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After scouring the internet for sermon and worship helps this afternoon, here are links and excerpts from some of the best resources I found. Click on the links to read more. Also, check out the following sites for further materials for your use:
Sermons and Liturgies – Richard J. Fairchild
Laughing Bird Liturgical Resources
Resources: Based on the Revised Common Lectionary
The Texts
Revised Common Lectionary at Vanderbilt Divinity Library.
Roman Catholic Lectionary Readings (NCCB/USCC) from the New American Bible.
I will be posting my own paraphrases of the texts during the week.
Images
Jacob Wresting with the Angel Gustav Dore
Jacob Wresting with the Angel (Black and White) Pitts Theology Library Digital Image Archive
Jacob Wresting with the Angel Eugène Delacroix
Jacob Wresting with the Angel (Black and White) Holy Bible Sketchpad
Persistent Widow and Unjust Judge (Black and White) Misioneros Del Sagrado Corazón en el Perú.
Persistent Widow and Unjust Judge Hermanoleon
Persistent Widow and Unjust Judge (Black and White) Hermanoleon
Powerpoint Background on Jeremiah 31:33 Sunday Graphx
Bulletin Cover on Jeremiah 31:33 Sunday Graphx
Sermon Preparation
Jeremiah 31:27-34, Commentary, Background, Insights from Literary Structure, Theological Message, Ways to Present the Text. Anna Grant-Henderson writes:
The act of forgiveness is always by God and here it has no explicit requirement of repentance. It parallels Isa 40:1. The theology of the law written on the heart is present in Deut 6:6 and implies that Israel will not be able to break it in the future because it is no longer an external requirement. The law becomes synonymous with "knowing God" in v.34 which means a close relationship with God with the consequence that people would behave appropriately all the time. This would be the case if all people lived by grace, there would be no need of laws because people would know how to behave righteously.
Many people view this passage only through Christian eyes but I hope that by seeing how this was addressed to the exiles in Babylon first, we can appreciate the unique messages of hope in the Old Testament. The Israelite people are the heirs to the first new covenant. They are offered a new opportunity initiated by God to be in relationship. In the New Testament, Christ has become the bearer of the New Covenant which is celebrated in the Eucharist, in which we remember this new act of salvation for the world by God. We are offered forgiveness and the opportunity to begin again.
Jeremiah’s Barbs by Ronald Goetz in The Christian Century
For our part, we do not usually consult with God when we are confronted with life’s decisions. We do not wish to — if only because we already have to contend with the opinions of wives or husbands, friends and enemies, relatives and employers. Also, God’s opinions would hopelessly complicate our essentially practical, pragmatic choices. We wouldn’t even know how to drag in the eternal in deciding, say, whether to buy an American or a Japanese car. Most of our decisions are strictly ours to make. Moreover, God is generally silent anyway. Even if I wanted God’s opinion on this, that or the other thing, I an unlikely to receive it. On the really weighty matters — whether to murder or embezzle or slander or to entertain envy or lust — I know what the answer is; even to ask would be an impertinence.
Girardian Reflections on the Lectionary by Paul Nuechterlein & Friends. Commenting on 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5:
The warning in 2 Tim. 4:3-4 thus takes on an ironic twist against those who seek to be faithful by literalism. The writer of 2 Tim. warns us, "For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths."
Many fundamentalists see themselves as defending sound doctrine from those who have itchy ears. But the tragic irony, I think, is that their literalist method leads them to be precisely those folks they aim to defend against. Taking every word literally allows them to lift verses and phrases out of their living contexts such t
hat they can make these verses and phrases bend to their desires. Most especially, they fall back into the myths of sacred violence that Christ came to liberate us from.
How can this be? By making the text itself an idol.
Stay the Course Commenting on 2 Timothy, Barbara Sholis at The Christian Century writes:
When I first encountered God’s calling me to ministry, I thought of Jacob’s encounter at the ford of the Jabbok. While wrestling with me and my hesitations, down along the riverbank, God whispered in my ear, "Barb: If you are going to tell a story, tell my story." Ever since that day, honoring that stipulation has been part of the privilege and part of the burden in this vocation called ministry. Timothy, pastoring in the first-century church, might have been struggling to arrive at a similar balance. In this second letter from Paul to his protégé, we observe Paul directing the younger pastor to "stay the course." Paul reflects pastor to pastor about the joy, the burden and the responsibility we pastors accept when we step up to ministry and agree to sacred wrestling with God and God’s holy word. (I’m calling the mature pastor/author Paul although scholars doubt that Paul wrote this epistle.)
