Sermons & Meditations

Jeremiah 33:14-16; Luke 21:25-36
Presented November 29, 2009 by Joel D. Kline
The First Sunday of Advent

Fred Craddock, remarkable story-teller and long-time professor of preaching, grew up in rural Tennessee in the days of racial segregation. He tells the story of returning to his home area in west Tennessee at holiday time many years ago, visiting Buck, an old high school friend, at the restaurant Buck had run for some years. But things were different this year, so that when Fred entered the restaurant and said, “Merry Christmas, Buck,” he did not receive the usual welcome, including free coffee and piece of pie. Instead, Buck took Fred aside and said, “Let’s go for a cup of coffee.” A rather confusing request, since they were in a restaurant. But Fred soon discovered that his friend was struggling with a moral dilemma, and needed a listening ear.

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Luke 17:11-19
Presented November 22, 2009 by Joel D. Kline
The Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

In the eyes of the ancient Palestinian world of Jesus’ day, the Samaritan in today’s Scripture lesson would have been a double loser. Leprosy was a dreaded disease, a contagious malady that caused those who suffered from it to be expelled from normal human interaction, relegated to the remote edges of society. The book of Leviticus describes in great detail how the priests of the day could diagnose leprosy and subsequently pronounce lepers unclean. “The person who has the disease,” asserts Levitical law, “shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head be disheveled; and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean.’…he shall dwell alone in a habitation outside the camp” (Leviticus 13:45). The isolation of lepers from the rest of society was complete. In her sermon based on this text Episcopal preacher Barbara Brown Taylor asserts that people not only feared leprosy as a contagious disease; even more, “it was [the lepers’] pain, their loneliness, their unspeakable fear no one wanted to catch, and so they were kept at a distance, barred from the religious community, and declared unworthy of God.”

But the Samaritan leper knew the pain of exclusion, not just because of his diseased body, but even more, because of his heritage as part of a people with whom the ancient Jews carried a centuries-old enmity. In the eyes of the people of Jerusalem, Samaritans were both Gentiles and foreigners, making this character, both a Samaritan and a victim of leprosy, a twofold outsider, a double loser. And yet, it is this double outcast whom Jesus commends: “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well” (Luke 17:19).

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Ezekiel 36:22-28
Presented November 15, 2009 by Joel D. Kline
The Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Daniel Berrigan, Catholic priest who has remained through the years—indeed, through the decades—an ardent advocate for justice, compassion, and peace, wrote an introduction to The Long Loneliness, Dorothy Day’s autobiography. You may remember Dorothy Day as the founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, so noted for its ministry to the poor and the homeless and its advocacy for justice and peace. Berrigan writes of being “grateful beyond words for the grace of this woman’s life, for her sensible, unflinching rightness of mind, her long and lonely truth, her journey to the heart of things.” Celebrating Dorothy Day’s passion for nonviolence and her commitment to serving “the least of these” among us, Berrigan goes on to assert that she was one of those rare persons who was able to “urge our consciences off the beaten track.” She did this, first of all, claims Berrigan, “by living as though the truth were true.”

This morning we are celebrating Kim Ebersole’s licensing to the set-apart ministry in the Church of the Brethren, an event that provides opportunity for us to reflect upon the challenges and often unanticipated possibilities that may well come our way as we embrace a call to ministry. In Church of the Brethren tradition we affirm that each of us, by virtue of our baptism, are called to live the truth and to give witness to our faith—through acts of service and compassion, through words of comfort and challenge, through our very living—living, as did Dorothy Day, as though the truth of the gospel were indeed true. It is a matter of recognizing our calling, as followers of Jesus, to share our faith by proclaiming peace, taking on the heart of a servant, working tirelessly for justice, extending arms of compassion and forgiveness, going the extra mile in relationships. Each of us, in truth, is called to ministry and service in the compassionate spirit of Jesus. And so while these words this morning, Kim, are at a significant level directed to you as we recognize and affirm your gifts for leadership and service, they nevertheless speak to all of us who claim to be followers of the One who came that we might experience life abundant and grace-filled. (more…)

Mark 12:38-44
Presented November 8, 2009, by J.D. Kline
The Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost

We all have encountered them at one time or another—haven’t we?—those rather rare people who have a way of giving and serving without drawing attention to themselves. Sometimes you have to be “all eyes” even to notice them, for they seldom seek the limelight. In the aftermath of Janice’s accident and sudden death some years ago, one of the kindest and, in my estimation, most appropriate descriptions of her was shared by Jeanne Davies near the beginning of the memorial service. Some people, said Jeanne, come upon the scene proclaiming, “Here I am!” while others, like Janice, instead enter a room saying, “Oh, there you are.” It’s easy to take for granted persons who focus on others, persons who extend themselves with little thought of reward, until they are no longer with us.

This morning’s Gospel lesson tells the familiar story of the poor widow who gives her all, freely placing two thin copper coins—equal to a penny, we are told—in the Temple collection. It’s frequently considered the quintessential story for the stewardship season. Episcopal preacher Barbara Brown Taylor suggests that going through the stewardship season without the story of the widow’s mite “would be like Thanksgiving without turkey, Christmas without presents, Easter without eggs.” So even though our fall stewardship emphasis is technically at an end, when the text was listed in the lectionary as this Sunday’s Gospel lesson, I found myself drawn to it. And yet I want to focus on the text today, not primarily as a stewardship lesson, but more broadly, as a story that speaks of the challenging nature of discipleship. The story stands as the final scene Mark describes as occurring in the Temple courtyard, just prior to the events leading up to Jesus’ arrest and trial. It is a story that prepares us for those troubling events leading to Jesus’ death. Indeed, the widow’s selfless act of giving sets the stage for a messiah who willingly empties himself; it points us forward to the One who pours out his life for others, even as competing religious leaders want to dismiss Jesus as little more than an irritating presence—yet a presence, we soon discover, they are eager to eliminate at any cost.

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