[Propertalk] Fw: SermonWriter: June 6 (Proper 5C) Luke 7:11-17

[Joe Parrish]

The following are SermonWriter materials for June 6 (Proper 5C). They focus 
on the Gospel lesson, Luke 7:11-17, where Jesus brings to life the son of 
the widow of Nain


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LUKE 7:11-17 (Full set of materials)

Microsoft Word file:
http://www.lectionary.org/SW/06-06ge/Luke.7.11-17.doc

HTML file (web page):
http://www.lectionary.org/SW/06-06ge/Luke.7.11-17.htm

WordPerfect file:
http://www.lectionary.org/SW/06-06ge/Luke.7.11-17.wpd


A TIP: If you want the Word or WordPerfect files, LEFT-CLICK on the link and 
see what happens.  That should bring up a dialog box that asks if you want 
to open the file or save it.  Choose OPEN.  Then save it wherever you like 
on your hard drive.

If that doesn't work, RIGHT-CLICK on the link.  You should get a sub-menu. 
Hopefully, "Save Target As" will be one of the options.  Click on that. 
Then save the file wherever you want on your hard drive.

<>
Dick Donovan


A THOUGHT ON PREACHING:  This morning, while I was trying to say a few 
things with conviction, I found myself face to face with a man who was sound 
asleep.  He was sitting in the corner of the first pew and kept reminding 
me, in his passive state, that my words had absolutely no authority for him.

The most important question for me is not, "How do I touch people?" but, 
"How do I live the word I am speaking?"  In Jesus no division existed 
between his words and his actions, between what he said and what he did. 
Jesus' words were his action, his words were events.  They not only spoke 
about changes, cures, new life, but they actually created them.  In this 
sense, Jesus is truly the Word made flesh; in that Word all is created and 
by that Word all is recreated.  Saintliness means living without division 
between word and action.

If I would truly live in my own life the word I am speaking, my spoken words 
would become actions, and miracles would happen whenever I opened my mouth. 
The Gospel of today thus confronts me not so much with a question about 
pastoral tactics or strategy, but with an invitation to deep personal 
conversion. (Henri Nouwen, Gracias)


TITLE:  Gut-Wrenching Compassion


SERMON IN A SENTENCE:  Just as Jesus was impelled to miraculous action by 
his gut-wrenching compassion for the widow of Nain, so also the church today 
is impelled to miraculous action by its gut-wrenching compassion for needy 
people across the globe.


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SERMON STORIES:


Sometimes God chooses to work through healers to do his good work in ways 
that might be less dramatic but are just as real.  After the tsunami 
disaster a few years ago, there was a story in Newsweek (Feb. 14, 2005) 
about Rebecca O'Connor, a pediatric nurse at New York Presbyterian Hospital. 
Seeing the reports of the terrible devastation, she and other health 
professionals flew to Sri Lanka to help the victims of that disaster. 
O'Connor's team saw as many as a hundred patients in a day -- many of them 
with respiratory problems or wounds caused by stepping on debris.

After they had been treating people for several days, they learned that 
there was a local hospital less than a mile away -- and another clinic as 
well.  O'Connor asked a Sri Lankan friend, "Why are people coming to us?" 
The friend answered:

"Because at the hospital, some asks,
'Name?  Age?  Complaint?'
and then gives them a sheet of paper
and tells them to go wait somewhere.
You sit them down, ask them what's wrong, and treat them.
You listen to them."

O'Connor closed by saying:

"It seemed that the most valuable therapy we were providing
had nothing to do with antibiotics or wound care.
By listening to story after heartbreaking story,
admiring pictures of families once happy and healthy,
and playing soccer with children who lost everything,
we were able to say, 'We care about you, and we share your grief,'
without speaking a word."

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Occasionally, one of those Christian servants becomes famous.  That happened 
to Mother Teresa, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her work with the 
people of India.  During her ministry there, she and her co-workers saved 
thousands of lives and gave other thousands the opportunity to die with 
dignity and peace -- to die surrounded by compassion -- by caring -- by 
splanchnizomai.

You would think that, when asked for the formula for her success, Mother 
Teresa would talk about enlisting co-workers -- obtaining funding -- setting 
up beds for the sick and dying.  But that was not her formula. Listen to her 
formula in her own words.  She said that her secret was:

"Loving as Jesus loves,
helping as He helps,
giving as He gives,
serving as He serves,
rescuing as He rescues,
being with Him for all the twenty-four hours,
touching Him in His distressing disguise."


FOR MORE SERMONS ON THIS TEXT, GO TO:

http://www.lectionary.org/SermLinks/NT/NT03luke.htm

Scroll down to Luke 7.  There are links to two sermons on this text posted 
there.



THOUGHT PROVOKERS:

To be glad instruments of God's love in this imperfect world
is the service to which men are called,
and it forms a preparatory stage
to this bliss that awaits them in the perfected world,
the Kingdom of God.

Albert Schweitzer

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Only a life lived for others
is a life worth while.

Albert Einstein

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Bread for myself is a material question;
bread for my neighbor is a spiritual question.

Jacques Maritain

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Do not think about your character.
If you will think about what you ought to do for other people,
your character will take care of itself.
Character is a by-product
and any man who devotes himself to its cultivation
in his own case will become a selfish prig.

Woodrow Wilson

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Christianity for the first time made charity a rudimentary virtue....
It effected a complete revolution in this sphere,
by regarding the poor as the special representatives of the Christian 
Founder
and thus making the love of Christ rather than the love of man the principle 
of charity.

W.E.H. Lecky

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

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STORY:  My Hope is Built on Nothing Less

Sometimes the grace of God penetrates into unlikely places.  Edward Mote's 
parents were hostile to religion, but while still a boy Edward became a 
Christian through the influence of a cabinetmaker to whom he was 
apprenticed.  As a man, he became a skilled cabinetmaker with a successful 
business of his own.

Regardless of the claims of his business on his time, Mote always found time 
to worship God.  He was especially interested in Christian music, and one 
day felt inspired on the way to work to write down a verse that came to his 
mind.  Before the day was finished, he had completed four verses.  His new 
hymn began with the words, "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' 
blood and righteousness."

Not long thereafter, Mote visited a friend whose wife was ill.  It was a 
Sunday, and the friend mentioned that he and his wife liked to observe 
Sunday by singing a hymn, reading a scripture, and having prayer together. 
Mote had a copy of his hymn in his pocket, so they sang it.  The friend's 
wife was so taken with the hymn that she requested a copy for herself. 
Encouraged by her interest, Mote had copies printed -- and soon found 
himself the author of a beloved hymn.

At age 55, Mote responded to a call to the ministry.  He served out the rest 
of his life -- more than two decades-- as the pastor of a Baptist Church in 
Horsham, Sussex, England.

Mote may have written other hymns during his lifetime, but this is the only 
one in common use today.

NOTE:  See other hymn stories at http://www.lectionary.org/hymnstories.htm


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Richard Niell Donovan