Preaching Peace by Jeff Krantz & Michael Hardin. Commenting on the parable:
The parable asks ‘Will the Son of Man’ find faith on the earth?’ The context is the apocalyptic breakdown of culture. In the midst of this mimetic breakdown, the question is put. In the parable the woman not only perseveres, but she perseveres in hardship. The parable is not simply a moral tale on the importance of prayer or the value of pestering God until you get what you want. It is about the kind of faith that is demonstrated when things around you get ugly.
The irony of the parable and its good news is the outrageous use of the figure of the corrupt judge. This is a guy who plays by his own rules. He has that kind of power. He is above everyone and everything. He doesn’t give a darn how bad you’ve got it, time was money and if you wanted his time you had better be able to pay. Right. So how is this widow supposed to pay?
Branded by God (Jeremiah 31:31-34) by Stacey Elizabeth Simpson. Simpson writes:
I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." And so God declares he is writing himself into us, according to Jeremiah. In the evangelical tradition in which I grew up, we spoke of "letting Jesus into our hearts." He stood there patiently and knocked, waiting as long as it took, and when we were ready, we swung the door open and invited him in.
The God of Jeremiah will have none of that. This God has grown weary of people’s inability to keep his law. No more will the covenant be written in stone, a covenant which was external and could be broken. Instead, God will write the covenant on his people’s head. In the Hebrew God does not refer to "heads" but says "I will write it on their heart." The heart of the entire people will bear the covenant. This will be no privatized reformation of individual lives.
A Certain Judge…and a Widow In this essay, Dr. William R. Long states:
One of the reasons I love the Bible is because its stories can often be read at more than one level. There is a surface or obvious meaning, which is true and sound but, if you dig deeper, you sometimes find the text opening in directions you didn’t anticipate. Such is the case with our story today. The basic point, which you no doubt pick up immediately, is that one should faithfully persist in prayer. But, as you investigate the twists and turns of the language, you discover also that the way Jesus gets to that point implicates the major theme in Luke about status disparity and the divine "preference" for the "little people." Let’s hear the text anew, both in its clarity and its dim suggestiveness.
Mark Harris, in Do Not Lose Heart, writes:
We are told that the judge feared neither God nor the powers of others. Perhaps this made him a good judge–judging impartially and without feeling. Jesus says he was unrighteous, which is not a comment about his abilities as a jurist. Jesus means that he had or exhibited no ability to show righteous indignation or delight.
The widow wanted no part of this. She wanted partiality to her side. "Vindicate me against my adversary!" she cried. In the end the widow provoked the judge to feeling, to passion, to partiality, for she bothered him. He was moved to choose sides, and acquired something of what we call "heart."
The Upside-Down Parable Fr. Gerry Pierse writes:
We ourselves are the unjust judge who neither fear God or respect people. We are dominated by our egos and generally looking for what is in it for us. We are really stubborn in our self seeking. But God is persistent in love for us. God is the hound of heaven who wears us down, like the widow, by persistently pursuing us. Eventually, we wield and let God enter our lives and guide us to do the right thing. In this interpretation we see God as persistent in trying to break down our defenses. We see prayer as allowing this pursuing God to enter our lives and challenge us to change our self destructive behavior.
Proper 24, Year C – Dylan’s Lectionary Blog
It’s the custom at the parish where I work to do only two readings, either the Hebrew Bible or the epistle (but not both) and the gospel, in Sunday services. This week, since I’m preaching, I’ve asked that we do all three.
The 2 Timothy passage we’ve got this week has always been and is still is an important one for me personally. When as a teenager, I had a conversion experience — in evangelical parlance, I accepted Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior — it was largely in response to what I heard from God in my extensive and enthusiastic reading of the Bible, both on my own and in small groups. Scripture has been integral as well to my other conversion experiences since then — for example, when I first felt confronted with my own racism and sought to repent from it and be intentional about my ongoing formation in a way that would further my ongoing conversion.
