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<DIV><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Sermons
for All Saints Day:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=Section1>
<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"> John 11:32-44 – “Tears Are Our
First Words” by Leonard Sweet<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"><></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">John 11, sermon titled "Tears Are Our First Words"
</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">Tears are our first words. <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 beginning way we have of communicating is through
tears. Is there anything that gets a baby more attention than tears? Is there
anything that can command complete, immediate devotion more than a torrent of
tears. Is there anything that can makes adults feel more dismal, daunted,
desperate than the wailing of an infant?<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">Our baby’s tears can bring us to tears as well.
<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">In earlier cultures the tears of mourners were gathered
into something called a lachrymatory, or “tear-catcher,” a specially created
container for human tears of grief or sometimes of joy. In fact, a company is
now bringing them back and selling them online. Here is the website with great
images of what some of the early ones looked like:<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">http://www.tearcatcher.com/tearbottle.html<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">Mourning tears were believed to have extreme powers—-of
solace, of sustenance, of spiritual healing. There were beautiful, delicate
lachrymatory tear bottles for women and more masculine cigar-shaped tear bottles
for men. Traditionally all were designed with an evaporation chamber. When the
last of the gathered tears finally evaporated, the official mourning period was
over.<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">In Roman times women were paid to cry into tear bottles,
so that as many filled bottles as possible could accompany the extensive
mourning processions that befitted any important, powerful figure. In typical
Roman fashion, more was always better—-whether one was dead or alive.
<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">Even the most humble burial ceremony involved the
presence of paid mourners. In Jewish culture the bare minimum required two flute
players and professional wailing woman. Anything less was an insult to the
family name. The grief industry in the first century—-like that of the
twenty-first century—-was big business.<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">Have you noticed that as the economy has fallen, the
number of ads for life insurance are on the rise? In the face of an uncertain
economic climate, unstable global relationships, catastrophic environmental
scenarios, and butt-headed political stalemates, there is always one thing that
remains certain . . . death. You can always bank on death showing up. The grief
industry never has a down turn.<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 Jesus finally arrived at <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Bethany</st1:City></st1:place> the first-century
grief industry was already well represented. “The Jews” who came down from
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:City></st1:place> to
“console Martha and Mary” (v.19) undoubtedly included many professional
mourners, musicians, and trained tear-producers…<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 rest of Leonard Sweet's sermon can be obtained by
joining <A href="http://www.sermons.com/">www.Sermons.com</A><FONT
color=navy><SPAN style="COLOR: navy">
</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"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The Grief Grinch <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">We are approaching an
exciting time of the year - Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's. Times of
celebration. Times for friends and family. Times of joy. And for some, times of
incredible sadness. The holidays will be hard because someone with whom previous
special days were shared is gone. To paraphrase Tennyson's In Memoriam, "Never
Christmas wore to New Year's but some heart did break." If you have never
experienced that, I would be tempted to offer congratulations, but I will not.
They would probably simply be premature. The name of the Grinch who stole
Christmas year-in and year-out is grief.<BR><BR>Perhaps there is an ache inside
you this year that intensifies each time you think of turkeys or mistletoe or
presents under the tree. Perhaps your wish is, not so much to have HAPPY
holidays this year, but just to survive them. You hear the Psalmist say "For God
alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from him. He is my rock, my
salvation, my fortress, my deliverance..." Hmmm.<BR><BR>[Eyes heavenward] Well,
God, deliver me from THIS! Can you arrange it so November 15 will be followed by
January 16? If not that, at least give me some SURVIVAL TIPS to help me manage
this year.<BR><BR>I have good news. You have been given some survival tips. The
lesson from John's gospel this morning provides some - resources for dealing
with grief at the holidays or any days. Follow the story and see how it works
out.<BR><BR>You remember the situation: Jesus had received word that His good
friend Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, had died. By the time Jesus and
the disciples got to the family home in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Bethany</st1:City></st1:place>, great numbers had already arrived.
