Year C, Ordinary 23, 2019 – Choices
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Hey everyone! We’re back with another show – and we think we have a good idea why we did not publish a show for this week’s lessons three years ago. They are hard! Each one of them contains within them a choice. For Deuteronomy, Moses sets before the people the choice of following God’s commands and having a long life in the land or not following God’s commands and perishing quickly. The Psalm lesson immediately sets up a contrast between the wicked and the righteous as those who do or don’t delight in the law. Paul writes to Philemon and gives him the choice to accept his returning slave as a brother – or allow him to remain with Paul as his assistant. And Jesus in Luke tells people that in order to be his disciple, they must place following him above everything else, including their own lives. Whew – difficult choices await us this week. How will we choose to preach and lead worship with these texts? We have a few ideas.
Smarts of the Week [01:58]
This week, we are considering EYE smart or visual/spatial intelligence. Charts, maps, and graphs as well as photographs and videos are all excellent EYE smart tools. See the worksheet below for some insights or click the link on Dr. Gardner’s work at the top of the page. We are also focusing on WORD smart or linguistic intelligence. Use word puzzles, word games, rhymes, and puns to engage these folks. See the worksheet below for more information.
The Week’s Texts
Deuteronomy 30:15-20 – [06:37]
In the verses for this Sunday, Moses is giving the Israelites some final advice before they cross the river Jordan and he crosses over to God. He tells the people that their choice is plain and simple. They can choose God and life, or they can not choose God and suffer serious consequences. For EYE smart, give people some visual representations of before and after pictures to illustrate the stark contrast between the two options. Keep in mind, a bombed-out city is not the result of an entire peoples’ choice for or against God; the idea is the shocking difference. For WORD smart, illustrate the people hearing (and hopefully obeying) the words of God the way a crew team hears and obeys a coxswain. I also have some fun anagram puzzles based on this passage.
- EYE smart – [07:49]
- before and after pictures of various war zones, like these of Syria
- Use a Jenga® set
- WORD smart – [11:14]
- Listening to God’s commands is like being a crew member paying attention to the calls of the coxswain.
- See the worksheet for some Ana-grammars.
- Use Inge’s Anagram Generator to find words for your own puzzles!
Psalm 1 – [15:52]
We have mentioned before that the Greek word for sin is ἁμαρτία (hamartia) or “missing the mark.” Lo and behold, the Hebrew word for sin is חָטָא (chata) or “miss the mark.” Sin is not making the goal or going wrong. Conveying this idea through word definitions, word puzzles, or Isaac Watt’s poem would be a great way to engage WORD smart people. For EYE smart, think about the way that researchers watch over rodents in a test maze as an illustration for the way the Lord watches over the righteous. This is not to say that we are rats in a lab, but that God pays close attention to us to see how we will make decisions and live them out. There may even be cheese at the end of it!
- WORD smart – [16:34]
- Make a crossword using words from this psalm.
- Or a word search!
- See the worksheet for the poem by Isaac Watts.
- EYE smart – [19:54]
- Describe the classic scientific investigation of mice or rats in a maze
- See also Tryon’s Rat Maze for more detail on one early test.
- Here’s a video of some rats going through an amateur maze.
Philemon 1:1-21 – [22:43]
David combines MATH and WORD smart for an EYE smart special effect for this passage. Paul uses some interesting techniques in this letter in order to elicit a hoped-for response from Philemon. Take a look at the EYE smart worksheet to see where these words are and how you can make a chart to show them to your congregation. (There is some PEOPLE smart in this exercise in that Paul is hoping to push the right combination of buttons to motivate Philemon to his position.) For WORD smart, try to identify the different types of documents contained in this letter. I think there is a character reference, a legal negotiation, and a sermon about grace and mission. What else might there be?
- EYE smart – [25:01]
- See the worksheet for the chart
- WORD smart – [27:33]
- Is Paul’s letter to Philemon a sly way to get what he wants? Like Jimmy Fallon’s thank you notes?
Luke 14:25-33 – [30:03]
Take a look at the WORD smart worksheet to see some more Greek words used in the passage. How they are translated into English may provide some other insight into what Jesus is telling the crowds. We shy away from this passage because the Greek word is “hate” – but it is also used comparatively, much like Moses in Deuteronomy and the Psalmist. Jesus is pushing the people to see that their choice to follow him is plain and that the consequences of doing so are steep. Is he giving people an out, or is he just warning them to consider carefully? For EYE smart, make a poster with a thermometer and fill it up with the items listed on the worksheet.
- WORD smart – [31:34]
- EYE smart – [34:58]
- Got some help from the Feasting On the Word Commentary for this passage, Year C, Vol. 4
Photo by Oliver Roos on Unsplash. Used by permission.
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