for October 18, 2020 Guidance for worship planning is provided by the UMC in the form of a series of Worship plans prepared by Discipleship Ministries somewhat in advance. The current series' theme is "Pressing On" and the week's theme is "Known by Name". The separate Worship Planning Notes provide an introduction. These are the Preaching Notes for the service, dealing with the more specific guidelines for presenting the theme.
Preaching Notes
from UMC Worship Planning at: umcdiscipleship.org
Lectionary Scriptures:
Exodus 33:12-23; Psalm 99:1-9 ; 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10; Matthew 22:15-22
It is perhaps a bit of a jolt to jump from Paul’s Letter to the Philippians all the way back to Exodus, but the pressing on theme resonates loudly in this wilderness wandering story. If you are observing Laity Sunday this week, then Exodus is a perfect text to explore a few important and lay intensive themes. So, it seemed a good jump to make; forgive the textual whiplash! Let’s start with the obvious. In Exodus, we have a leader on the edge. This is not to say that your church is dealing with a leader who is questioning her or his call. But it happens, maybe more than we realize, certainly more than we will admit —even to ourselves, let alone to the larger community. Leadership is difficult. Trying to press on while keeping everyone content enough to go along is a near impossible task. Even the leaders who are wise enough to realize that their job is not to keep everyone happy still wrestle with dissention. No matter how well trained we might be, there is, as with Moses, a creeping suspicion that we weren’t given enough information to do this monumental pilgrimage; that we weren’t given enough help – wisdom, insight, grace, whatever – to be the leader that is needed. Yet. Such an important word. For some reason the NIV skips it. But most translations give us this word asking for a pause. A hesitation, a rethink, perhaps; “yet” is a word of reversal. On one side of the yet is hesitation, uncertainty, “I don’t know who is on my side” or “I don’t know who will support me.” But then the yet brings another truth, a deeper truth. “You – my God, my hope – have said you know me by name.” It would be a poor leader who said that he or she didn’t care whether anyone else was willing to follow, to stand alongside. But a church leader knows that what comes first is a call from God. “The hand of the Lord is upon me,” that’s how Jesus began his ministry. And each of us who want to lead God’s people need to have that sense of affirmation from God in order to do the task set before us. Presence, that is what we seek. God’s presence in particular. To know and be known can get us through a lot— through the difficult days ahead, through the complicated questions and the bone-crushing rejection and the weighty issues that overwhelm us on a regular basis. To walk in the confidence that we are known by God, that God walks with us as we go is the first step on our journey. One of our first realizations is that we are always in the presence of God. It is the nature of God to be present.------------------------------- Rev. Dr. Derek Weber, Director of Preaching Ministries, served churches in Indiana and Arkansas and the British Methodist Church. His PhD is from University of Edinburgh in preaching and media. He has taught preaching in seminary and conference settings for more than 20 years.