Narrative Lectionary: 1 Kings 12:1-7, 25-29 (October 27, 2019)

More Narrative Lectionary Seeds Resources can be found here.

Kingdom Divided: Power & Prophecy of Service 1 Kings 12:1-17; 1:25-29Mark 10:42-45Psalm 146

A Question/Crisis of Servanthood: 1 Kings 12:1-17; 25-29; (Mark 10:42-44)

CROSS REFERENCES

The labor protested by the people is depicted in 1 Kings 5

Two golden calves cf Exodus 32

Comparison of Aaron (Ex. 32) and Jeroboam https://www.jstor.org/stable/3263268?read-now=1&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

God’s response to Israel’s request for a king 1 Samuel 8:11-17

The king as the helper of the needy Psalm 72:12-14

Bethel (where Jeroboam puts a golden calf): Genesis 12:8; 28:10-19 and 35:9-15.

 

POTENTIAL THEME:

Servant leadership means that the leaders serve the people rather than vice versa

This means that Christians are called to serve the world, and also to let others help/serve them. (While some help too little, others do not accept help enough.)

 

Of course there is a whole field in and outside of Christian circles dealing with servant leadership For a general overview, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servant_leadership.

 

For a Christian overview, see https://faithandleadership.com/programs/spe/articles/200706/servant.html

 

Patheos has numerous articles on Christian servant leadership; see https://www.google.com/search?q=patheos+servant+leadership&oq=patheos+servant+leadership&aqs=chrome..69i57j33.10598j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

Theology of Work has a five day devotional on servant leadership

https://www.bible.com/reading-plans/2931

Other articles by Theology of Work at https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ACYBGNSX4mrWVe7FGx5_8ficOXGl_wsj4Q:1571017107630&q=theology+of+work+servant+leadership&spell=1&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjQmIvlzprlAhXhlOAKHcUVBV4QBQguKAA&biw=1821&bih=876

 

Institute of Faith, Work and Economics offers this take

https://tifwe.org/a-biblical-mandate-for-servant-leadership/

 

ILLUSTRATIONS

The servants (and lords!) at Downton Abbey, who see service as honorable and rewarding

 

Public servants today: Marie Yovanovitch (could be contrasted with others!)

 

IMAGES

Engravings https://preachingandworship.org/search/1%20kings%2012

Children’s illustration http://www.freebibleimages.org/illustrations/rehoboam-jeroboam/

Servant leadership images https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ACYBGNTZfGKwA5ChwdT7BtQobd5aj4lYhg:1571016590950&q=images+servant+leadership&tbm=isch&source=univ&sxsrf=ACYBGNTZfGKwA5ChwdT7BtQobd5aj4lYhg:1571016590950&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj60tvuzJrlAhWCY98KHdu7DKAQsAR6BAgKEAE&biw=1821&bih=876#imgrc=E4oR051DF6aJvM

 

PRAYERS

PRAYER OF THE DAY

Mighty God, your servant Rehoboam divided your kingdom with his tyranny, yet you remained faithful to both kingdoms, even in the midst of conflict. Show us your presence in conflict, and help us to resolve our differences, uniting this world in your name. Amen. https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2564

HYMNS

Built on a rock   ELW 652
God of tempest, God of whirlwind ELW 400

CITY (Presbyterian Hymnal)

348 Christian Women, Christian Men

408 Where Cross the Crowded Ways of Life

413 All Who Love and Serve Your City

424 O Jesus Christ, May Grateful Hymns Be Rising

431 O Lord, You Gave Your Servant John

437 Our Cities Cry to You, O God

 

