8/16 GCA Worship

Worship August 16. 2020 German Church of Atlanta Greeting and Announcements Psalm 27 The Lord is my light and my salvation— whom will I fear?

The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom will I be afraid?

Hear my voice, Lord, when I cry out!

Be gracious to me and answer me.

8 My mind recalls your word, “Seek my face,” so your face, Lord, I will seek.

9 Do not hide your face from me; do not turn away in anger from your servant.

You have been my help, therefore do not abandon or forsake me, God of my salvation.

10 Though my father and my mother abandoned me, the Lord gathers me up.

11 Teach me your way, Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies.

12 Do not hand me over to the desires of my enemies;

for false witnesses have risen up against me; even the one who breathes out violence.

13 I believe that I will see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living.

14 Wait on the Lord.

Be courageous, and he will strengthen your heart.

Wait on the Lord!

Jeremia im 31. Kapitel, Verse 31-34: 31 “Look, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I’ll make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 32 It won’t be like the covenant I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. They broke my covenant, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. 33 “Rather, this is the covenant that I’ll make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord. “I’ll put my Law[a] within them and will write it on their hearts. I’ll be their God and they will be my people. 34 No longer will a person teach his neighbor or his relative: ‘Know the Lord.’ Instead, they’ll all know me, from the least to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord. “Indeed, I’ll forgive their iniquity, and I’ll remember their sin no more.”

Bonhoeffer Epheser im 3. Kapitel, Verse 14 bis 21: 14 This is the reason I bow my knees before the Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah,[a] 15 from whom every family[b] in heaven and on earth receives its name. 16 I pray[c] that he would give you, according to his glorious riches, strength in your inner being and power through his Spirit, 17 and that the Messiah[d] would make his home in your hearts through faith. Then, having been rooted and grounded in love, 18 you will be able to understand, along with all the saints, what is wide, long, high, and deep—

19 that is, you will know the love of the Messiah[e]— which transcends knowledge, and will be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to the one who can do infinitely more than all we can ask or imagine according to the power that is working among[f] us— 21 to him be glory in the church and in the Messiah[g] Jesus to all generations, forever and ever!

Amen John15. Kapitel, Verse 27 und 28 sowie im 16. Kapitel, Verse 1 bis 4.

27 You will testify also, because you have been with me from the beginning.

16 “I have told you this to keep you from falling away.[a] 2 You’ll be thrown out of the synagogues. Yes, a time is coming when the one who kills you will think he’s serving God. 3 They’ll do this because they haven’t known the Father or me. 4 But I’ve told you this, so that when the time comes you’ll remember that I told you about them. I didn’t tell you this in the beginning, because I was still with you.”

John 15, 26-16, 4 When The Helper Comes 26 “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father— the Spirit of Truth, who comes from the Father—he will testify on my behalf. 27 You will testify also, because you have been with me from the beginning.

16 “I have told you this to keep you from falling away. 2 You’ll be thrown out of the synagogues. Yes, a time is coming when the one who kills you will think he’s serving God. 3 They’ll do this because they haven’t known the Father or me. 4 But I’ve told you this, so that when the time comes you’ll remember that I told you about them. I didn’t tell you this in the beginning, because I was still with you.

Dear Congregation, Saying good-bye, separating is difficult.

In our time, we have to say goodbye so many times: from loved ones, from jobs that are suddenly no longer there, and from assumed normalcies. We say goodbye to security and habits. We give up travel plans and leave all our future plans open.

Saying goodbye is hard. And then there is the political situation, where so much is open and uncertain. Angst, fears, anxieties can rise up in us.

Our children when they are babies are afraid of being alone. They feel and increasingly become conscious how small and fragile they are. Even falling asleep by themselves. Staying at the day care place by themselves.

Separation anxiety is a reality for us humans – from birth. The good in the experience of separation anxiety is that it shows the close connection between parents and children. What the child needs to learn is trust. Trust that even though he or she can’t see the parents, the parents are not gone.

In psychological language we call this “object constancy”. Every child needs to learn: “My parents can be trusted. They faithfully will come back. I am not abandoned.”

And the parents? If everything goes well, they will become creative in order to help their child to develop this trust. The first challenge for the baby is to fall asleep by themselves … so the parents come up with a plan: First every two minutes returning, reassuring, leaving, then four minutes, repeat, then six minutes and so on… They also give their children soft blankets, stuffed animals, or also songs as so-called “transitional objects” to help transition from the presence of the parents to being alone. Parents create evening rituals: They read picture books, say a prayer, and sing a familiar song.

Always the same ritual, so that the child begins to trust: “My parents are always there when I fall asleep, and then they were there again yesterday morning when I woke up…so I have hope that they will also be there tomorrow morning.”

