200823 English text

Worship Order August 23rd 2020 German Church Atlanta

Song - Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Von guten Mächten wunderbar geborgen Welcome Psalm 113 1 Hallelujah!

I Praise, you servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord.

2 Blessed be the name of the Lord both now and forever.

3 From the rising of the sun to its setting let the name of the Lord be praised.

4 High above all nations is the Lord; above the heavens his glory.

5 Who is like the Lord our God, enthroned on high, 6 looking down on heaven and earth?

7 He raises the needy from the dust, lifts the poor from the ash heap, 8 Seats them with princes, the princes of the people, Hallelujah!

Song 1: Wer tief genug sich beugen vor dir?

Epsistle: Ephesias 2:4-10 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with Christ[a] (by grace you have been saved), 6 raised us up 1

with him, and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; 9 it is not from works, so no one may boast. 10 For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them.

Gospel Reading: Luke 18: 9-14 The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. 9 He then addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else. 10 “Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.

11 The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity—greedy, dishonest, adulterous —or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’ 13 But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’ 14 I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Song 2: Create in me a Clean Heart Wisdom Words about Humility Never look down on anybody unless you're helping them up.

Jesse Jackson 2

Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less. – C. S. Lewis Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real. – Thomas Merton "Thank you" is the best prayer that anyone could say.

I say that one a lot. Thank you expresses extreme gratitude, humility, understanding. – Alice Walker Sermon In 1872 in a small town in the North of Germany celebrated a baptism. The farmer Peter Johannson had welcomed the 7th child into their family. The extended family had come together to celebrate the baby. Everybody was looking forward to a happy celebration. Yet soon they had a problem at hand: As long as the Pastor was present among the guests, nobody could quite get into the mood. For pastor George had declared a fierce fight against any alcohol. So the Baptism community had no choice but to stay with coffee.

The father of the child though was bothered. Soon he had the saving idea: He told the women in the kitchen to pour a good amount of Rum into the warmed coffee cups and only then to pour the sugar and the hot coffee on top of it. So that the pastor should not smell the aroma of the Rum, the put a layer of whipped cream on top.

The mood got increasingly happy after that, even though everybody was only 3

drinking coffee. Pastor George got increasingly suspicious. When he got the next chance, he secretly tasted the cup of the person sitting next to him.

He tasted again and then called out: Now I know what’s going on – oh, you Pharisees!!! And this is how this new drink got its name. Up to today the “Pharisee” has become a kind of national drink in that area of Germany.

You Pharisees!

With the word Pharisee we often connect a kind of certain hypocrisy and pretense. Outside fine- but inside rotten. Outside whipped cream- and inside strong Rum. Our image of a Pharisee has been colored by the New Testament. By stories similar to the one we just heard. The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector.

Pharisees at the time of Jesus were different kind of men. There were handymen and farmers and business men. Today we would say: They were honest and hardworking folks, straight forward and moral. You could trust these men. Society needs these men if it wants to function well. They would pay their taxes on time, worked hard and did not live on cost of anybody else.

The Pharisees were pious people. They kept the Holy days. They knew they had to be accountable of everything they did before God. That’s why they tried to live a God fearing life. They took their faith very seriously.

If today more people lived with an attitude as a Pharisee, we would not have as many problems. Then a “yes” would be a “yes” and a “no” would be a “no”. Finally the mandate to live 4

responsibly before God would be taken seriously!

And yet, the term “Pharisee” has till today a stale aftertaste. We still say: “What a Pharisee”!

In the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector Jesus describes the Pharisee as follows: “He positions himself and prays with himself: God, I thank you that I am not as all the other people: the thieves, the law breakers, adulterers and not like this tax collector over there. And that is the disturbing: The Pharisees looks down onto others. He sets up a hierarchy.

First him, he is all the way at the top, and all the others are way below him.

The hierarchical order – that is his sinfulness! This makes him a hypocrite for us.

A protestant worship service often begins with the confession of sins. We pray with the sentence: “God, have mercy on me, for I am a sinner.” Those are the words of the tax collector.

The tax collector in our parable stands far away and did not even want to lift up his head towards Heaven, but he beat his chest and said: “God, have mercy on me, for I have sinned.

The tax collector and the Pharisee: Two very different people! And yet, both have one in common: both want to talk to God. They went to the temple as they felt the need to pray in the location where God would be close to them. And this is pretty much the only commonality they share.

The Pharisee is self-assured. He rests in himself. He demonstrates his qualities before God: He is fasting, he donates his money. He is a true role model of faith. And he is proud of his religious 5

accomplishments. He does not know doubts. He has a clean conscious.

The tax collector is insecure and has guilt feelings. He knows exactly where he fell short. He understandably has a bad conscious. How it was common at the time in his profession, he had taken advantage of others, he cheated others and acted corruptly at his tax station.

And now he confesses his wrong doing.

He hopes to be forgiven. He seeks grace from God. And thus each of them reacts in their own way: “Lord, I thank you that I am not like the many others” and “God, have mercy on me.”

Our thoughts reveal: “We also judge people”! When we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit: In each of us lives a Pharisee. How often do we think: “That would have never happened to me!” “Oh, that can only happen to such a kind of person!”

And at the same time, in each of us lives also a tax collector: There is none among us who has not committed a sin or made mistakes, has done things we feel guilt or shame about.

