Table Of ContentSermon Series: The Apostle’s Tale
SERIES OVERVIEW
The series title and some if its themes play off of Paul’s letter to the church in Rome in
the first century and Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale. The Handmaid’s
Tale presents a disturbingly dystopian vision of religion and power gone toxic in
response to an environment apparently made toxic to childbirth apparently because of
human activity. The world in which Paul lived and wrote had its own brands of dystopia
and toxicity, dystopic and toxic enough toward commitment to Christ that he and many
Christians in his day suffered torture, imprisonments, beatings, and other acts and
threats of terror to keep them “under the law” (under Roman cultural, political, religious,
and economic expectations) rather than under Christ.
We have our own brands of dystopia and toxicity toward discipleship to Christ in the
cultures we now inhabit.
Simply pointing out that such dystopic and toxic elements exist and complaining about
their existence would have done little good for the first century church in Rome. So Paul
did not do that in his letter.
And it will do little good for us, wherever in the world we seek to practice the way of
Christ today. So this series will not do that, either.
What Paul does in these chapters of Romans, and what we’ll focus on in this series, are
the critical spiritual tools and practices we need to survive and thrive as Christ’s
disciples regardless of the degree of dystopia and toxicity we may encounter in our own
world today.
Week 1: Freedom
Romans 8:1-11
Week 2: Groaning
Romans 8:12-25
Week 3: Intercession
Romans 8:26-39
Week 4: Promise
Romans 9:1-5
Finally, a word about these resources this summer. We will continue to provide
preaching and planning notes for each lectionary-based series we develop through the
Season after Pentecost. In this series, we also provide a simple worship order (rather
than a full service).
We are scaling back a bit on these resources through this season for two reasons.
1
One is we know many of our congregations use this time to between Trinity and Christ
the King to develop their own series, often not related to the lectionary. There are many
good reasons for doing this, not the least of which is many of our congregations
experience a change in pastoral leadership during the summer. The demands of
starting a new ministry in a new place often mean the new pastor and the receiving
congregation have a set of priorities that are different than those presented in any one
stream of the otherwise unrelated lectionary texts during this season.
The second is we’re trying to work further ahead with our full resources, with a goal to
be six months out (posting Lent and Easter Season full resources) before the end of this
year. To do that, we need to scale back a bit now to allow us to move ahead more
quickly. And if we’re successful, we’ll be in better position next year to provide fuller
resources (if not the full set we have since Advent 2017) during the Season after
Pentecost, Year B.
We are grateful for the positive feedback and constructive critique we’ve received on
our work since we’ve changed our way of working to be far more collaborative and fully
series-focused. Remember, you can always share your thoughts with us through our
Facebook groups (UMC Music, UMC Preachers, and UMC Worship) and via email to
our coordinator, groups moderator, and provider of worship orders for this series, Amy
Sigmon ([email protected]).
Week 1: Freedom
Scripture: Romans 8:1-11
SERVICE ORDER
ENTRANCE
Greeting
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
And also with you.
The risen Christ is with us.
Praise the Lord!
Hymn/Song Set of Praise:
Call to Worship:
God offers grace to all
By the grace of God we are free from the law of sin
Jesus Christ died for all
In Jesus Christ we are not bound by death
2
The Holy Spirit is at work in the world
In the Holy Spirit we have life and peace
Praise God for mercy and freedom!
Praise God for mercy and freedom!
WORD AND RESPONSE
Scripture Lesson: Romans 8:1-11
Sermon: Freedom
Response to the Word
Prayers of the People
THANKSGIVING [AND COMMUNION]
Invitation (if communion)
Confession, Pardon, and Peace Pastor
People exchange the peace of Christ.
The offering is collected.
Offertory
Choir/Ensemble Music during Collection
Congregational Thanks at Presentation of Gifts
Great Thanksgiving or Act of Thanksgiving
[Thanksgiving after Communion, if communion]
SENDING
Hymn or Song Set of Sending
Dismissal with Blessing
PLANNING NOTES
FREEDOM
Reading Notes
NRSV texts, artwork and Revised Common Lectionary Prayers for this service are available at
the Vanderbilt Divinity Library.
Leccionario en Español, Leccionario Común Revisado: Consulta Sobre Textos Comunes.
