we should see it not so much as a display of power (in the manner of an illusionist), but rather that it expresses the extent of the care he offers, the pastoral outreach that extends even across the turbulent waters of the lake to the fearful disciples aboard. Why, then, does Jesus walk on water in Matthew’s narrative? Because it was how he could best tend to the disciples’ need in their terrified state. We are all in the same boat with the disciples, and that pastoral care that Jesus extends to them is extended to us all.
Can knowing that Jesus encourages and supports us allow for the risk-taking ventures that demand stepping over the side of the boat in faith today? In thinking about fresh expressions of church, of different ways to build communities of faith, these all require a faithful focus on Jesus as steps of faith outwith the tried and tested models of church community. Can this story also provide a means for dealing with the reality of failure?
Walk on Water (Liquid Mountaineering)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oe3St1GgoHQ Dynamo walking on water https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEc_jeGBVxs
Retelling for Young People I wonder if you have ever felt brave and scared at the same time? Here’s a story about a night when Jesus’ friends felt brave and scared. They were in their fishing boat on a lake and the weather began to get very stormy.
Jesus wasn’t with them. He was spending some time alone on the shore. Out on the lake, the water started to get choppy as the wind got stronger. Soon there were big waves crashing against the boat as the wind howled around and rain began to lash down. Oh no! What a frightening night! What if the boat capsized? What if somebody drowned? Peter and Andrew and James and John were really good at fishing and they were really good at sailing, and they had been caught in a few storms before, but they couldn’t actually swim! So just as they thought they could handle the boat and keep everyone safe, another big wave rocked them up and down, and just as it felt like the boat might turn right over, the wind dropped for a second and everyone held on tight again and believed they would survive.
They felt brave and scared all at the same time! Oh dear! How many more waves would hit their little boat? How much longer would the storm go on? And how much better everyone would feel if only Jesus had been there with them!
Oh no – now what? Somebody screamed, “There’s a ghost out there!” Someone was in the lake, trying to get to the boat, but wait a minute, it wasn’t a ghost, it was Jesus! Peter felt so brave, or so scared, or so brave and scared all at once, that he jumped out of the boat and tried to reach Jesus! Oh no! He couldn’t swim!
A big wave tossed him up and he got a mouthful of salty seawater, and just as he was trying to shout, “Help!” Jesus was right there beside him, grabbing his arms and pulling him towards the boat, then huffing and puffing as everyone reached over the side and helped him and Peter tumble back in. Thump!
Just as they landed safe on the deck, the wild wind died down and the lake grew calmer and calmer, until the boat was hardly moving at all, just drifting on still water. Peter and all his friends wondered how Jesus had felt when he came to find them right in the middle of a storm! “Jesus must have felt very brave tonight,” they thought, “but he must have been scared too!”
They were very glad that in all that feeling brave and feeling scared, Jesus really cared about them and had come to help.
Activities
Gathering Activity Ask people to share with a neighbour a time when they have been really scared, what they were afraid of and what helped to calm their fear.
Emotions You will need: copies of the emoticon set, below.
The disciples’ emotions were all over the place when they were on the boat in the storm.
Give each child a copy of the emotion icons and ask them to write down what each one is saying to them. Next, ask the children to identify an emotion icon that describes them in the following situations:
You may wish to add in coming to church or Sunday Club or any other additional situations that are appropriate for your group. Finally, ask the children to design an emotion icon of their own.
Reflection Like the disciples when we are tired and weary and out of sorts the last thing we need is to be confronted with our Lord approaching us on water.
In the midst of a storm we long for calm, not more high jinks.
We batten down the hatches, retreat into ourselves, admiring those who launch themselves into the waves, but happy to sit back and watch and smile with satisfaction as their efforts are swamped.
We are content to allow the miracles unfolding all around us to become submerged in the complexities of life.
We long to be brave enough to step out of the boat, but we settle for the comfort of the turmoil we know.
While Jesus invites us to throw caution to the wind, to let go and plunge in, knowing the safety of his steadying hand. The one who commands the elements, invites us to walk on water.
Take home ideas Look out for signs of Jesus walking in ‘unexpected places in the Kingdom’ this week.
Say to yourself each morning:“Today I will step out of my comfort zone and go to places which require me to have afocused intent and to trust as I reach out knowing that Jesus is waiting for me there.”
Keep a journal with ‘Unexpected Kingdom’ as this week’s title.Notice how you create your own reality each day by the decisions that you make:To what have you said ‘Yes’ today and where did that lead?To what have you said ‘No’ today and where did that lead?
Take a quiet few minutes to be still before you sleep.Imagine that you have a list of the decisions that you made today in front of you.Which would you say you made out of ‘love’ and which did you make out of ‘fear’?If you stepped out of your own boat trusting in ‘love’ more often, visualise where youwould dare to go and what might happen there?
Give thanks for Jesus who encourages us to step out in faith and risk living out of love.
Prayers
Call to Worship From hillside to lakeside Jesus meets the needs of his friends.
Always surprising them and us with his words and actions.
Always responding to our needs, always there for us.
We gather to give thanks and praise to the one who loves and cares for us.
We offer ourselves and this time and invite Jesus to surprise us once more.
Responses Leader: We come here to meet Jesus, All: the one who is full of love.
Leader: We come to hear his word, All: the word that is full of surprises.
Leader: We come to grow in faith, All: the faith that is strengthened and renewed every day.
Sending Witnesses to something amazing, something unbelievable. Jesus walked on water. Witnesses to something frightening, someone’s failure. Peter fell in. But Jesus reaches out to help his friend, and the waters calmed. We go now to find ways of doing the same. Reach out and give someone a hand up this week.
You can hear samples of these suggestions in the ‘Weekly Worship’ section of https://music.churchofscotland.org.uk/. This new online music resource will allow you to listen to and search the breadth of music available in the Church Hymnary 4th edition (CH4).
You will find hidden gems and alternative arrangements to familiar songs that will inspire creativity and spark fresh curiosity about how we best use music in worship.
CH4 193 – “God is Love” – picks up on themes from Psalm 105
CH4 260 – “Eternal Father strong to save” – picks up on themes from Matthewpassage
CH4 351 – “Jesus hands were kind hands” – picks up on themes from Matthewpassage
CH4 471 – “To the name of our salvation” – picks up on themes from Romans passage
CH4 485 – “Dear Lord and Father of mankind” – picks up on themes from Matthewpassage
CH4 510 – “Jesus calls us here to meet him” – picks up on themes from Romans andMatthew passages
CH4 542 – “Lord speak to me that I may speak” – picks up on themes from Matthewpassage
CH4 605 – “Thanks to God whose Word has spoken” – picks up on themes from Psalm105
CH4 662 – “Jesus thou joy of loving hearts” – picks up on the themes from Romans
You are free to download, project, print and circulate multiple copies of any of this material for use in worship services, bible studies, parish magazines, etc., but reproduction for commercial purposes is not permitted.
Please note that the views expressed in these materials are those of the individual writer and not necessarily the official view of the Church of Scotland, which can be laid down only by the General Assembly.
