[Propertalk] Gospel - Quotes for 9/20, Mark 9:30-37, Part 1

[Joe Parrish]

I went with a group of FTE Ministry Fellows to visit Church of the Saviour in Washington, D.C., a model for leadership and congregational life that is very different. And we were privileged to sit "in the house" with Gordon Cosby, the ninety-two year old founder of this intentional Christian community formed around the call of every person. In a simple circle, there we sat with this frail little man with a gentle voice turning our ideas of church and ministry upside down. 
He warned us at the outset that he would respond to our questions--that are very much alive in him--in ways that we were not accustomed to. We were not prepared for what he said.  To be called, he said, is a calling to be a new creature in Christ; to be a new being. So the vocation question for him is, "Will you become who you are intended to be?"  

Cosby's focus is on the being of leadership--the who of leadership--and not the doing. "Doing is easier," he said. There are some questions to be asked regarding this becoming: Are you holding on to control--can you relinquish control? Do you feel safe enough to let go--are you fearless? Are you enlarging the family--are you welcoming strangers and little children? Are you deepening those relationships? Then he told us, contemplative prayer, practicing letting Jesus into our lives, is the way to prepare for a life in these questions. 

http://day1.org/1435-insignificant_greatness

Stephen Lewis, 2009
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In antiquity, childhood was a time of terror. 1/3 of live births ended in death. 2/3 of children died before the age of 16. Disease and hygiene wiped out 2/3 of the child population. 

http://www.predigten.uni-goettingen.de/archiv-8/060924-7-e.html

Jim Mueller, 2006
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In his later years, Shanghai invited some of his friends from Boston to visit him on his ranch. He toured them throughout the complex, braggadociously noting his considerable accomplishments in developing this veritable city. As they rode through the dusty streets in a buggy driven by two white horses, Shanghai would point out the various landmarks. "Well, over there's the commissary. Best in the territory. And over there's the school. Two rooms, not one. And over there's the livery. The best blacksmith in the state of Texas. And over there is the saloon. Finest whiskey on this side of the Mississippi." And the list went on and on, as Shanghai puffed out his chest like his namesake rooster.

As they were continuing on Shanghai's tour, one of his guests spotted the steeple of a church set in a group of mesquite trees. He asked his host, "Shanghai, do you belong to that church?" Shanghai spat out some tobacco juice and bellowed, "Hell, no! That church belongs to me."

http://day1.org/1009-shanghaied

David Galloway 
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I looked up pictures from the Internet under the category "Jesus, children." There were more than 16,000 pictures of Jesus with children. 
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Yesterday, I had a wedding and a funeral. I would like to share with you the story of the funeral. It was the funeral of Bill Grant who died at age 59 from pancreatic cancer. Bill was married to Mary for almost forty years. Our sanctuary was nearly full. Here in the front right were seated men and women who went to Mississippi with Bill to help rebuild homes after the hurricane. Bill was in charge of the feeding of 300 folks each day, beginning at 4:00 AM and ending at 8:00 PM. Over there on the left were the young men and women from Bill and Mary's restaurant who worked for Bill and Mary and thought that they had the best bosses in the world. 
During the open microphone time, a young man stood up to speak. He was in his young twenties and he was one of the twenty four infants who Bill and Mary had taken care of in his first two years of life. Yes, Bill and Mary had been foster parents to twenty four infants. He told how he didn't remember but knew that he had been raised by Bill and Mary for this first two years. After that, Bill and Mary sent him and his brothers and sisters cards twice a year, at Christmas and at their birthdays. He said that he loved those birthday cards and Christmas cards. This young man told of going to the state mental hospital each year to see his biological mother who was declared legally incompetent to care for him, even when he was an infant. As this young man went to see his biological mother in the mental hospital, he said that as he read the list of people who visited his biological mother, he realized his emotionally disturbed mother had four visitors a year. This young man told that Bill and his son Michael went to see his biological mother on this past Christmas day to see his biological mother, even though Bill and son didn't know this woman. This young man was deeply touched by Bill's compassion for his mom. 

http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_b_jesus_loves_all_the_little_children_of_the_world.htm

Edward F. Markquart
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