The German poet Eugen Roth summarized this double experience in one of his poems: “A person once looked quite closely At the story of the Pharisee who thanked God filled with hypocrisy, that he was not like that tax collector.

‘Thank God’ he said with pride that I am not like that Pharisee.”

Really?

Tax collector and Pharisee – those are two sides that we all carry within us.

Jesus chose these two figures carefully for is parable. And the ending has 6

probably surprised those who listened even back then: “The bad suddenly becomes good – and the good suddenly becomes bad”.

The tax collector is not a good person because he has acted so ruthless. Jesus praises the tax collector because he sees himself in front of God very plainly and realistically. The tax collector knows: The way I have lived my life thus far, was for nothing. I fell way short in the eyes of God. I have nothing to show for or be proud of.” And so he beats with his hands on his chest as a sign of regret and puts his life and fate completely into God’s hand: “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

The Pharisee is not a bad person because he is a pious man in his daily life and keeps God’s commandments.

Jesus criticizes the Pharisee because he is self-righteous: He believes that he has already earned God’s approval. He believes that there is nothing that he would need God for. Nothing he would need to receive from God. And that is his mistake.

Both men are pious!

Why does Jesus tell this story?

He has listener in front of him who consider themselves as “super”-or “hyper” pious and who look down on others. And Jesus wants them to understand: “You are who and how you are. You don’t need to compare yourself with others. Nobody needs to show off how good he or she is. You don’t need to fight for the best places in Heaven. Because in the end you will stand on top, right in front of God’s face. You, the tax collectors and the Pharisees.

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This parable also shows us our situation: We know what is right and wrong. When we hear this story of the Pharisee, then we know that it is theologically correct to identify with the tax collector. With the tax collector we can pray: “God, I thank you, that I am not like this Pharisee, arrogant, big headed and self-pleasing. But I am modest and humble. As a Protestant Christian I know that I am dependent on Grace.”

If we think like this, we are mistaken however. For we aren’t to make comparisons. This is the whole point of the story.

The moment we start making comparisons of any kind, you will inevitably find somebody that you can look down to – with the motto: “I might have my mistakes, but at least I am not as bad as this one over there.”

You only need to look in the newspaper, there you find politicians, union leaders, church leaders, stock brokers or criminals that have done something awful or stupid and on whom we can indulge looking down to.

We know that we should be humble like the tax collector in Luke’s story.

However, the moment that you become aware: “now I am really humble”, you are already miles away from God’s grace.

And yet, what can we do to experience this Grace and truely recognize the power and the reality of true humility?

There is a place that Christians visit since centuries to recognize their true condition. This place is called Golgotha. Who looks at Jesus, who was tortured and abused as an innocent victim, then we can discover in looking 8

at this scenario what we humans are capable of doing. Who looks at the crucifixion becomes aware how God who revealed himself in Jesus who allowed to be degraded and who took the senseless, aggressive destructive rage of us humans on himself – without retaliating. Here we discover the magnitude of God's grace that reveals our sinfulness. Paradoxically in this event of the crucifixion God's holiness is revealed. It shows us that we are all totally dependent on God's grace.

Golgotha is the place where we become able to admit how we really are. I may not have killed a human being yet, but maybe I have committed reputational murder. Or I have hateful thoughts or live with eternal resentment against people who have wronged me. Or I am constantly anxious, because I don't think God wants my best. Or I think my piety or my good deeds will take me to heaven at the end of my life, when it is in reality my humility that keeps me connected with God, and not my piety.

The view of Calvary, the view of the cruelty and betrayal of which we human beings, including myself, are capable, is also the place where we have the ability to pray like the tax collector: "God, be gracious onto me. I am a sinner". It is a miracle of grace if we can pray like this. May God gift us with this miracle of grace and with this strength of humility. Amen.

Song 3: dein Nähe Intercessory Prayer We thank you, God, you have created us.

You give us breath.

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You put us in your creation.

You give us people, who belong to us.

We thank you, God. We ask you, God, For new breath for your creation.

It suffers and is injured.

We ask you for the poisoned seas, the burning forests, the withering fields and the thirsty animals.

They need healing.

Hear us and have mercy.

We ask you, God, in this time of loss and grief, to breathe new breath into people, who we are concerned about.

They are afraid.

And we are afraid for them.

They are suffering from the uncertainty of these days.

We don't know what's coming.

We ask you for all teachers and students, for all parents and families, for all ageing people who are particularly isolated.

They need your blessing.

We need your blessing.

Hear us and have mercy.

We ask you, God, to breathe new breath into all, who serve peace and justice in this world.

They experience many tests.

They suffer setbacks.

They despair we think of all people who live in war zones 10

of all those affected by the Covid 19epidemic, of all who seek social health and justice, of all the people in our neighborhood.

We need protection.

Hear us and have mercy.

We ask you, God, to breathe new breath into your church..

Your communities are unsettled.

We long to see each other.

We ask for you.

We need your word.

Hear us and have mercy.

We ask you, God, you are the Spirit of Mercy you are the spirit of love and justicealso in these days.

Come, You Spirit, Heal Protect, bless and speak through Jesus, our brother.

We entrust ourselves to him, now and every day.

Amen.

We now pray together with words that Jesus taught us: Our Father who art 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 sins, as we forgive those who sinned against us.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: 11

For Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.

Amen Blessing Song: In Demut und Barmherzigkeit

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