MCC Washington Memo

This fall, the MCC Washington Office invites congregations to “Proclaim Jubilee: A new beginning.” The suggested Sunday for prayer, reflection and action is October 25.

Scripture mandates a year of Jubilee and renewal, which includes cancellation of debts.As the world continues to face the worst financial crisis in decades, debt relief for poor countries can help create a new beginning.

In the beginning, there was a seventh day. And God rested. And then there was to be rest for the land, and social justice for the poor and for animals:

For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield; but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, so that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the wild animals may eat. You shall do the same with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard.

And then, Sabbath rest takes one enormous step, outlined as a year of Jubilee in Leviticus 25. A brief list of Jubilee’s mandates:

1. freedom for all inhabitants of the land
2. returning home to one’s land and family
3. no sowing or reaping
4. surrendering of claims to the land
5. no money loaned, no food sold for profit
6. forgiveness of debts
7. supporting one’s kin in difficulty as one supports the resident foreigner, and
8. slaves ransomed and freed.

And then Jesus, by his words and work, made ‘jubilee’ synonymous with Gospel, as signaled when he stood in the synagogue and read the words of the prophet Isaiah (Luke 4):

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Many biblical scholars, including John Howard Yoder in The Politics of Jesus, say that Luke’s Gospel is a Jubilee Gospel, containing the Magnificat, the story of Jesus reading from Isaiah, and a host of accounts and parables not included in the other Gospels that expand the legal definitions of ‘jubilee.’

This October Sunday provides opportunity to re-visit this biblical principle in light of both the worldwide context of nations with crushing indebtedness and Jesus’model as jubilee incarnate.

Suggestions for preparation for the worship leaders/preachers

1. Re-read the Gospel of Luke through the lens of Luke 4:16–21.
2. See the excellent worship resources available at Jubilee USA’s website.
3. See the list of more than 40 countries that fall into the International Monetary Fund’s category of heavily indebted nations at imf.org. A similar source of information is the World Bank’s web site.
4. Read about Haiti’s recent (June 2009) debt cancellation at jubileeusa.org.
5. Look for Jubilee/gospel signs and stories within your self, your church, your community; celebrate a few of those as well!
6. Supply your congregation, Sunday School classes, small groups, or individuals with the addresses of senators and representatives from your state who are in positions of influence on this issue.

Suggestions for Bible readings

1. Nehemiah 8, 1-3, 5–6, 8–10
2. Psalm 19
3. 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a
4. Luke 4:14–21

Suggestions for songs

Hymnal: A Worship Book (HWB):

1. 90 For the fruit of all creation
2. 174 Bless’d be the God of Israel
3. 184 Hark! the glad sound
4. 362 Help us to help each other, Lord
5. 367 For the healing of the nations
6. 383 God, whose giving knows no ending

Sing the Journey (STJ):

1. 2 Hamba nathi/Come walk with us
2. 4 You’ve got a place at the welcome table
3. 16 Praise with joy the world’s

Creator Sing the Story (STS):

1. 4 Rejoice, rejoice, the Savior comes
2. 95 Jesus has done so much for me

Consider also other songs in your congregation’s repertoire on God’s infinite gift to us, our need to be attentive to the world around us, and our need to give freely of ourselves.

Suggestions about the preaching time

1. Luke offers endless challenges for any individual or congregation. Choose one! See also the excellent worship resources from Jubilee USA.
2. Avoid using too many facts and figures; make Jubilee personal.
3. Engage the congregation in conversation, to imagine themselves in the situation of another. For example, what might you or I hear, had we been there to hear Jesus read from Isaiah? What might we hear now if Jesus showed up here, or in a country in overwhelming debt, and read to us from Isaiah?
4. Ask for brief stories (five minutes or less) from people who have emigrated from or worked in a heavily indebted country.

Suggestions for the prayer time

1. Intercessory prayer could be the major element of the service. Praying intelligently for such a complex issue needs more than calling out the name of a country. For example, a short song, such as HWB 358, STJ 32 or 57 could surround longer spoken prayers offered by someone who has lived in the global South, people of differing ages or cultures, or people who are our neighbors.
2. Prayers should be rich with thanksgivings for the promise of Jubilee, in this world as well as the next.
3. Many prayers in STJ and STS can be used (or adapted) to this particular worship theme.

We and they find ourselves sisters and brothers when we pray together in Menno Simons’ words:

Lord Jesus,
blind I am, do thou enlighten me;
naked I am, do thou clothe me;
wounded, do thou heal me;
dead, do thou quicken me.

I know of no night,
no physician,
no life, except thee. AMEN [HWB 700]

Additional worship resources available at washington.mcc.org/life.

Ken Nafziger is professor of music at Eastern Mennonite University.