Also PH 477 Ye Servants of God, Your Master Proclaim

COMMITMENT: PLEDGE OF

100.2 When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

101.2 When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

157 Our King and Our Sovereign, Lord Jesus

183.4 In You, Lord, I Have Put My Trust

227.3 Not Unto Us, O Lord of Heaven

252.1 O Lord, You Are My God and King

339 Be Thou My Vision

342.4 By Gracious Powers

343 Called as Partners in Christ’s Service

350 Fill My Cup

364 I Sing a Song of the Saints of God

365 Jesus, Priceless Treasure

369 I’m Gonna Live So God Can Use Me

370.4 Just as I Am, Without One Plea

372 Lord, I Want to Be a Christian

375 Lord of All Good

384 O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go

388 O Jesus, I Have Promised

389 O Jesus, I Have Promised

391 Take My Life

392 Take Thou Our Minds, Dear Lord

398 There’s a Sweet, Sweet Spirit

410 When I Had Not Yet Learned of Jesus

354 Index of Topics and Categories

414 As Those of Old Their Firstfruits Brought

427 Lord, Whose Love Through Humble Service

447 Lead On, O King Eternal

448 Lead On, O King Eternal

461.4 God is Here!

516 Lord, We Have Come at Your Own Invitation

522 Lord, When I Came Into This Life

525 Here I Am, Lord

 

COMMITMENT: PRAYER FOR

132.1 Come, Great God of All the Ages

316.3 Breathe on Me, Breath of God

321 Holy Spirit, Truth Divine

339 Be Thou My Vision

351 Give to Me, Lord, a Thankful Heart

357 O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee

360 Hope of the World

366 Jesus, Thy Boundless Love to Me

378 Make Me a Captive, Lord

387 Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us

396 O for a Closer Walk with God

397 O for a Closer Walk with God

425 Lord of Light, Your Name Outshining

456 Awake, My Soul, and with the Sun

461.4 God is Here!

516 Lord, We Have Come at Your Own Invitation

522 Lord, When I Came Into This Life

535 Go with Us, Lord

COMMITMENT: URGED

333.1 Seek Ye First

398.2 There’s a Sweet, Sweet Spirit

490.4 With Glad, Exuberant Carolings

 

EXEGESIS

Brueggemann on the results of oppressive leadership (last 3 paragraphs deal with this passage): http://www.jmm.org.au/articles/2620.htm

 

Working Preacher’s commentaries and podcasts:

https://www.workingpreacher.org/search/Default.aspx?cx=001947499050786061073:fplx-aun2rq&q=1%20kings%2012:1-17,%2025-29&cof=FORID:10&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&search_domain=WWW

 

Working Preacher podcast addressing servant leadership, faithfulness of God, Reformation Sunday setting, and Jeroboam’s actions https://www.workingpreacher.org/narrative_podcast.aspx?podcast_id=1186

Another entry on leadership

http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=4214

 

Working Preacher podcast addressing bully leadership and how to understand power & God’s power  https://www.workingpreacher.org/narrative_podcast.aspx?podcast_id=677

 

Working Preacher: The yoke amid the rivalry https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2564

 

America, Trump and the Two Golden Calves. Written right after Trump’s election, this Israel-based evangelical/conservative author proposes the two golden calves, placed by Jeroboam in two very different geographic/socio-political settings could represent the Democrats and Republicans (neither one actually being God!)

https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/78807/america-trump-two-golden-calves-opinion/

 

Blogging the Bible: Two golden calves. Actually. So, why doesn’t God get angrier about them?  Asks lots of questions about God’s actions in this time period; addresses broader context of chapters 12-16. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2006/11/two-golden-calves-actually-so-why-doesn-t-god-get-angrier-about-them.html

 

PRAYERS, ETC.

Except the Sarasota Statement, these are all by Barb Hedges-Goettl; please give credit if using/adapting.

 

Opening Prayer (Psalm 72:12-14 The Message)

God, our Parent and Creator, you are worthy to rule over us. You rescue the poor and the destitute. You open a place in your heart for the down-and-out. You restore the wretched of the earth. You free them from tyranny and torture. You bleed with those who bleed. You die with those who die. Teach us, your people, to be more like you. In the name of Jesus, our best example, and in the power of the Spirit, we pray. Amen.

 

 

Call to Worship

One: O God, you have served us from eternity. Many You made us. You provide for us. You watch over us. You rescue us. You stay with us. You save us. You have compassion on us. You love us. And so, O Lord, this day and forevermore we love and serve you.

.

