[Propertalk] Sermon Quotes for Proper 19B (Gospel) - 9/13/09 - Part 3

[Joe Parrish]

Whenever the Divine appears, it is a radical attack on everything that is good in man, and therefore man must repel it, must push it away, must crucify it. Whenever the Divine manifests Itself as the new reality, it must be rejected by the representatives of the old reality. For the Divine does not complete the human; it revolts against the human. Because of that, the human must defend itself against it, must reject it, and must try to destroy it. Yet when the Divine is rejected, it takes the rejection upon Itself. it accepts our crucifixion, our pushing away, the defense of ourselves against it. It accepts our refusal to accept, and thus conquers us. 

http://www.religion-online.org/showchapter.asp?title=378&C=82

Paul Tillich, 1955 
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A few years ago, a large department store tried marketing a doll in the form of the baby Jesus. The advertisements described it as being "washable, cuddly, and unbreakable," and it was neatly packaged in straw, satin, and plastic. To complete the package, the manufacturer added biblical text appropriate to the baby Jesus. To the department store executives, it looked like a sure-fire winner, a real moneymaker. But they were wrong. It didn't sell. In a last-ditch effort to get rid of these dolls, one of the store managers placed a huge sign in one of the store windows. It read:
Jesus Christ 
Marked down 50% 
Get him while you can.

Before we're too critical of the markdown, let's think of how we ask people to get involved in the church. 
* It doesn't demand much of you. 
* It doesn't take much time 

http://day1.org/498-read_the_fine_print

The Rev. Dr. B. Wiley Stephens, 2003

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Harriet Tubman was a brave woman who escaped slavery during the Civil War. Despite a huge reward for her capture, she returned to the slave-holding states over nineteen times to lead hundreds of African-Americans out of slavery's clutches into territory where they could live with liberty. Harriet Tubman was a Christian and she became a great warrior in the battle to dismantle the cruel institution of slavery. When asked about the source of her fearless strength, she would always say: "It wasn't me, it was the Lord. I always told him, ?I trust you. I don't know where to go or what to do, but I expect you to lead me.¹ And he always did." Harriet Tubman, the Black Moses, was never captured

http://day1.org/664-lead_follow_or_get_out_of_the_way

The Rev. Dr. Harvard Stephens, Jr., 
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Simon Peter doesn't understand this and, frankly, I can't blame him. It's a difficult message to hear. If anybody wants help from Jesus, they must remember how he endured suffering and rejection. Jesus did not swoop down from heaven ready to snatch us from the earth. Rather, he came down to earth and stayed here until he was buried in the ground. 

http://day1.org/690-revising_the_agenda

The Rev. William Carter, 2000
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By following a crucified Christ, we can come clean with our own vulnerability. No longer do we have to hide behind a mask of stoic control nor wear the protective armor of vulnerability. We can face our weaknesses, and even share with Paul the assurance that "when I am weak then I am strong." We can take up a cross with the full assurance that One has gone before us and now shares its weight and pain.

http://day1.org/830-why_follow_christ

The Reverend Kenneth L. Carder
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Philip Yancey in his book ?The Jesus I Never Knew,? writes about this joy. He says that his career as a journalist afforded him opportunities to interview famous people, "stars", including NFL football greats, authors, politicians and so on. These are the people who dominate the media, folks whose lives seem overflowing with blessings. Instead he found a group of people tormented by self-doubt and worse.  He also spent time among the people he calls "servants." Doctors and nurses who work among the outcast, a Princeton graduate who runs a hotel for homeless in Chicago, relief workers in Somalia, and ordinary folks who devote themselves to caring for one another. He said he was prepared to honor and admire the "servants", to hold them up as inspiring examples. He was not, however, prepared to envy them. But he did. He found the "servants" possessed qualities of depth and richness and even joy that he had not found elsewhere.

http://day1.org/859-living_loving_and_giving

The Rev. Winifred Collin, 1997 
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