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Up-to-the-minute jumping-off points for sermons, linking the reading to the latest news and global issues.
Compete with honour
This week’s readings all involve rules, laws or commandments. So do three popular competitive TV shows.
Context
It feels like the ‘celebrity’ competition season is in full swing, with all the following TV favourites kicking off new series within a few weeks of each other:
For some of us the start of these new series feels a bit like some kind of early Advent calendar countdown to Christmas! But will all the celebrity competitors take part with honour? Perhaps any such expectation would miss the point in terms of the last of those three competitions, with Celebrity Traitors due to start this Thursday?
Reflection and ideas for a sermon, talk or conversation
Even though so much has changed with the new series of Strictly Come Dancing, the essential rules remain the same, as Stuart Wild describes in this week’s Check-in (see below). Whilst the four judges may vary on taste in terms of what they like to see from contestants, they are usually in agreement on the fundamental rules of ballroom and Latin dance competitions. Imaginative innovation may be encouraged, but there is a line to be drawn between the rules of this competition and those of street-dance, or indeed any other of the celebrity disciplines such as skeleton bob-sleigh, football, etc. The rules of the dance are there for all competitors to honour for the benefit and fairness of all concerned, as if they were commandments written on the judges' stone score paddles, numbered 1-10. Likewise, God gave focused commandments to Moses (Exodus 20:1-4,7-9,12-20) in order to help him to guide the people in ways that honoured the Lord and each other. Like a verdict issued from Craig Revel-Horwood, at the time the people were filled with fear but promised to listen to Moses. The rules/commandments were written in order to foster a context of unity and mutual commitment, for the enrichment of their society and the strengthening of their community.
Psalm 19 uses beautifully evocative words to describe the ways of the Lord in very positive terms (vv.7-9) – perfect, sure, right, clear, pure, true, righteous. The effects of the Lord’s ways upon the faithful who honour them are described in equally glowing terms – reviving, joyful, enduring, enlightening. Whilst the feelings engendered by the Lord’s ways and commandments (v.10) are described in such gorgeously sumptuous terms that they might have tripped off the tongue of GB Bake Off’s new judge, Nigella Lawson. The psalm encourages honourable behaviour (vv.11-13) and concludes with words oft spoken by (if not baked into the heart of) every preacher who has ever tried to honour God through constructing and leading an act of congregational worship (v.14), as if baking a cake worthy of the great Paul Hollywood himself.
The link between Jesus’ Parable of the Wicked Tenants (Matthew 21.33-45) and Celebrity Traitors is probably obvious. Jesus is still in the Temple and on a story-telling roll. The targets behind the meaning of his latest story are once again the celebrity leaders of the people of Israel – the chief priests and the Pharisees. However, as Jesus' followers would later realise, like the work of many great artists and musicians, this story would only achieve its full worth after Jesus' death. In the BBC’s Celebrity Traitors, a small number of competitors will have to use all their acting skill to convince others that they are just like the rest of them – the faithful – when in fact they will be lying through their teeth to cover the tracks of the murderous deeds that they will get up to. Jesus is laying it on thick with those who would later be regarded as the celebrity traitors of his day. These are the law-builders who rejected the one who would become the cornerstone of our faith today.
Rules, laws and commandments exist for the benefit of all. So, too, does following God’s ways and living a worshipful life that honours God, with Christ Jesus our Lord at the centre to benefit us and those around us.
Questions for discussion
- Reflect upon situations where you have had to act as judge, to uphold rules which made life very uncomfortable for others. How did this make you feel?
- How do you think you would feel if you were in the shoes of the chief priests and the Pharisees, and the parable of the wicked tenants was aimed directly at you?
- If you were a celebrity traitor, which of the ten commandments would you find most difficult to lie about and why?
Tim Lowe is a minister of the United Reformed Church, serving in the Leeds URC Partnership, who will now struggle to find a spare evening in the week which doesn’t involve dancing, baking or traitors.
Check-in
Connecting faith with everyday, real-life issues for young people
Listen and flourish
After months of hype the new season of Strictly Come Dancing has finally started. The couples have been paired. The judges are in place. The new presenters have begun. Views on how well they are filling the shoes of their predecessors are inevitably mixed. In order to be fair they need to be given a bit longer to settle in. However, they are clearly making a supreme effort to work together as a team.
In order to flourish the celebrities have a lot to learn. Those who listen to their professional partner and take notice of what they are told are the dancers who will do best. However the professionals also have to remember the rules. Already one couple had their wrist slapped (or points deducted) for improvising too much.
The ten commandments were a gift from God. They were designed to enable the Israelites to live in good relationship with God and each other. Another way of looking at this is to say that the commandments are designed to enable people to flourish in community. The celebrities who did well were congratulated by the judges for listening to their professional partners. So it is with the commandments. Those who take notice of God and obey the commandments will flourish.
People often see the commandments as restrictions which limit what we can do. Rather we should view them in a positive light as guidance for ways in which we can ensure good community living and a strong spiritual relationship. Like the dancers who work well together, we too will flourish.
Stuart Wild is a methodist minister who lives less than half an hour away from the legendary Blackpool Tower Ballroom.
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