3
Lectionnaire en français, Le Lectionnaire Œcuménique Révisé
Calendar Notes
SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST: FREEDOM
The color from now until Advent is green, with two exceptions: All Saints Day or Sunday
(November 1 or 5) and Christ the King/Reign of Christ Sunday (November 26).
August
All Month Back to School Resources
September
All Month Season of Creation (2017 resources forthcoming)
September 4 Labor Day (USA)
September 15-
October 15 Hispanic Heritage Month (USA)
October
October 1 World Communion Sunday
October 6-8 Children’s Sabbath (2017 resources forthcoming)
October 15 Laity Sunday
October 31 Reformation Day (500th Anniversary)
November
November 1 All Saints Day
November 3 World Community Day
November 5 All Saints Sunday
Daylight Saving Time Change Song (Fall)
November 11 Veterans Day
November 12 Organ and Tissue Donor Sunday
International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church
November 19 Bible Sunday (National Bible Week November 19-26)
November 23 Thanksgiving Day
November 26 Christ the King/Reign of Christ Sunday
United Methodist Student Day
December
December 1 World AIDS Day
December 3 Advent-Christmas Series (Year B) Begins (Forthcoming)
December 21 Longest Night/Blue Christmas
December 24 Christmas Eve (evening)
December 25 Christmas Day
December 26 Kwanzaa
December 31 Watch Night/New Year’s Eve
For Your Planning Team: FREEDOM
A new series begins today. Remember the three keys to a strong series start.
4
1. Include an overture-- Preview the scope (where the series will go, or “the series
promise”) and the steps (themes for each week along the way) in a variety of ways.
Your announcement set, bulletin and/or newsletter, opening song or song set, and the
introduction to the sermon may all be part of the overture.
2. Use or introduce musical and/or visual threads today that will weave through the
entire series.
3. Start strong, with a plan to build on the first week in the second, maintain
development through the middle (however long it is), and conclude stronger than you
began. Strong means confident, clear, and decisive. It need not (and often will not)
mean “exciting” or even “impressive” (in terms or music or spectacle). It’s more
important that there is a definitive beginning, middle, and end. Series beginnings are
about launch. Series middles are about development. Series ends, like the fourth
movement of each service, are about wrapping together, sending forth, and creating a
segue into the next series, not simply wrapping up and closing down the current one.
Planning for the Series: Taking a Deep Dive
The flow of this series, as the flow of these scriptures, does not go “up” as much as it
goes “deep.” This series is more like a dive from the heights than a climb up the
mountain or a journey from point A to point B. All three kinds of series, and more
beside, have their value. This one follows the contours of the core themes Paul
presents each week, taking us from the height of claiming our freedom from all powers
that would seek to claim or control us and restrain the saving love of God (today), to
groaning (not complaining, but joining the heavenly chorus of all who suffer, “How
long”) next week, to intercession as a means by which we are both called and
empowered to respond to our present dystopias and toxicities, and finally to promise as
the solid ground to which we return again and after our deep dive, the sure foundation
for both claiming and participating in God’s saving work as Christ’s disciples here and
now.
Visually, think about your series graphic picturing the whole scene of a diver, the height
from which she jumps, the water below (at some distance) and the ground level around
to which the diver will return.
As you move into today in particular, picture freedom as the diver on the board or at
cliff’s edge, poised to jump. Next week, focus on the diver falling through the air toward
the water. In week 3, Intercession, show the diver moving into, through, and then
emerging from the water. And in week 4, the diver standing on the ground, looking
toward the diving board or cliff’s edge for the next dive.
Musically, think about how the theme for each week of this series connects with the feel
as well as the text of the songs you are singing. This week would be a great opportunity
to sing Freedom Songs featuring selections from the Africana Hymnal, if you have this
5
resource (if you don’t, go buy it!). You may find some good songs from that collection for
the upcoming weeks as well, so this could be a great series in which to introduce or
feature this United Methodist resource if you haven’t in the past, or revisit it if you have.
Additional Resources
2014 Planning Helps for these readings
Ecumenical Prayer Cycle: Djibouti, Somalia
SERMON NOTES
FREEDOM
Notice: Spoiler alert! This series reveals details about the Hulu series The
Handmaid’s Tale. If you don’t want to know anything in advance of viewing, watch
the series before you read the sermon notes.
