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<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Sermon Resources for August 16 - Part 2 of 3</DIV>
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<DIV class=Section1>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Sermon Resources for Proper 15:<?xml:namespace prefix =
o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
/><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>Abiding with
Christ<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Eat this Bread and you will live, he promises. But even
more than that, eat this Bread and I will abide with you, and you will abide
with me. I like that word abide. I have pictures again: look, can you see them?
They are images of home, of dwelling, of staying with, of living in and with, of
trusting and being there. To abide is to know that no matter what comes our way,
we will not be deserted nor left to face whatever the matter is on our own.
Christ comes to live within us, to take up residence in our spirits, and
promises not to leave. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Over the years I have witnessed many scenes of this
abiding presence played out in the lives of persons I have known. None are more
powerful, more moving, more meaningful than the images which walk across my mind
of faithful spouses who care for each other to the very end. Let me draw them
for you. There is one now, walking his wife, a victim of Alzheimer's disease,
down the streets in front of the nursing home. She in a wheelchair, not knowing
a thing. He pushing her faithfully day after day. Their love of more than 60
years abides in his heart. Here is another: the picture of a woman standing
beside the bed of her husband, holding a hand, offering a calm, reassuring voice
to this one who has only moments before been thrown into convulsions. "I will
not leave you." Finally, here is the unspoken presence of a Loving Friend who
calms my own grieving spirit in the dark hospital room where my father lays
dying. "Those who eat my flesh? abide in me, and I in them (John 6:56, NRSV)."
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">In a world of fast food
chains in every village, of drive-through windows, of buffet lines and
all-you-can-eat salad bars, we are today offered a different food, the Bread of
Life. It is food for a hungry soul. It is eternal food which, when you eat it,
satisfies the craving of your heart and opens your eyes to see that all else is
imitation and second rate.<BR> <BR>Larry M. Goodpaster, Like a Breath of
Fresh Air, CSS Publishing Company
<BR>___________________________________<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">O, Lord Give Me a Penny<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">A man asked God, "What does a billion dollars mean to
you who are all powerful?"<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">"Hardly a penny." God said.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Then the man asked God , "And what are a thousand
centuries to you?" God answered "Hardly a second!!"<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Thinking he had God backed into a corner, the man then
said, "Then if that's the case, O, Lord give me a penny
!!"<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">"Sure," God replied. “In just a
minute.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Wisdom isn't outsmarting God, wisdom is living in and
with God. Wisdom is being in Christ and surrounded by Christ. Wisdom is eating
and drinking from the feast which God has prepared for
us.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Traditional<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">________________________<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT color=black size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Bread Is Not a Mere
Commodity<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT color=black size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT color=black size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The theologian John Macquarrie relates
that the Scottish churchman, George Macleod, used to watch grain ships from
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
/><st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region> and the
<st1:country-region w:st="on">United States</st1:country-region> bringing their
cargoes of wheat into <st1:place w:st="on">Liverpool</st1:place> harbor, and he
reflected that the wheat has the potentiality of becoming the body of Christ.
This is the point at which sacramental theology spills over into the market
place. Bread is not a mere commodity; things are not mere bits of matter. We can
learn something of this from natural theology, but we learn it above all from
Jesus Christ, the bread of God which comes down from heaven and gives life to
the world.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT color=black size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT color=black size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">John Macquarrie, <SPAN class=textitalic>A
Guide to the Sacraments</SPAN>, p,156 <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT color=black size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">__________________________<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The Truth<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">There is an Irish saying, "the person who speaks the
truth should have one foot in the stirrup." He should be ready to ride off at
once. People do not like the truth, especially when it challenges their
attitudes; and the reaction is often to try to destroy the evidence of the truth
or the one who witnesses to it. <BR> <BR>Father <FONT color=#006600><SPAN
style="COLOR: #006600">Gerry Pierse, The Dangerous Memory of
Jesus</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">_______________________<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Dining with God<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">When <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Seymour</st1:City></st1:place> passed away, God greeted him at the
Pearly Gates. "Thou be hungry, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Seymour</st1:City></st1:place>?" said
God.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">"I could eat," <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Seymour</st1:City></st1:place> replied.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">So God opened a can of tuna and reached for a chunk of
rye bread and they shared it. While eating this humble meal, <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Seymour</st1:City></st1:place> glanced down into
Hell and saw the inhabitants devouring huge steaks, lobsters, pheasants,
pastries, and fine wines. Curious, but deeply trusting, <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Seymour</st1:City></st1:place> remained
quiet.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The next day God again invited <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Seymour</st1:City></st1:place> for another meal.
Again, it was tuna and rye bread. Once again looking down, <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Seymour</st1:City></st1:place> could see the
denizens of Hell enjoying caviar, champagne, lamb, truffles, and chocolates.
Still <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Seymour</st1:City></st1:place>
said nothing.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The following day, mealtime arrived and God opened
another can of tuna. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Seymour</st1:City></st1:place> could contain himself no longer.
Meekly, he said: "God, I am grateful to be in heaven with you as a reward for
the pious, obedient life I led. But here in heaven all I get to eat is tuna and
a piece of rye bread and in the Other Place they eat like emperors and kings!
Forgive me, O God, but I just don’t understand."<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">God sighed: "Let’s be honest, <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Seymour</st1:City></st1:place>. For just two
people does it pay to cook?"<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Donel McClellan, The Imaginary
God<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">________________________<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Meeting God<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Barbara Brokhoff says in her book, Faith Alive, "The
Happy Hour for the Christian should be the hour of worship on Sunday morning,
but how do you honestly feel when you are awakened by the alarm on the Lord's
Day and you realize it is another "Church Day"? Can you hardly wait for the
service time to roll around or do you roll over in bed, moan and groan and cover
your head, and wish that once, once again maybe once more like last Sunday the
one before, you would, or could sleep in and forget the whole boring, time
consuming thing?? Is the thought of worship agony or ecstasy? I think we are
coming to meet God--not just any body, but God!! Shouldn't the delightful
suspense of worship make our breath short and our hearts beat faster?"
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Barbara Brokhoff, Faith Alive, quoted by Tim Zingale,
Wisdom = Being in Christ</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT> </P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>