[Propertalk] Fw: SermonWriter: May 23 (Pentecost C) Acts 2 and John 14

[Joe Parrish]

The following are SermonWriter materials for May 23 (Pentecost C). They 
focus on Acts 2:1-21, where Peter says, "Everyone who calls on the name of 
the Lord shall be saved."

I am also including links to the exegesis for John 14:8-17, 25-27, the 
Gospel lesson.


NO PASSWORD REQUIREMENT: We are posting these materials on the web with no 
password.  To access those files, you MUST use the following links.  If 
clicking on the link fails to work, copy the link and paste it in the 
address window near the top of your browser.  Then hit the ENTER key or 
click GO.


THE FIRST READING:  ACTS 2:1-21 (Full set of materials)

Microsoft Word file:
http://www.lectionary.org/SW/05-23cs/Acts.2.1-21.doc

HTML file (web page):
http://www.lectionary.org/SW/05-23cs/Acts.2.1-21.htm

WordPerfect file:
http://www.lectionary.org/SW/05-23cs/Acts.2.1-21.wpd


THE GOSPEL LESSON:  JOHN 14:8-17, 25-27 (Exegesis only)

Microsoft Word file:
http://www.lectionary.org/SW/05-23cs/John.14.8-17,25-27.doc

HTML file (web page):
http://www.lectionary.org/SW/05-23cs/John.14.8-17,25-27.htm

WordPerfect file:
http://www.lectionary.org/SW/05-23cs/John.14.8-17,25-27.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:  "I suspect that when preachers consistently reach 
into the private chambers of family to illustrate their message they are 
inadvertently confessing that they have stopped reading.  History and 
literature will give more and better material than any exposition of family 
matters ever could.  And such sources will do so without incriminating those 
we say we love."  (Ernest T. Campbell)


TITLE:  The Miracle of the Open Door


SERMON IN A SENTENCE:  God, who pours out his Holy Spirit on all flesh (men 
and women, young and old, people of various colors) calls us to accept as 
brothers and sisters those who are very different from ourselves.


SCRIPTURE:  Acts 2:1-21

<>
The fire continues to spread.  Churches in the United States and other 
western nations have sent missionaries to Asia and Africa.  Now Koreans are 
sending missionaries to the United States.  Old denominations wane, but new 
denominations rise to take their place.  New converts revitalize old 
denominations.  Christians sometimes face great obstacles, but persevere in 
the faith that "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved" 
(v. 21).

<>

FOR MORE SERMONS ON THIS TEXT, GO TO:

http://www.lectionary.org/SermLinks/NT/NT05_Acts.htm


TRUE STORY:

Charles Evans Hughes was the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme 
Court.  He was a Baptist so, when he moved to Washington, D.C., he 
transferred his membership to Calvary Baptist Church.

At the close of the service, the new members were called to the front of the 
church.  The first person to be called was a Chinese laundryman named Ah 
Sing.  When his name was called, he went forward and took his place at the 
front pew on one side of the church.  As other new members were called, they 
took their places at the front pew on the other side, leaving Ah Sing 
standing alone.  But when Hughes name was called, he went forward to take 
his place beside Ah Sing.

The pastor of that church, when he saw what had happened, turned it into a 
little homily.  He said:

"I do not want this congregation
to miss this remarkable illustration of the fact
that at the cross of Jesus Christ the ground is level."

That story comes from a book entitled The Gift of Standing by Donald Grey 
Barnhouse.  At the conclusion of the story, Barnhouse made this comment.  He 
said:

"Mr. Hughes behaved like a true Christian.
He took his place beside the laundryman,
and by his act he ...showed... the love of Christ --
(Mr. Hughes) had this gift of standing by."


THOUGHT PROVOKERS:

Christianity means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ.
No Christian community is more or less than this.
Whether it be a brief, single encounter
or the daily fellowship of years,
Christian community is only this.
We belong to one another only through and in Jesus Christ.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Talk about what you believe and you have disunity.
Talk about Who you believe in and you have unity.

E. Stanley Jones

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

The humble, meek, merciful, just, pious and devout souls everywhere
are of one religion,
and when death has taken off the mask,
they will know one another,
though the diverse liveries they wore here make them strangers.

William Penn

NOTE:  The word "liveries" means distinctive clothing or insignia that 
designate people as members of a particular group or class.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

It is not by driving away our brother (or sister)
that we can be alone with God.

George MacDonald

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Increase, O God, the spirit of neighborliness among us,
that in peril we may uphold one another,
in calamity serve one another,
in suffering tend one another
and in homeliness and loneliness in exile befriend one another.
Grant us brave and enduring hearts,
that we may strengthen one another,
till the disciplines and testing of these days be ended.

A prayer used in English air raid shelters during World War II

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *


<>
HYMN STORY:  Breathe on Me, Breath of God

Edwin Hatch, who wrote this hymn, was a great scholar.  An esteemed member 
of the Oxford University faculty, he became widely known for his Brampton 
Lectures, which were translated into German by the great Adolph von Harnack, 
a great German scholar.  Lectures of that sort tend to be challenging to 
read -- tough sledding, as they say. But when it came to expressing his 
faith in ways that would speak to the ordinary person, nobody has done it 
better than Edwin Hatch did with this hymn, "Breathe on Me, Breath of God."

This hymn is a prayer.  The first line of each stanza is "Breathe on Me, 
Breath of God."  That phrase reminds us of the creation in which God "formed 
man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath 
of life; and the man became a living being" (Genesis 2:7).  It reminds us of 
Jesus breathing on his disciples and saying to them, "Receive the Holy 
Spirit" (John 20:22).

We need the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, living within us -- guiding 
us -- inspiring us -- helping us to live the kind of life that God created 
us to live.

This hymn prays that God will breathe on us and fill us with life anew, even 
as God breathed life into Adam.  It prays that God will breathe on us to 
purify our hearts.  It prays that God will breathe on us until we are wholly 
devoted to God.  It prays that God will breathe on us so that we might never 
die.  This hymn, then, is a prayer for God's help in this life and 
throughout eternity.

www.sermonwriter.com

www.lectionary.org

Richard Niell Donovan