Recently, I’ve become a fan of the Hulu series, The Handmaid’s Tale. Well, even as I
type that, I know that “fan” is probably not quite right. It is hard to be a “fan” of this
horrific, dystopian vision of the future. Perhaps a better description is “captivated
viewer.” And I confess, I am captivated. Not only have I watched the series, but I also
read Margaret Atwood’s 1986 novel, upon which the show is based, and re-watched the
earlier version on film, a movie by the same name which came out in 1990.
Reading and watching The Handmaid’s Tale has caused me to reflect deeply on the
word “freedom.” In the words of Margaret Atwood,
“There is more than one kind of freedom,” said Aunt Lydia. “Freedom to and
freedom from. In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being
given freedom from. Don’t underrate it.” (Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s
Tale. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1986, 24).
Specifically, in the context of today’s passage, I have been thinking about what kind of
freedom the Apostle Paul means when he writes, “For the law of the Spirit of life in
Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death”? Is he talking about
freedom to, or freedom from?
The setting for Atwood’s story is the Republic of Gilead, a fictional nation located within
the former borders of the United States of America. Gilead is a highly theocratic,
totalitarian society. In this Republic everyone is under the watchful eye of spies and
secret police who are viewed as being literally the eyes of God. These eyes report any
activity that could be seen as going against the new order. Even in private conversation,
the handmaids use the phrase, "under His eye" as a constant reminder of the fact that
"He" is always watching everything they do and say, if not think.
The Handmaid’s Tale tells the story of Offred, a fertile young woman who has been
6
taken captive by the government and assigned to bear a child for a wealthy and
powerful couple, Commander Fred Waterford and his wife, Serena Joy. Because of
dangerously low reproduction rates that have occurred presumably as the result of
human effects on the environment, the Waterfords and many other couples like them
are childless. Women who are known to be able to get pregnant and carry children to
term have been taken captive and forced into service as handmaids. If the women have
previously had children, those children have been taken away and given over to be
raised by wealthy, powerful and childless couples.
Offred is not the handmaid’s real name. The handmaid names consist of the word “of”
followed by the name of the handmaid’s Commander. Thus, “Offred” is the handmaid of
Fred. When the handmaids are moved to a different household, their names are
changed to signify their new master.
Offred’s freedom, like the freedom of all women, is completely restricted. She can leave
the house only on shopping trips;; the door to her room cannot be completely shut;; and
the Eyes, Gilead’s secret police force, watch her every public move.
In the world of The Handmaid’s Tale, the only freedom that continues to exist for most
people is the freedom of personal thought. All other freedoms have been stripped away.
And for some, even the freedom of personal thought has been deeply tainted—by
circumstances, by brainwashing, by intimidation and fear. Every person seems to be
aware of being both watched over and charged with the task of watching over others in
order to maintain the imposed social order. No one is safe and everyone is, to use the
words of Margaret Atwood, “under His eye.”
It is a chilling vision of not just a social order run amok, but of God. For in Atwood’s
world, God is not the grace-filled, loving, inclusive and accepting God that we see in
Christ Jesus. God is the polar opposite of Paul’s description of the one who refuses to
condemn, and who, instead, offers total freedom from the law of sin and death. It is the
opposite of those who, in Christ, have found the freedom to walk in the Spirit.
In the Republic of Gilead, the way to live, that is, the way to stay alive, is to closely
follow the many laws set into place by the regime. It is to give up individual will entirely
and conform to the laws of the Republic. The life of the individual and the life of the
Republic both depend on following these laws “of the flesh,” to use the apostle Paul’s
terminology. These laws are strict for everyone, but are especially hard on women.
What are some of the laws? Well, according to the story, they are laws based on a very
few biblical texts, interpreted literally. According to the author,
In the book, the Constitution and Congress are no longer: The Republic of Gilead
is built on a foundation of the 17th-century Puritan roots that have always lain
beneath the modern-day America we thought we knew. . .
In the novel the population is shrinking due to a toxic environment, and the ability
7
to have viable babies is at a premium. (In today’s real world, studies are now
showing a sharp fertility decline in Chinese men.) Under totalitarianisms — or
indeed in any sharply hierarchical society — the ruling class monopolizes
valuable things, so the elite of the regime arrange to have fertile females
assigned to them as Handmaids. The biblical precedent is the story of Jacob and
his two wives, Rachel and Leah, and their two handmaids. One man, four
women, 12 sons — but the handmaids could not claim the sons. They belonged
to the respective wives.
Margaret Atwood, writing about her novel in The New York Times, March 2017.