When the children get older life can be overwhelming. Going to school on their own, all the new experiences… that can be scary. The father gives the daughter a handkerchief with drops of his cologne on it and says: “When you get afraid, you can just pull my handkerchief out and smell me. You then know that I am not far away and that I am thinking of you. You are not alone. “ When religious or pious people say good-bye, they might offer each other a sign of a blessing on the way, a quiet prayer or a visible gesture, a greeting.

Sometimes in Germany we hear the strange saying “Hals und Beinbruch” = “Neck and Leg break”. That is truly a paradox wish. However this saying

came out of a misunderstanding from a jiddish saying that had been the language of the middle- and East European Jews “Hazlacha u Berucha!”, which means literally “Success and Blessing!”

Separating, saying Good-bye – our lives as adults is colored also by many moments of letting go. Since childhood we have to learn to deal with the emotions that come with it and live through the separation pain and sadness as well as grief The disciples of Jesus were not ready to let go and say good-bye to Jesus.

They had not imagined their life without him and how it would change everything.

Therefore, the Gospel of John describes several good bye speeches of Jesus trying to prepare the disciples for letting go of the life they knew when he was with them. In today's Bible text we hear a Jesus who is caring and yet also honest in how he prepares his disciples for the time after the farewell.

Jesus is proclaiming two different things for his disciples: One: They will receive the Holy Spirit given by Jesus himself. And secondly they will experience and suffer persecution. Yes, both sorrow and hope/promise will shape the life of the believers. In our bible text today we hear a Jesus who is caring and also honest with how he prepares the disciples for the time after their separation.

And John writes his gospel now about 70 years later: It has become a reality: The young Christian community is not being understood. They are being mocked and persecuted. They have come in between all fronts and they feel abandoned. This is when the gospel writer John reminds them that they are never alone: Jesus has sent them his Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth.

This Spirit is given to strengthen them in their love for each other, and for keeping them together as a community. This Spirit is there to encourage and to strengthen them in their hope. This Spirit is meant to keep their faith alive that Jesus is present in a totally new but real way.

The text we read shows a deep longing for grounding and protection. A longing born in a situation of homelessness and insecurity. Similarly we might feel in these days, weeks and months, similar to those Christians who felt unsettled, cut off from their earlier home in the synagogue, and politically they felt

attacked and deeply unsettled. And now back then they had the question: How do we handle the hatred that rises against us? How can we survive? Who are we if we don’t belong anywhere? – And how they wished Jesus were still with them!

Grief arises, and the feeling of being abandoned after all. Just as we may sometimes ask ourselves whether we are forsaken by God in this pandemic, in this economic and political crisis.

John describes how carefully and yet also honestly Jesus prepared his disciples exactly for this situation.

Jesus talks about that there will be difficult times ahead for his disciples.

“They will exclude you from the synagogues.” Such exclusion took the cultural roots, the economic grounding from the disciples and they had significant social and economic consequences.

Where today are people being excluded? In this very moment, there are many people who experience being thrown out or cut off: People seeking asylum are being sent back to their impoverished countries where they might be persecuted; persons who are unemployed feel cut off from the working world that provides meaning and self-worth; Children feel isolated. Aging people sometimes don't even understand why no one comes to visit them in the nursing home. We do not want to exclude them, but we do have to protect them from the virus.

The experience of being cut off or thrown out always awake feelings of grief and pain. Jesus himself had been pushed to the margins and shunned.

Jesus experienced at his own body how, as an innocent, he attracts the hatred of those in power.

And then Jesus even goes further with his description of the threat that his followers were going to face: “a time is coming when the one who kills you will think he’s serving God.” Unfortunately these dark predictions are acutely real even today. The Christians in many countries experience intense persecution. There are countries as North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Eritrea, Sudan,

Nigeria, Egypt and others… Christians are being disadvantaged because of their faith, persecuted and even killed. Additionally such killings – as talked about by Jesus- are being spiritualized. Fanatics believe that they can kill in the name of God and that they do God a favor. They are convinced that if they kill others and themselves, God would reward them in the life hereafter.

Where should the early Christians go for hope? How could they find hope in this serious situation? Jesus says: “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father— the Spirit of Truth, who comes from the Father—he will testify on my behalf.” These words sound complicated, and yet they mean something very simple and wonderful: “I will remain, Jesus said, deeply connected with you. The so-called “comforter” or Holy Spirit will testify of Jesus and his eternal connection with you. And this intimate connection will give you hope.”

The former Czechoslovakian president Vaclav Havel once said “Hope is not to be confused with optimism. Hope is not the conviction that something will end well, but the assurance that something is deeply meaningful – without consideration how it might end.”