*Opening Hymn  O Worship the King, O Glorious Above               Blue Hymnal, 476

*Call to Confession                                                                                             Reader

We are called to serve one another and to serve the Lord. This call is not easy, and we do not do it consistently or well. Let us ask for—and receive–God’s forgiveness.

*Prayer of Confession (unison)

Reader God, sometimes we are all too human.                                                                         We hedge our bets by not giving you our all. We like to be needed, serving others to feel important. We like to be in charge, refusing the help offered by others. 

(Silent confession) Forgive us and cleanse our motives. Empower us to serve you fully. Enable us to treat those we help as the important ones. Humble us so that we accept the help of others.

*Assurance of Pardon (Matthew 20:28) The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Thanks be to God for the Good News: In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven.

Offering Hymn Lord of Light, Your Name Outshining                             Blue Hymnal, 425

* Prayer of Dedication (unison)                                                                           Pastor Barb

O God, make us servants of your grace. Use our talents in your service. Commission us to fulfill your purpose. Invest these gifts with your love. Amen.                                         

Prayer for Illumination (sung )                                                         Blue Hymnal, #129 v. 3

Come, O spirit, dwell among us; Give us words of fire and flame.

Help our feeble lips to praise You, Glorify Your Holy name.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Three in one: what mystery!

We would sing our loud hosannas Now and through eternity.

 

Hebrew Scripture Reading: I Kings 12:1-19                                                               Reader

Message Are You Being Served?                                                                   Pastor Barb

*Confession of Faith (Preamble to the Sarasota Statement**)

    We are people of hope who confess Jesus Christ is Lord over a Kingdom               

in which no one is hungry, violence is no more, and all suffering is gone.

All sit together around a shared table, wolves and lambs enjoy each other’s company, and every tear is wiped away from every eye.

    Our hope is not simply that we will experience this Kingdom in the future,         but that, as Christ’s prayer demands, this Kingdom comes “to earth as it is in heaven.” So, we lament any and all instances of its absence. When we witness hunger, injustice, discrimination, violence, or suffering, we grieve deeply and repent of our sins that have enabled such brokenness to persist – knowing that these things should not be.

     Furthermore, we are incited to act and to be vehicles of change through which God’s Kingdom breaks into the world and our earthly lives. Our commitment is to acts that feed, clothe, instruct, reconcile, admonish, heal, and comfort – reflecting the power of God’s hope and an eagerness to see  the Kingdom made manifest.

     We believe God’s Kingdom comes not because we are confident in our own capacities, but because we trust in God, who can do more than we can ask or imagine. We are humbled and amazed that, in and through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God includes us in the work of redeeming all creation and reconciling the whole world. And so we thank and praise God. Amen.

 

*Closing Hymn  Lord, You Give the Great Commission                   Blue Hymnal, 429

More Narrative Lectionary Seeds Resources can be found here.

Author: katyandtheword

Pastor Katy has enjoyed ministry at New Covenant since 2010, where the church has solidified its community focus. Prior to that she studied both Theology and Christian Formation at Princeton Theological Seminary. She also served as an Assistant Chaplain at Trenton Psychiatric Hospital and as the Christian Educational Coordinator at Bethany Presbyterian at Bloomfield, NJ. She is an writer and is published in Enfleshed, Sermonsuite, Presbyterian's today and Outlook. She writes prayers, liturgy, poems and public theology and is pursuing her doctorate in ministry in Creative Write and Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. She enjoys working within and connecting to the community, is known to laugh a lot during service, and tells as many stories as possible. Pastor Katy loves reading Science Fiction and Fantasy, theater, arts and crafts, music, playing with children and sunshine, and continues to try to be as (w)holistically Christian as possible. "Publisher after publisher turned down A Wrinkle in Time," L'Engle wrote, "because it deals overtly with the problem of evil, and it was too difficult for children, and was it a children's or an adult's book, anyhow?" The next year it won the prestigious John Newbery Medal. Tolkien states in the foreword to The Lord of the Rings that he disliked allegories and that the story was not one.[66] Instead he preferred what he termed "applicability", the freedom of the reader to interpret the work in the light of his or her own life and times.

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