The writers of the Hulu series have taken liberties with Atwood’s story. They have
updated the setting to the near future. Many of the details regarding the lives of the
main characters have been changed so that, as the producers of the series have
indicated, the story can continue and be developed into a second season and possibly
beyond, that will presumably take watchers far beyond Atwood’s original vision for the
story.
Everything in the world of Gilead is about what humans do for God to earn God’s favor
and forgiveness. This is a world of strict regulations and singular, black and white
interpretations of the meaning of Scriptures. This is a world in which God is angry with
humankind. God is waiting in the wings for human slip-ups that will warrant God’s wrath.
Humans—men in particular—are the arbiters of God’s will, and their decisions are
based on what they deem to be Biblical principles.
Rome during the time of Paul’s writing was no Puritan enclave. Nor was it Gilead.
Rather, the Christians in Rome found themselves faced with a unique problem in a
unique time and place.
The issue on the table, both figuratively and literally, was the coexistence of two groups
with different interpretations of what it means to practice the Christian faith. The
historical record indicates that in the late 40s CE, for some reason, a large number of
Jewish people living in Rome were forced to leave. Emperor Claudius ordered the
expulsion, which remained in place until at the death of Claudius. Nero became
emperor of Rome and reversed the order, at which point the expelled Jewish people
returned to their home city.
So the Christians bore conflicted feelings about people of Jewish descent living in
Rome. During the years when the Jewish population was gone, the fledgling Christian
community experienced a rise in Gentiles who had come to the faith. Now with the
Jewish population returning, the question for the community of faith was whether it
should continue to concentrate on winning Jewish people to Christ or concentrate on
the Gentiles. Paul makes his position clear in the first chapter, when he writes, “God’s
power for salvation to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16 NRSV). For
Paul, all meant all, so the Christians in Rome were obligated to spread the gospel of
Jesus Christ to Jews and Gentiles alike.
8
The situation was further complicated by the fact that Gentile Christians and Jewish
Christians harbored significant differences in their cultural traditions and practices.
Some of these differences revolved around food taboos, but there were other problems
as well. Paul suggests that there are some practical things about which people of faith
can disagree, but these differences should not impair the community’s worship of God
or life together in Christ. (See Romans 14:1-12).
What was true for Rome during the time of Paul is also true for us. Perhaps it is a word
we need to hear especially during this present day, in which there seems to be so much
disagreement between Christians regarding cultural tradition, faith, and practice.
Paul’s words do not portray God as the divine judge waiting in the wings to punish those
who do not follow the law as in Atwood’s fictional world of Gilead. Nor do they portray
God as one who chooses one side or position of faith over another. For Paul, all means
all: “For there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the
Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:
1-2, NRSV).
These words come to us like a healing balm of hope. They wash over us like the very
waters of baptism that signaled our acceptance into Christ’s body. They remind us that
we are made one in the body of Christ, so that there Is no longer slave or free, Gentile
or Jew, male or female, us or them. We are one and we can remain united as one, not
because of what we do, but because of what God has done for us in Christ.
Indeed, we are “under His eye” as people who are called to reach out in loving
acceptance and welcome to all God’s people, no matter who they are, how they live,
what traditions they bring from their culture, or their present state of sinfulness. In Christ
Jesus, we have all been set free from the limits of the flesh, and in that freedom is hope,
joy, grace, and peace for all God’s people.
9
Week 2: Groaning
Text: Romans 8:12-25
SERVICE ORDER
ENTRANCE
Greeting
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
And also with you.
The risen Christ is with us.
Praise the Lord!
Hymn/Song Set of Praise and Groaning
Prayer for Illumination:
Abba, Father God,
you have adopted us and made us your heirs.
Open our eyes to see your glory,
that we may worship and magnify your name,
through your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.
WORD AND RESPONSE
Scripture Lesson: Romans 8:12-25
Sermon: Groaning
Response to the Word
Prayers of the People
THANKSGIVING [AND COMMUNION]
Invitation (if communion)
Confession, Pardon, and Peace Pastor
People exchange the peace of Christ.
The offering is collected.
Offertory
Choir/Ensemble Music during Collection
Congregational Thanks at Presentation of Gifts
Great Thanksgiving or Act of Thanksgiving
10
Description:the first century and Margaret Atwood's novel, The Handmaid's Tale. When the handmaids are moved to a different household, their names are changed to .. has suffered another vehicular attack, this time on people who were.
