Year A 5th Epiphany 2020 Living Into Abundance & Middle School Skit

Year A 5th Sunday After Epiphany, 9 February 2020
St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA
“Living into Abundance”

Collect: Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins, and give us the liberty of that abundant life which you have made known to us in your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Matthew 5:13-20
Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.

“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” 

[Note from Rock+: This sermon was a short homily to coincide with our Annual Meeting and our Middle School Sunday. At the bottom I included the skit I co-wrote with my middle school daughter.]

Today I want to speak about a word, a single word. And it is not even in our Gospel, but it is in our Collect for the day. But without this word, and the attitude and that it represents then everything in the Gospel cannot be true.

Last week we looked at our Belovedness, and how I believe that the Beatitudes express that all are Beloved to God and thus can be happy in God, through God, and with God no matter the instance we find ourselves in. And coupled with that concept of Belovedness is what that means for us.

One of the joys of being married, is that in almost in situation I know that Stephanie will have my back. We are a team. We are together through it all. We have been. And I trust, as long as there is breath in our lungs, we will be. She and I can and will face anything that comes, together. So it is with God, too.

God plus you is bigger than anything! And with that comes our word of the day. Abundance. From our collect: Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins, and give us the liberty of that abundant life which you have made known to us in your Son our Savior Jesus Christ… You see with God we have all we need. God gives us not just a sense, but a reality of Abundance. We have all we need. We will have all we need.

This last Wednesday morning we spoke of the time when the Hebrew children wandered in the desert, living on the sustenance provided by God, the Manna that came down from heaven. Learning to fully rely on God is hard. It takes faith. For forty years, the people of God were taught to rely fully on God. We are living in the most productive and prosperous nation on earth, and arguably in the history of the world. That felt need of fully relying on God left us a long time ago.

Now do not hear me saying that we get what we want, that is the bailiwick of the Prosperity Gospel heresy. I am not saying that. I never will. We are not talking about luxury, desire, or comfort. We are talking about need.

And as we live into sharing what we have, and in living more and more into who Christ would have us be, then God entrusts us with more and more. We are blessed to be a blessing. And like I was talking about with someone last Sunday at coffee hour, we give and then we find that God blesses us with more so we can give more, bless more. Thanks be to God.

From that Abundance, Jesus can say, “You are the salt of the earth.” And remember, when Jesus was saying this it was a precious substance that took labor and effort to make, and it was a precious thing. In the arid land where he was, Salt was Life. To be a precious commodity requires a shift in our understanding. But we do not make ourselves precious, we are precious for whose we are, not who we are.

From that Abundance, Jesus can say, “You are the light of the world.” We are not expected to shine our light, but like the moon, we reflect the light of the Sun (Son?). God is the source of our Light, not given for our benefit, but we are blessed to be a blessing. We acknowledge the Abundance of an Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent God. And we can reside in that Abundance.

Now are there those among us who have needs? Of course. But WE have all we need. Our hesitancy to live lives of Abundance is a faith issue amongst us. When I share with you, I receive the blessing of knowing I have helped a sister or brother, in knowing that God has provided enough for me to be generous, in knowing that the way I have seen God provide before will still be true tomorrow.

Do we have the faith to be the Light of the World, the Salt of the Earth? Let’s even scale it back. Do we even have the faith to be the Light of Ashland? The Salt of Hanover?

It is not that we have a shortage of anything, except maybe faith. Like the man said who asked Jesus for a healing for his son, “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.” Lord, we believe. Help our faith live into your Abundance. Amen.

MIDDLE SCHOOL SUNDAY SKIT
Year A 5th Epiphany, 9 February 2020
St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA
Middle School Sunday Skit Sermon

Matthew 5:13-20
Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.
“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

ALL PARTS

Scripture A
Uno
Dos
Girl
News Reporter
Waitress
Victim
Car (non-speaking)
Ambulance (could be 2-5)
Billy Bob
Scripture B

Scripture A: When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. I Corinthians 2:1 We, the Middle School Youth of St. James the Less can say the same thing. No Lofty Words, but maybe some wisdom. You be the judge.

Narrator Uno: Once upon a time, there was girl…
Narrator Dos: A girl?
Narrator Uno: Yes, a girl. And she had a horrible dream one night.