Scripture is also central in my sense of vocation. I feel called to a ministry that is sacramental and pastoral, but I don’t know how I’d understand what either of those things mean in the context of Christian community were it not for my many years and ongoing practice of studying Scripture regularly, intensively, and enthusiastically.
Exegetical Notes on the gospel at CrossMarks Christian Resources. Brian Stoffregen writes:
The NRSV includes two translations of 5b:
so that she may not wear me out by continually coming (text)
so that she may not finally come and slap me in the face (footnote)
Tannehill (Luke) comments about this phrase:
The translation of the last part of verse 5 is uncertain. The NRSV’s "wear me out" is an attempt to translate hypopiazo, which literally means "strike under the eye" or "give a black eye to." It is a term applied to boxers, not a term one would normally apply to a widow. It is probably not meant literally (partly because the present subjunctive implies repeated action), but a forceful phrase is needed for translation. Perhaps "that she may not keep battering me" will do. The picture would probably strike the audience as comic. [p. 264]
Could "giving a black eye to" also suggest that her continued actions, which continually point out his refusal to fear God and respect people and grant justice, makes him look bad?
Here, like with the unjust (adikia) steward (16:8, 9), this unjust judge does the right thing, but for the wrong reasons. If they can act justly out of misplaced motives, how much more will God grant justice (or make friends) out of proper motives?
Craddock (Luke) concludes his comments on these verses with:
The human experience is one of delay and honestly says as much, even while acknowledging the mystery of God’s ways. Is the petitioner being hammered through long days and nights of prayer into a vessel that will be able to hold the answer when it comes? We do not know. All we know in the life of prayer is asking, seeking, knocking, and waiting, trust sometimes fainting, sometimes growing angry. Persons of such prayer life can only wonder at those who speak of prayer with the smiling facility of someone drawing answers from a hat. In a large gathering of persons concerned about certain unfair and oppressive conditions in our society, an elderly black minister read this parable and gave a one-sentence interpretation: "Until you have stood for years knocking at a locked door, your knuckles bleeding, you do not really know what prayer is." …
Following the parable, Jesus poses his own question to disciples who have been asking him When? and Where? concerning the coming of the Son of man. When the Son of man does come, will he find faith still alive among us? It is those who endure who will rejoice at his coming; for others, it will be a day of darkness, not of light. [pp. 209-10]
Full Sermons
Praying without Losing Heart Thomas Long
I heard a delightful story the other day about the day that Mother Teresa went to visit Edward Bennett Williams, a legendary Washington criminal lawyer. He was a powerful lawyer. He at one time owned the Washington Redskins and the Baltimore Orioles and he was the lawyer for Frank Sinatra and Richard Nixon, among others. Evan Thomas’s biography of Williams tells the story about when Mother Teresa visited Edward Bennett Williams because she was raising money for an AIDS hospice. Williams was in charge of a small charitable foundation that she hoped would help. Before she arrived for the appointment, Williams said to his partner, Paul Dietrich, “You know, Paul, AIDS is not my favorite disease. I don’t really want to make a contribution, but I’ve got this Catholic saint coming to see me, and I don’t know what to do.” Well, they agreed that they would be polite, hear her out, but then say no.
Well, Mother Teresa arrived. She was a little sparrow sitting on the other side of the big mahogany lawyer’s desk. She made her appeal for the hospice, and Williams said, “We’re touched by your appeal, but no.” Mother Teresa said simply, “Let us pray.” Williams looked at Dietrich; they bowed their heads and after the prayer, Mother Teresa made the same pitch, word for word, for the hospice. Again Williams politely said no. Mother Teresa said, “Let us pray.” Williams, exasperated, looked up at the ceiling, “All right, all right, get me my checkbook!”
Maybe that’s what Jesus wants: pray like that, pray like Mother Teresa, pray like the widow, cry out, bang on the doors of heaven with insistence.
