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<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4>Once, on a bus tour of Egypt, we were led into a
"school." It turned out to be a carpet factory where children sat hour after
hour before huge looms, weaving lovely rugs to grace the living rooms of Western
tourists like ourselves. They were beautiful children who flashed us shy smiles,
and their hands flew so rapidly over the looms that we could scarcely see them.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>I remember a young woman from the tour, a college student,
hugging one of the little girls and weeping— weeping that this child should have
to forfeit her childhood, and her hope for the education that might lift her out
of poverty, for the sake of the few dollars she was earning for her family by
making rugs for tourists. Somehow, just by visiting, we all felt complicit in
the exploitation and destruction of spirit that was going on in that so-called
school. And even on the individual level, is it not the sad truth that most
child abusers were abused as children themselves? In the justice of God, then,
how will such people be judged—with the punishment befitting abusers or with the
compassion befitting the abused? </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>CHRISTIAN CENTURY September 13-20, 2000, Page 902
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Joel Marcus </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>3. Salt has also been used as a substance of preservative
through the ages to maintain and keep; things live longer.
<P>4. Salt has also been used to melt snow and make ways in a very snowy
circumstance--an agent of transformation in the presence of a Christian can make
a way and a hope out of no way because of the transforming presence of the Holy
Spirit in our life.</P>
<P>5. It brings flavor and taste. That means that salt brings taste to the
tasteless and flavor to something that does not have any
flavor.</P></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><A
href="http://day1.org/496-being_salt_to_the_world">http://day1.org/496-being_salt_to_the_world</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Gemechis Buba </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>...in Washington, D.C., we were meeting persons, inviting them
to join us in our work. I was walking down the street one day and I met a man
sitting on a bench and I stopped to chat with him, and suddenly he said, "Are
you a preacher?" </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>I said, "Well, matter of fact I am." </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>And then he almost sneered. He said, "Tell me, what difference
does it make in my life that Jesus Christ died on a cross two thousand years
ago?" </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>I could have talked to him about some theories of the
atonement out of theology, but instead I looked at him and asked, "Do you have
some friends?" </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>"Yes," he said, "I have friends." </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>I said, "Suppose one gets in trouble." </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>He said, "You hang in with him." </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>I said, "It gets really severe." </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>He said, "You still hang in." </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>I said, "It gets really rough. When can you cop out?"
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>He looked at me in amazement and he said, "Man, if he's your
friend you never cop out." </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Then I smiled and said, "And God came to us in Jesus as our
friend, and we're in trouble and He hung in. Our trouble got really difficult,
and He hung in. When could Jesus cop out?" </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>The man looked at me and it was almost as though lights went
on in his eyes. He smiled. He said, "You mean that is why Jesus had to die?"
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>I said, "That's one reason. He came and said, `Your problem is
now my problem.'" </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=4><A
href="http://www.csec.org/csec/sermon/augsburger_3820.htm">http://www.csec.org/csec/sermon/augsburger_3820.htm</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Myron Augsburger, 1995</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Envy, jealousy and the real thing. These are two of the
themes that run through the texts as first the followers of Moses and then the
followers of Jesus are struggling with who has the spirit or power of God for
their lives. "Someone other than us is prophesying," they complained to
Moses. "Someone else is casting out demons," they complained to
Jesus. The reality is that there is work to be done, a world to reach and
God will get the task done through those who give themselves to it - authorized
by human authority or not!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.lectionarysermons.com/octr01-00.htm">http://www.lectionarysermons.com/octr01-00.htm</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>John Jewell,<SPAN lang=en-us> 2000</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Once upon a time, some members of the staff of a local parish
were very distressed when they learned that a group of women parishioners had
begun gathering for bi-weekly theology discussions. The staff members feared
that without the proper direction from pastoral leaders, these people might
develop an erroneous understanding of their faith. When the pastor learned of
the staff concerns, he reminded them that they were not the sole custodians of
the faith of the community.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.agreeley.com/homilies00/oct01.htm">http://www.agreeley.com/homilies00/oct01.htm</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Mary G. Durkin</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
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