After all, Lazarus had been dead for four days by now, and the normal period of
intense grief for Jews in first century <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Palestine</st1:City></st1:place> was a full week. There was plenty of
weeping and wailing going on and plenty more yet to be done, and it was to be
done by as many people as possible. It might appear to you and me as a little
contrived - all the noise, the really excessive displays of emotion...but if the
tables were turned and they had the chance to watch what WE do in the same
situation, they might consider our reserved behavior a sign of disrespect for
the dead. All the wailing was their way of doing honor to the deceased. At any
rate, there is one thing that is common to both cultures: the gathering of
friends - a marvelous resource for coping with grief in the first century or the
twenty-first.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">David E. Leininger, The Grief Grinch, <A
href="http://www.sermons.com/">www.Sermons.com</A><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">Let Him Go! <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">During these past twelve
years that I've been involved in the ministry, I have had the wonderful
experience of watching as Jesus called men and women out of spiritual death into
new life. I have never lost the wonder and excitement, the emotion of that kind
of resurrection, and I pray that I never will. But then I've also seen loving,
caring people reach out and embrace and welcome these strangers in their midst,
helping them to meet new friends and develop new habits (like coming to church
on a regular basis or coming to Sunday School). I've seen them provide
encouragement to find and use their unique gifts in the ministry of the church.
Whenever I've seen this happen, I have recalled Jesus' instructions to the crowd
of onlookers at the resurrection of Lazarus: "Unbind him, and let him go." When
we encourage newly resurrected Christians to become a vital part of the faith
community, that's what we're doing. We're taking off the grave clothes,
participating in the miracle of new life.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Johnny Dean, Death Stinks, <A
href="http://www.sermons.com/">www.Sermons.com</A> <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
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 5pt; MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 5.0pt"
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: 5pt; MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 5.0pt"
class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The Greek philosophers were the ones who talked most
about the immortality of the soul, and they used a beautiful analogy to explain
it. They saw the soul like a homing pigeon taking to a far land and when it is
release, it always instinctively and unerringly returns to its true home. The
soul they say is like that bird. In this life, we’re living in a foreign land or
in a cage, death, therefore, in this view is a release – freeing the soul to
return instinctively and unerringly to its true home. Now that’s beautiful, but
it’s not Christian. It’s in much of our poetry and in much of our hymnody, you
get some hints of it in the Bible, but that’s not primarily the teaching of the
Bible. The primary teaching of scripture is not the immortality of the soul, but
the resurrection of the body and eternal life. The Bible does not affirm that
immortality is part and parcel of what it means to be human, but the Bible
rather talks about eternal life as gifts – the gift of God in Jesus Christ to
those who respond in faith to him. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 5pt; MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 5.0pt"
class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">If you’re going to live beyond death, the Bible says,
there must be a resurrection of the body. A resurrection of who we are as we are
as persons, yet made new by Christ himself, who even now sitting upon the
throne, keeps saying, behold I am making all things new. When Paul was
confronted with what people felt to be the preposterousness of this idea of the
resurrection of the body, when you consider what happens to the body in death –
he said, we will have a resurrected new body. And just as the Greeks had an
analogy to talk about the immortality of the soul, so Paul had an analogy to
talk about the resurrection of the body. He said it’s like a farmer, planting a
seed in the ground, and the shell of the husk falls away and new life appears.
So we die, to be born again into new life.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Maxie Dunnam, All This and Heaven, Too, <A
href="http://www.sermons.com/">www.Sermons.com</A><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">A Time for Tears <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">Stanton Delaplane, the
columnist, often wrote a very gay column, but one time several years ago, he
wrote in a different mood. He said:<BR><BR>"No life can run smoothly, but how
can I tell this to a ten year old girl? The other night we came home and the
Siamese kitten was dead. You could see what had happened. I had had some steaks
delivered on top of the deep freeze. The boxer dog had managed to push the door.