Sent To Forgive Us (Jeremiah 31:27-34 ) Bryn MacPhail
A Sunday School teacher asked her students one Sunday, ‘What must you do before you can obtain forgiveness of sin?’. There was a short interval of silence and then, from the back of the room, a small boy gave his answer, ‘Sin’. The boy was right–forgiveness is not necessary if one is free of sin. Forgiveness is not necessary if we are innocent of any wrongdoing. Unfortunately, Paul insists that "there is none who does good, there is not even one "(Rom. 3:12). The result is that we all are in need of God’s forgiveness.
The Purpose of Prayer Luke Bouman
Like the story of the dishonest manager (Luke 16:1-13), this story has a disconcerting tone to it. We wonder what Jesus is doing comparing God to an unjust judge, even if that comparison is for the purposes of contrast. Even when Luke goes out of his way to explain to us the purpose of this story, persistence in prayer, it is still possible for us to miss the import of this message. I have seen and heard numerous people cite this passage as justification for any number of abuses of prayer. Even if I do not get what I want, what I seek, I will continue to pray until God gives it to me. My persistence will pay off.
I often wonder what people are thinking when they say such a thing. Certainly one of the points of this lesson is that God, in contrast to the unjust judge, hears the prayers of the people and is inclined to dispense justice without the tribulation the Widow endures just to get a hearing. Does God need multiple reminders? Are we to assume that God is not interested in justice unless we bring it to his attention? If, on the other hand, God hears us better than the unjust judge, why are we not getting a response? Why must we be persistent? These are disturbing questions, but they reveal an even more disturbing attitude, which is that prayer is all about me and what I want. A deeper look at this story, as well as some of the other things that Jesus has to say about prayer reveal something different.
The Things We Dare Not Remember Thomas Tewell
God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah saying: "I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more." God spoke through the Gospel writer Matthew in a text that gives us a clue about the broad dimensions of forgiveness: "Then Peter came and said to him, ‘Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy times seven.’"
Ernest Hemingway tells the story of the Spanish father who wanted to be reconciled with his son who ran away from home to the city of Madrid. The father misses the son and puts an advertisement in the local newspaper El Liberal. The advertisement read, "Paco, meet me at the Hotel Montana at noon on Tuesday. All is forgiven! Love, Papa." Paco is such a common name in Spain that when the father went to the Hotel Montana the next day at noon there were 800 young men named Paco waiting for thei
r fathers! Hemingway’s story reminds us how desperate all of us are for forgiveness.
Today God wants to teach us three spiritual lessons about the power of forgiveness that have the potential to change our lives.
On Not Losing Heart William Willimon
Prayer is a problem for many of us. Does God hear prayer? Am I really talking to God or am I only speaking to myself? And the problem, says Tom Long, is not only that we are uncertain about prayer, but we have the good sense to know that, when we pray, we are really putting out faith on the line. Is there a God or not? Is there is a God who listens? Is there a God who cares for us, who hears and responds? These are frightening questions. No wonder, many people prefer not even to try to pray, rather than risk it.
Luke says that Jesus told this parable of the persistent widow and the unjust judge, “In order that we might pray always and not lose heart.”
If you think that prayer is a peculiarly modern problem, think again. Why would Jesus have told this parable to his disciples if everybody then believed in prayer’s power? Throughout Luke, there is plenty on prayer. All of which suggests that prayer is not simply a modern problem — it is a problem for anyone who believes in God. Prayer raises threatening issues, troublesome questions. Is there a God? If there is, is there a God who hears and acts for us?
Trusting God for the Long Haul John Jewell
There is a powerful lesson in today’s gospel. It addresses a major question that lies behind much of the crisis that comes into our living rooms every single day through television. Whether it is senseless killing in Northern Ireland, Bosnia or the Middle East — the latest incident of terrorism or a school shooting — or another drive by shooting that takes the life of an innocent child — the question dominates:
"Will right ever win out over wrong?"
When all is said and done… when the final curtain falls and history has come to its conclusion… Will justice prevail? Will there be a triumph of good over evil? Most of us will have a basic "gut" reaction. It will be a positive sense within that says, "Yes — good is going to triumph over evil." Or… there will be a more pessimistic feeling that, "Evil will finally win out over good." The way you answer that question is determined in part by the answer to two questions. 1. What generation are you a part of? 2. Would you call yourself a person of faith? The first question is something over which we have no control. The second is within our ability to choose.
