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<P class=MsoNormal>Releasing the Pain, Spreading the Message<?xml:namespace
prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>A young seminarian who lost both her parents at an early age
shared a way of praying that helped her through the worst of times. She shared
that in those most painful of days, she used to sit with her grandmother.
Together, they would read the Bible, focusing on two particular passages.
<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p>First was the one that follows directly
after the Bartimaeus story we heard this morning -- the story of Jesus
approaching Jerusalem, when he asks two of his disciples to go ahead and find a
colt for him, on which they place their cloaks. <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p>The second is Jesus’ invitation in Matthew
11: “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens and I
will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle
and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy
and my burden is light.”<BR> <BR>The woman used these two images together
to prayerfully imagine Jesus inviting her to take his yoke of love, in exchange
for the heavy load of grief, loss, and doubt that she carried. She pictured
releasing the pain she carried, which was placed by Jesus on the back of the
young colt in exchange for the yoke of spreading the message of Christ’s love in
word and action. <BR><BR>Suzanne Watson<o:p></o:p></P>
<P
class=MsoNormal>__________________________________________<BR> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>The Blind Pastor<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> Pastor Steven E. Albertin told the following story. He
said, in my church secretary's office there hangs a modernistic picture composed
of a maze of colors and shapes. I realized these sophisticated, modern, and
abstract pictures were supposed to contain some profound artistic or
philosophical message, but I never was able to figure it out. It just looked
like a jumbled mass of confusion. If there was a message there, I was blind to
it.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>One day while I was standing in the office, waiting for the
copier to warm up, one of the congregation's kindergarten-age boys, Adam, stood
beside me and said, "Do you see what I see?"<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>"Do you see something in that picture? I sure don't." Adam
looked at me with glee in his eye, "Pastor, can't you see him? It's Jesus
hanging on the cross." I stared as hard as I could, until my eyes actually hurt
from staring. I wanted to believe Adam and that there actually was the image of
Jesus hanging on the cross hidden somewhere in that mass of color and shapes,
but I couldn't see Jesus anywhere. "Adam, I'm sorry but I must be blind. You
will have to help me see."<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Directing his finger to a mass of color in the center of the
picture, Adam said, "There, Pastor. Do you see what I see? There is Jesus, his
face, his arms outstretched on the cross." And then, like an epiphany, the image
began to appear. Yes, there hidden somehow "behind" the colors and the shapes
was the barely visible image of Jesus, hanging with arms outstretched on the
cross. "It's amazing, Adam. You have helped one blind pastor to see Jesus. Yes,
I can see what you see, Adam."<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> Steven E. Albertin, Against the Grain, CSS Publishing
Company, Inc.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal>_____________________<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Define the Problem<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Thousands of years ago a young Chinese emperor called upon
his family's most trusted advisor. "Oh, learned counselor," said the emperor,
"you have advised my father and grandfather. What is the single most important
advice you can give me to rule my country?" And Confucius replied, "The first
thing you must do is to define the problem." <BR><BR>Many unhappy people cannot
put their finger on what is really causing their distress. Many unfulfilled
people cannot even tell you what it would take to satisfy them. Many of us have
no clear idea or conception what our real needs, our real desires, and our real
priorities are. And because we have never defined the problem or clarified our
goals, we spend a lifetime anxiously wandering with very little to show for the
pilgrimage. <BR><BR>King Duncan, Collected Sermons,
www.Sermons.com<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>________________________<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Some People Are Never Satisfied<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>It is like the beggar in the movie “Monty Python’s Life of
Brian.” Brian and his mother are walking through town and get hit up by a
beggar. “Alms for an ex-leper. Alms for an ex-leper, please.” And Brian says:
“What do you mean an ex-leper?” And the leper says: “Well I was cured” “Who
cured you?” Brian says. And the leper says: “That Jesus fellow.” He says: “Now I
have a hard time making a living, all I’ve ever known how to do is beg.” And
Brian says: “Well why don’t you go back and ask him to make you a leper again?”
And the leper says: “Well, I might not like that. Maybe he could just make me a
leper during working hours or something.”<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>So Brian just sighs, drops a coin into his cup and walks
away. And the ex-leper looks into his cup and says: “A half a dinari! Look at
this - he only gives me a half a dinari!” And Brian says: “Some people are never
satisfied.” To which the leper replies: “That’s just what Jesus
said!”<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Now Monty Python might be on to something. Jesus may not have
said exactly these words but he certainly ran into people who were
unappreciative. Blind Bartimaeus was not one of them. Upon receiving his sight
he immediately began to follow.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com. Adapted from The Catholic
Apologetics Network<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>____________________<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Meeting Christ<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>History records a time when two people met each other on July
25, 1807, at a spot in the Tilsit River in Prussia. It was a dramatic meeting to
discuss matters which carried serious consequences. In the middle of that stream
Napoleon and Alexander held a much publicized private conference. It was widely
described in advance as a meeting which would "arrange the destinies of
humankind." Cannons boomed, and the shouts of thousands of soldiers gathered on
each side of the river added to the noise as the conference began. There the
Treaty of Tilsit was drawn up which allied Russia and Prussia with Napoleon.