The cat had gotten up and torn off the paper. The dog had managed to jump up and
pull the package down. He must have been into it when the cat came down and
tried to get into it, too. Oh, they had eaten and played together for three
months now, but this time he just grabbed her by the neck, gave one shake, and
she was dead.<BR><BR>"And so, there is trouble in <st1:place
w:st="on">Paradise</st1:place> today. Though we must all grow up from ten years
and realize that kittens must go, I keep thinking if only I had come home a half
an hour earlier. If I had closed the door tight, or if I had put the steaks into
the deep freeze. For this morning, the little girl is miserable, the boxer is
miserable, and I am miserable - and there is nothing, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, that I
can do about it, nor anyone else can do about it."<BR><BR>No, Mr. Delaphane,
there is nothing that anyone can do about it, except weep. I find that this
world is that kind of place, and it fortifies my soul to know that Jesus found
it that kind of place, also. In at least two places recorded in Scripture, our
Lord is confronted by circumstances where the only appropriate reaction seemed
to be to cry. To us, that is a fact of tremendous importance.<BR><BR>In the
first place, if Jesus wept, then weeping is realism and not sentimentalism. If
Christ, himself, was left, upon occasion, with no weapon for the warfare of life
except a sob, then how ridiculous of me to think that I can go dry-eyed through
the days of my years. How stupid of me to set a goal for myself to wink,
supposedly gaily and bravely, at the experiences that caused the Lord of life to
weep, and to weep bitterly.<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">A Time for Tears, Louis H.
Valbracht<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">Mercy and Empathy<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 are people crying all around us, people
approaching the point of desperation. But many of their cries go unheard. The
noise of the self-oriented machinery of our culture is drowning them out and
they are dying. The world needs the merciful. We all need someone who will
identify with us. Someone who will hear our cry, listen, have empathy, and care.
We all need to have an attitude of mercy and to be the recipients of such an
attitude! As Shakespeare 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">The quality of mercy is not
strained;<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Upon the place beneath: it
is<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">twice blest, It blesseth him that gives, and him that
takes.<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">Wallace H. Kirby, Beatitudes: Programs and Promises, CSS
Publishing <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">New Priorities of the
Kingdom<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 holy man was engaged in his morning meditation under a
tree whose roots stretched out over the riverbank. During his meditation he
noticed that the river was rising, and a scorpion caught in the roots was about
to drown. He crawled out on the roots and reached down to free the scorpion, but
every time he did so, the scorpion struck back at him. An observer came along
and said to the holy man, 'Don't you know that's a scorpion, and it's in the
nature of a scorpion to want to sting?' To which the holy man replied, 'That may
well be, but it is my nature to save, and must I change my nature because the
scorpion does not change his?'<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">A Religion Worth 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">A religion that gives nothing, costs nothing, and
suffers nothing, is worth 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">Martin Luther<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">Sometimes We Just Need a
Blessing<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 problem with our society is that we don't understand
the power nor the dynamics of giving a blessing. We underestimate its power and
we are not in the habit of giving empathy. Few people are tuned in to your
feelings of rejection. Most ignore them completely. Many simply "stuff" them,
hoping that they will go away. We are a people that want to fix or problem
solve. <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">We want answers and a rational explanation for
everything that happens. Or, we believe that hard work and discipline will make
everything turn out right. Do you think that the skier that crashed on the ski
slope was not disciplined? Did he deserve to slip and fail because he didn't
work hard enough?<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 heard a story this past week that illustrates how our
society treats personal rejection. A man with a critical illness was lying in a
hospital bed, desperately wanting some word of encouragement. A nurse said to
him, "you just need to work harder." This man had undergone multiple surgeries
and is critically ill. What he needed was a "blessing." What the skier who
crashed on the slope needed was a blessing.<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">Keith Wagner, Overcoming
Rejection<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">We Belong to the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Kingdom</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">God</st1:PlaceName></st1:place><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 story is told of Frederick William IV of <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Prussia</st1:country-region></st1:place>
who once visited a school and quizzed the students. He held up a stone and asked
the children: to what kingdom does this belong? They responded: mineral. He
then, pointed to a flower and asked: to what kingdom does this belong? They
answered: plant. He then pointed to a bird flying by outside the window
and asked: to what Kingdom does that belong? They replied: animal. Then he
asked: now, to what kingdom do I belong. He had raised a profound theological
question. To what kingdom do we belong?<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">On a literal sense, we are, off course, part and parcel
of the animal kingdom. I belong to the same kingdom as my dog Ruff. He has many
human traits…<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 conclusion to this illustration and for many
additional illustrations and sermons for All Saints and Proper 26 can be
accessed at <A
href="http://www.sermons.com/">www.Sermons.com</A>.<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></DIV></BODY></HTML>