Will He Find Faith on the Earth – Sermon and Liturgy
The Gospel today seems to be a classical example of the link between perseverance and blessing; between unflagging doggedness and achieving one’s goal.
Luke sets the story in the context of a challenge Jesus makes to his disciples to pray always and not lose heart. His story describes a widow who wouldn’t give up until she got what she wanted from an uncaring – an unjust – judge. Jesus concludes the story by saying: "And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night?"
The lesson seems clear – persevere and you will be blessed.
Today I want to challenge you by questioning that teaching. Indeed I want to suggest to you that Jesus was trying to tell his disciples something entirely different.
copyright – Rev. Richard J. Fairchild – Spirit Networks, 2001 – 2006
The Secret of Overcoming Prayer (Luke 18:1-8) In concluding his message J. David Hoke writes:
If we will be faithful in our prayer life, we will prevail with God. God always honors faithfulness. The welcoming words to heaven’s glory are "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." They key to our success in the Christian life; and the key to our success in prayer is faithfulness. If we are faithful, we will prevail with God.
So, we have seen that overcoming prayer is PERSISTENT prayer; that it is PRECISE prayer; that it is PASSIONATE prayer; and that it is PREVAILING prayer.
That’s the kind of prayer God is certain to answer. That’s the kind of prayer that makes our lives exciting and expectant. That’s the kind of prayer that will change circumstances. That’s the kind of prayer that will change us, to make us more like Jesus.
Copyright © 1998 J. David Hoke.
Worship Helps
Continuing to Pray – Prayer Patterns 1 (Luke 18:1-8) Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
Theme of This Service: This parable, which is often labeled “The Parable of the Persistent Widow,” came from the lips of Jesus for the very specific purpose of the necessity of faithful prayer (v.1). The Heidelberg Catechism teaches us that “prayer is the most important part of the thankfulness that God requires of us” and “God gives his grace and Spirit only to those who pray continually” (Q&A 116). It follows, then, that continuing to pray, in spite of temptations to lose heart, is vitally important for any dynamic Christian life.
Starters for Sunday Church of Scotland.
Affirmation of Faith
The promises at Profession of Faith might be used
as a form of affirmation and commitment at the offertory.We believe in one God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
We confess Jesus Christ
as our Saviour and Lord.We promise to join regularly
with our fellow Christians
in worship on the Lord’s day.We promise
to be faithful in reading the Bible,
and in prayer.We promise
to give a fitting proportion
of our time, talents, and money
for the Church’s work in the world.We promise,
depending on the grace of God,
to profess publicly our loyalty to Jesus Christ,
to serve him in our daily work,
and to walk in his ways all the days of our lives.Lord, in this resolve enable us by your Holy Spirit.
Worship and Liturgy Resources David Beswick
PRAYER OF ADORATION
O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord!
Lord Jesus, preaching good tidings to the people, proclaiming release to captives, setting at liberty those who are bound:
We adore you.
Lord Jesus, friend of the outcast and the poor, feeder of the hungry, healer of the sick:
We adore you.
Lord Jesus, denouncing the oppressor, exposing the hypocrite, overcoming evil with good:
We adore you.
Lord Jesus, pattern of gentleness, teacher of holiness, prophet of the kingdom:
We adore you.
Lord Jesus, dying to save us from our sin, rising to give us eternal life, ascending to prepare our heavenly home:
We adore you.CONFESSION
Most merciful God we confess that we have sinned against you and our neighbour. We have taken great benefits with little thanks and we have been more ready to insist upon our rights than to see the needs of others. Have mercy and forgive us, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.DECLARATION OF FORGIVENESS
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Hear then Christ’s word of grace, ‘Your sins are forgiven’
Thank you God
Liturgies Online Moira Laidlaw
CALL TO WORSHIP: based on Jeremiah 31: 31-34
The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a
new covenant…it will not be like the old covenant:
Written on stone.
This will be a radically new covenant, my laws will be within you
Written on hearts.
And God added these wonderful words –
I am your God and you are my people.
Imprint these words anew on our hearts, O God, so that we know
you in all your fullness, love you as you love us, and worship you as
you deserve.
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