Jesus tells the disciples that he has to leave them but he promises that he will not abandon them, but that he will send them the Spirit as comforter and counselor. To truly find comfort, to be comforted that is different from being calmed down by empty promises. True comfort has always something to do with truth. That is why according to John comfort is being given through the Spirit of truth. This is the Spirit that helps us follow Jesus’s example. Jesus put his finger onto the dark places in this world, which is a strength that helps us to not cover up injustice and to not cover up meanness. This Spirit is also the reason that we can withstand uncomfortable truth without going into despair. It is this Spirit that points us towards a truth that is much bigger and more meaningful than all those things that burden us, which is God’s all encompassing “Yes” to humanity.

We can feel like children who were sent forth on their journey well equipped by their parent. The comforter, the Spirit of truth will be on our side, whatever may come our way.

I want to tell a story in this context (by Hoffsuemmer). An eight year old boy was playing and fell into a deep hole in the ground. Confusion and panic

broke out, people started running, all were screaming for help – chaos everywhere. Finally the fire truck arrives- with leaders, shovels, ropes.

Everybody listened carefully deep into the hole – nobody knows if the child is still alive.

In the overall chaos and in the midst of all the screaming one man remained surprisingly calm: It is the father of the boy. The people observe how he slowly walks towards the edge of the hole. For a moment everybody holds their breath. Then they see how the father bends forward over the hole.

In that same moment they hear a loud scream coming from down below. His son is alive. As the father bent over the edge of the hole, it became dark inside the hole. That is how the boy panicked and started screaming.

And the voice of the father responded: Do not be afraid, he calls down into the hole, do not be afraid. When it becomes dark, then this is me, your Father.

The screaming stopped. Calmly the father explains to the son what he needed to do and what not to do. Then he lowers down a long rope and instructs his son how to tie it under his armpits. And this is how the boy is slowly being lifted out of the hole and soon he is being saved.

Dear congregation, the fear that the boy had deep down in the hole surely was not gone. But it lost its deadly power. “When it gets dark, then this is me” the father had said, and this is how he reached the boy’s heart. When it gets dark, then it is him, the father. That helped the boy, and that maintained him.

Haven’t we at times experienced similarly as this child did? I am thinking about the dark deep holes in our own lives – those moments when we did not know where to turn. Was is not in those moments that we experienced God especially close to us. “When it gets dark, then this is me”. The fearyes, it is still there, but it does not completely paralyze us. We become able to act and move again, we suddenly consider other new directions, instead of just get fixated on our misery. The helper who will take Jesus’s place will come. It is the Spirit of Truth that the Father sends forth. The Spirit of Truth is the deep connection that holds us into being, even when it gets dark all around us.

Dear Congregation, God pours out his Spirit. The Spirit of Comfort and of Truth. The Spirit that assures us every day, every moment that we are not abandoned nor left alone. It is the Spirit that calms us in the dark, and that takes our fear and anxiety onto itself.

May the presence and the assurance of this Spirit be with all of us. Amen

Intercessory Prayer

Lord, You God of Life, affected by the plight of the Corona crisis, we come to You. We pray for all whose daily lives are now massively strained and ask for healing for all those who are sick.

Be close to the suffering, especially the dying. Comfort those who are now grieving because they have to mourn the dead.

Give the doctors and researchers wisdom and energy, and all those caring on the front lines strength in this extreme strain.

Give the political leaders clarity for the right decisions.

We thank all the men and women who are scrupulously maintaining the supply and infrastructure of our country.

We pray for all those who are panicking or overwhelmed by fear.

We pray for all who suffer or fear great material damage.

Good God, we bring you all who need to be in quarantine, feel lonely and have no one by their side.

Strengthen the hearts of the elderly and people in need of care, touch them with Your gentleness, and give them the assurance that we are connected in spite of everything.

We plead with all our hearts that the epidemic is improving and that medical facilities and resources can meet current needs.

We pray that the numbers of those infected and sick will decrease.

We pray that those responsible will not downplay the epidemic, putting thousands of people at risk. Give insight, give wisdom and a change of heart!

Good God, make us grateful for every day we spend in good health. Let us never forget that our lives are a fragile gift. Yes, we are mortal beings and cannot control everything.

You alone are the origin and goal of everything, you alone are eternal, always loving.

Your Holy Spirit keep our hearts in gratitude. Supported by Your peace, we will survive the crisis.

Jesus, Lord and Brother of all, Your presence dispels our fear, it gives confidence and makes our hearts ready, open and attentive to each other..

We pray together with the words you have taught us: Our Father in Heaven Hallowed be Your name Your kingdom come Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our sin, just as we forgive those who sin against us.

And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil, For yours is the kingdom, and the power and the glory Forever and ever, Amen