World history and millions of lives were forever changed.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Bartimaeus had an opportunity to meet Christ, one on one, and
took advantage of it. As a result, he was greatly blessed. You and I have the
same privilege of meeting with Christ, one on one. Christ is calling you. Will
you come? Such an encounter, for each one of us, is by far the most important in
our lives, for it will arrange the destiny of your life.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Brett Blair, <A
href="http://www.sermons">www.sermons</A>.com, Adapted form Harold H. Lentz,
Preaching The Miracles, CSS Publishing.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>__________________<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Born of the Spirit Not the Process<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Duke University psychiatrist Redford B. Williams has written
a book called The Trusting Heart (New York: Random House). What he has
discovered is that Type A behavior will not kill you. Grueling schedules,
workaholism, stress, hurriedness - all these "Type A" personality syndromes are
not predictive of early death. Only hostility, cynicism, aggression, and
orneriness - these are the killers. People who cannot trust, people who can only
control, are in more than spiritual jeopardy. Their health is on the line as
well. <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>The crowd that tried to quiet the boisterous blind man was
evidently embarrassed by Bartimaeus' loud, direct method of expressing his needs
and petitioning his desires. There were established channels by which to
petition the Lord for healing or forgiveness - why didn't Bartimaeus submit to
them? The crowd, like so many of us, preferred to put its trust in the Process
instead of in the Spirit. But Jesus did not say to Nicodemus, "You must be born
of the Process." In fact it is only when we free ourselves from the deep ruts
that "following the process" has carved into our lives that we become able to
trust in and follow the wings of the Spirit, wherever it may
lead.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Leonard Sweet, Collected Works, <A
href="http://www.Sermons.com">www.Sermons.com</A><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>___________________________________<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Triumph in the Rubble<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Carlton Fletcher tells about his Uncle Walter who lived in
Waldorf, Germany, during the Second World War. Uncle Walter was the descendant
of Huguenots that had run away from France during the persecution of the
Protestants in the 1600's. During the war he wanted to build himself a house,
but all the necessary materials were reserved for the army. You couldn't build a
house for yourself. To a member of Germany's middleclass, a house is most
important. Building a house and getting out of an apartment is a priority. And
nothing -even a world war - would deter Uncle Walter, even if it meant building
a house and hiding it under a junk pile. <BR><BR>Here is how he did it. He
bought a lot and loaned it out for people to throw junk on it. And then he would
go there at night and build, layer by layer of brick, and cover it up with junk.
When the end of the war came, there was a big pile of junk, but there was a
house under it practically completed. All it needed was a roof. In 1946, when
the war was over, he raised the roof like a madman. And he was jubilant. He
said, "I beat the Nazis, I beat them. I got my house." <BR><BR>Don't you admire
the spirit of a man like that - to be able to build a house amid the rubble of
life? I suspect Bartimaeus was such a man. <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>King Duncan, Collected Sermons, <A
href="http://www.Sermons.com">www.Sermons.com</A><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>__________________________<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Afflictions and Faith<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>One of the greatest evidences of God's love to those that
love him is to send them afflictions, with the grace to bear them. Even in the
greatest afflictions, we ought to testify to God that, in receiving them from
his hand, we feel pleasure in the midst of pain, from being afflicted by him who
loves us, and whom we love.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>John Wesley, Christian Behavior<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>_____________________<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Asking for Help<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Doctor Fred Collier, a retired physician tells this story
about his youth.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>He was a medical student in the Army Specialized Training
Corps in 1945 when World War II ended. He was from a Kansas family that
didn't have the kind of money he needed to complete medical school on his
own. And so when he mustered out of the army, he had no idea how he'd ever
finish school, if indeed he'd ever finish it all.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>One day he happened to pick up a copy of a magazine in a
barber shop. One of the articles talked about the kindness and compassion of
Eleanor Roosevelt, whose husband, President Franklin Roosevelt had died just a
few months before.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>That article planted a seed in Fred's mind. He went to the
local library and with the help of the librarian found Mrs. Roosevelt's home
address. Then he sat down and composed a letter telling her about his plight. He
wrote it and rewrote until he had it exactly the way he wanted
it.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>When he put the letter in an envelope and dropped it in the
mailbox, even his young wife wondered if it was worth the time and the postage
he'd spent on it…<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> <SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt">To Fred's
amazement, Mrs. Roosevelt agreed to meet him. When the meeting ended, she
promised to help him.</SPAN></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoPlainText><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The conclusion
to this illustration and many additional illustrations and sermons for Proper 25
can be accessed at <A
title="http://www.sermons.com/
blocked::http://www.sermons.com/"
href="http://www.Sermons.com">www.Sermons.com</A>.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoPlainText><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>