Girl: Ahh. What a great day! It feels fantastic already. I wonder what is going on in the world.
News Reporter: Good morning! We hope you are having a super-duper day. In breaking news, we have nothing. Nothing is happening. Everyone is filled with love and happiness. There is no news, because this is the 437th day of nothing. I think I’ll just sit here and hum lullabies until I drift to sleep. MMM-mm-MMM-mm-MMM-mm.
Girl: Huh? Wait! What?!? That can’t be right!
News Reporter: This just in. What I just said is right. Nada. Zip. Everything is peachy.
[Girl turns off TV.]
Girl: Maybe I need to get going. [Leaves.] I know, I will go and get breakfast.

Uno: But once she left the house, the weirdness just got weirder.
Dos: What do you mean?
Uno: I better just show you, you won’t believe any more than she did.

Waitress: Hey, welcome to Dottie’s Diner! Have a seat.
Girl: Thanks! I’m starved.
Waitress: Sorry to hear that.
Girl: Well, don’t worry. That’s why I came here.
Waitress: For what?
Girl: For breakfast.
Waitress: Well, why did you come here?
Girl: This is a restaurant, a diner. A place to get food!
Waitress: Oh hunny! You’re silly. We don’t serve food!
Girl: Uh, what?!?
Waitress: This is a diner. Why would you think that we would serve food. You sure are a funny one!
Girl: Uh, okay, maybe I’ll just move on.
Waitress: You just got here! Oh, well. Suit yourself.

Dos: That is weird.
Uno: What did I tell you? News with no News.
Dos: A Diner with no Dining.
Uno: Well, that is nothing. Wait, it gets worse…

Girl: Oh hey, there is my friend. Hey, ________.
Victim: Oh hey, ____________.
Girl: Be careful crossing the street!
[Victim gets struck by car and lies injured in the road.]
Girl: Oh, no! I better call the Ambulance! [Dials] Ambulance, ambulance, help! Help!!!
[Group “Ambulance” shows up.]
Ambulance: Don’t worry. What seems to be the problem?
Girl: My friend, __________, got hit by a car.
Ambulance: Well don’t worry! We are here to stop his suffering!
Girl: Thank goodness!
[Ambulance crew then begins to stomp on Victim.]
Girl: Wait! What are you doing?
Ambulance: Duh! Ending his suffering!

Dos: Ahh! That is crazy.
Uno: I know, right?
Dos: Oh look, she is getting rid of the ambulance.
Uno: Well that seems to be the right thing to do.
Dos: What is going on in this place? Is this dream about Crazyville?!?!?
Uno: Wait, there’s more.

Girl: Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas any more. __________, come on, let me see if I can get you some help.
Billy Bob: Hey there, welcome to Billy Bob’s Big Boutique. What can I help you with?
Girl: Finally. My friend needs some assistance. I need to buy some stuff.
Billy Bob: Great! I got stuff. What are you looking for?
Girl: First Aid Supplies.
Billy Bob: Great. I have something like that.
Girl: Bandages? Antiseptic Ointment?
Billy Bob: I got some things like that. How about some used tissues for those bandages, and maybe some of this here lemon juice for those open wounds?
Girl: What? Are you trying to kill him?
Billy Bob: Just telling you what we got, mam.
Girl: Don’t you have anything normal?
Billy Bob: We got salt.
Girl: Salt. That is actually something they used to use for wounds.
Billy Bob: Well, see, that’ll work. Now that there is some of our special Billy Bob Special Salt. It is the “sweeeeeetest” salt you ever did see.
Girl: Sweet Salt?
Billy Bob: Billy Bob’s Special Salt. Sweet as can be!
Girl: That’s not SALT! That’s sugar.
Billy Bob: Well aren’t you getting picky! How ‘bout you try one of these here Billy Bob Flashlights. 100% Guaranteed to not work, GUARANTEED! 100% unlightable flashlight. Almost as special as that salt.
Girl: AHHHHH! Get me outta here!

Dos: Finally someone making some sense.
Uno: Nothing is the way it should be.
Dos: Nothing makes sense.
Uno: Salt with no Saltiness.
Dos: Lights with no Light.
Uno: That is not how things are supposed to be.
Dos: We are supposed to do things the way they are supposed to be done. God’s way.
Waitress: Diners should be for Dining.
Victim: Helpers should be for Helping.
Billy Bob: Salt should be Salty.
Girl: And Light should be Lighting up the world. Light was not made to be hidden.

Scripture B: Jesus put it this way. “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.”
Victim: Hey, I got trampled under foot.
Ambulance:  Yes, you were A-SALTed. Get it? A-SALTed?!?!?

Scripture B: [Shaking head.] Back to Jesus. “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

Girl: Now go…
ALL: And do likewise!