4/7InkzHVUEQeEdU9vpc1tikzEhChrKmPfvXI-FSDBrBQ

Object Lesson

Adult Object Lesson: Advent 2, December 9, 2012

Tuesday

jesus_baptismbyJohnToday’s object lesson is a Christmas carol. It’s not one of the favorites but it is still widely known.

Green Grow the Rushes, Ho.

It is a centuries old, English folk song, a counting song, not unlike the better known Twelve days of Christmas, but more transparent in its meanings.

Like many folk songs, the words can vary and the interpretations can be debated.

Here is a link to a simple folk rendition where you can hear the tune. Here’s another, more physical, version. It’s having fun like this with this otherwise LONG song that has made it last for hundreds of years! You’ll note that each version changes the words slightly. Words are fair game in folk music!

Here is a common version. Focus on the words for the number 2.

I’ll sing you twelve, Ho
Green grow the rushes, Ho
What are your twelve, Ho?
Twelve for the twelve Apostles
Eleven for the eleven who went to heaven,
Ten for the ten commandments,
Nine for the nine bright shiners,
Eight for the April Rainers,
Seven for the seven stars in the sky,
Six for the six proud walkers,
Five for the symbols at your door,
Four for the Gospel makers,
Three, three, the rivals,
Two, two, lily-white boys,
Clothèd all in green-o
One is one and all alone
And evermore shall be so.

Two lily-white boys. There are different interpretations of what this means, but one common interpretation is that the lily-white boys are John the Baptist and Jesus. The clothed all in green part comes from obscure customs of decorating the altar area with holly and mistletoe, plants with different colored berries but both ever green.

This opens the door for a discussion of the two very different cousins and their role in the Christmas narrative. Their devotion to one another despite their profound differences in personality and their differing birthright missions was a catalyst that sparked Christianity and makes the message so memorable as to be told 2000 years later.

So why do we work so hard today at being the same?

04 Dec 2012

Adult Object Lesson: Signs of Christmas

Jeremiah 33:14-16  •  Psalm 25:1-10  •
1 Thessalonians 3:9-13  •  Luke 21:25-36

Poinsettias are already for sale. What a perfect object lesson to go with the parable of the fig tree!

You know summer is coming when the fig tree sprouts. You know the celebration of Jesus’ birth is coming when you see poinsettias for sale in the grocery store. Talk about the other signs of Christmas—TV and radio ads using Christmas music to grab your attention, charity solicitations in the mail, and your neighbors Christmas lights brightening your lawn in the evening.

Talk about the prophecies in Jeremiah and the sentiments of the psalmist—how the signs bring both hope and anxiety.

photo credit: RedTail_Panther via photopin cc
26 Nov 2012

Adult Object Lesson: Christ the King Sunday

Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14  •  2 Samuel 23:1-7  •
Psalm 93  •  Revelation 1:4b-8  •  John 18:33-37

We crown Jesus king next Sunday, despite his earthly protests.

God resisted the concept of kings until his chosen people demanded one. Kings are an acquired taste!

Kings are a foreign concept to Americans. We read about kings in story books. We respect the monarchs of other countries, but the idea of being a subject under a king that rules by birthright is not easily understood by us.

Yet that is the imagery of today’s scriptures.

Today it wouldn’t be a bad idea to point out what “kingship” entails.

Use a flip chart and start to make a list.

Ask your congregations for words that they might associate with an earthly king.

Add their suggestions to the chart and talk about how the earthly king might correspond to Jesus as King.

Expect words like crown, castle, throne, realm, queen, power, subjects, scepter

Create a little chart, adding the heavenly counterpart to the analogy.

20 Nov 2012

Adult Object Lesson: Mark 9:38-50

The lesson today is about creating boundaries.

Today’s object is a goldfish in a bowl.

In Mark 9:38-50, the disciples are upset with some copycat miracle workers who are exorcising demons in Jesus’ name. The disciples bring the matter to Jesus’ attention. Someone is stepping on your (they probably meant “our”) territory.

Hey! They had tried to stop them. But the scoundrels just weren’t listening! Surely, Jesus would put the demon chasers in their place.

The disciples wanted Jesus to draw a line — decide who were the true followers of Christ. Keep the kingdom tidy.

But Jesus dismisses the disciples’ concerns. He focuses on them.

He encourages the disciples to loosen up. These new miracle workers aren’t going to diminish His abilities. Why bother drawing lines between people who are working for the same cause?

Here’s a little known fact about goldfish. They were naturally plain old, grey carp.

Japanese and Chinese hobbyists carefully bred their pets to bring out the bright colors.

Today, goldfish are known for their splendor.

And where did it get them? Today most of the beautiful goldfish, chosen for their color and carefully bred to ensure colorful offspring, are kept in a bowl. The chosen fish are destined to live their lives separated from other fish and the world. They will swim all day, every day, in circles peering through their concave barriers at the world they were part of back when they were grey. Their beauty has indeed set them apart — to what end?

Talk with your congregation about the walls they might be putting up between themselves and the rest of God’s glorious creation. Why do the barriers seem like a good idea? When the harshest barriers are at last broken, what result was feared? What result actually came about?

  • The walls between faiths.
  • The walls between denominations.
  • The walls between genders and races.
  • The walls between educated workers and manual labor.
  • The walls between old and young.
  • The walls of culture and language.

Think about the disciples. Did their special status as chosen children of God divide them from the world or prepare them to join the world?

What about us? What walls do we put up? What purpose do we think they serve? What unintentional purposes result?

photo credit: Bob.Fornal via photopin cc
24 Sep 2012

Adult Object Lesson: September 2, 2012

Be Doers of the Word

Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9, Psalm 15, James 1:17-27, Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Today’s object is a hand mirror.

Begin the talk with something about you in obvious disarray. Your hair might be disheveled or your shirt buttoned wrong or you might have a mismatched or missing earring or if you are robed, wear your stole backward. Having created a visual flaw, look into your hand mirror and discover the flaw.

Today’s combined lectionary readings examine God’s reaction to human flaws.

Retell briefly the story of Moses and God’s refusal to grant him the reward of entering the Promised Land after Moses had grown old leading the Israelites through the desert. For all the hard work of keeping a disgruntled people together on an arduous, perilous journey, Moses had to face his failings—his tendency to doubt.

The passage from James reminds us that God gives us the power to do more than hear God’s Word. We must act.

James asks us to look in the mirror. If we look in the mirror and do not like what we see we are compelled to do something about it.

The Gospel from Mark focuses on the interpretation of Jewish dietary laws. Jesus listens to the questions and criticism of the scribes and responds by pointing out that defilement comes from within. It isn’t bad or wrong food that gives the Devil its power. It is what is lacking within our hearts and minds.

Coupled with James insistence that Christians act upon what they learn from scripture the concluding message for today’s object lesson is to look into our mirrors every day. If we don’t like what we see, do something about it.

End your object lesson by fixing your obvious flaw.

Keep your lesson upbeat. Self-examination is difficult even when we have balloon-sized egos. Many people feel bad about themselves as it is. Offer encouragement, help, forgiveness and love as tools to overcome human failings.

Thoughts to keep in mind:

  • There is a related message in the signs posted in public concourses, “If you see something, say something.” (If you hear the Word, do something)
  • The lessons for today coincide appropriately with Labor Day, America’s celebration of the worker.
  • The book of James was such a challenge to early Christians (and even the great reformer, Luther) that it almost wasn’t included in the Bible.
photo credit: MistoAcrilico via photo pin cc
28 Aug 2012