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<DIV>The Hinge of History<BR><BR>It sometimes seems that God shows his sense of
humor with history. Halford<BR>Luccock once noted that Nero was sure that the
most important happenings in<BR>Rome were the words he said, the laws he
enacted, and the things he did. As<BR>a matter of fact, the biggest events in
Rome at the time were some prayer<BR>meetings which were being held secretly in
the catacombs. The Medici, he<BR>observes, must have seemed the key figures in
Renaissance Europe, with their<BR>palaces, art galleries, and political power.
Yet they are overshadowed by "a<BR>little boy playing about on the docks of
Genoa,"<BR>who would eventually open the seaway to the Americans -
Christopher<BR>Columbus.<BR><BR>So it was in John the Baptizer's time. One can
easily imagine the pomp and<BR>circumstance with which Herod trampled about as
tetrarch of Galilee.<BR>Wherever he went, people scraped and bowed. They waited
for a disdaining nod<BR>and dreamed of some act of preferment from his hand.
Herod was, indeed, a<BR>big man in Galilee in the first century. Today, all his
pomp is simply<BR>pompous, and all his circumstance only circumstantial.
But John the<BR>Baptizer! -- a great human being.<BR><BR>J. Ellsworth Kalas,
'The Hinge of History,' Sermons on the Gospel Readings,<BR>Cycle C, CSS
Publishing Company<BR><BR>_________________<BR><BR><BR>A Higher Standard of
Living<BR><BR>Max Lucado tells the story of a man who had been a closet slob
most of his<BR>life. He just couldn't comprehend the logic of neatness. Why make
up a bed<BR>if you're going to sleep in it again tonight? Why put the lid on
the<BR>toothpaste tube if you're going to take it off again in the morning?
He<BR>admitted to being compulsive about being messy.<BR><BR>Then he got
married. His wife was patient. She said she didn't mind his<BR>habits . . . if
he didn't mind sleeping on the couch. Since he did mind, he<BR>began to change.
He said he enrolled in a 12-step program for slobs. A<BR>physical therapist
helped him rediscover the muscles used for hanging up<BR>shirts and placing
toilet paper on the holder. His nose was reintroduced to<BR>the smell of Pine
Sol. By the time his in-laws arrived for a visit, he was a<BR>new
man.<BR><BR>But then came that moment of truth. His wife went out of town for a
week.<BR>At first he reverted to the old man. He figured he could be a slob for
six<BR>days and clean up on the seventh. But something strange happened. He
could<BR>no longer relax with dirty dishes in the sink or towels flung around
the<BR>bathroom or clothes on the floor or sheets piled up like a mountain on
the<BR>bed.<BR>What happened? Simple. He had been exposed to a higher standard
of living.<BR>That's what confession and repentance do for us. That's what Jesus
does for<BR>us.<BR><BR>Billy D. Strayhorn, Thunder in the
Desert<BR>_____________________________________<BR><BR>Turn on the
Lights!<BR><BR>During the recent recession, one commentator on television began
his<BR>newscast by saying, "Due to the current financial crisis, the light at
the<BR>end of the tunnel will be turned off." The world turns off
lights.<BR>Christians turn them on - look around you, in your neighborhoods, in
this<BR>season. Light (especially light at the end of a tunnel) represents
hope.<BR>Something that pierces the darkness.<BR><BR>William R. Boyer, A God
Full of Surprises __________________<BR><BR>We Need a Bath!<BR><BR>Last week we
embarked on the journey of Advent. We lit the first candle, and<BR>we read
biblical passages that propelled us into the future to consider the<BR>end of
time-the apocalypse. Today, our reading sends us in the opposite<BR>direction.
On the second Sunday of Advent, we are pulled into the distant<BR>past to hear
the words of the ancient prophet, Malachi.<BR>Malachi tells of a figure who is
coming "to prepare the way for the Lord."<BR>He speaks of a messenger who will
purify people's hearts. "God is sending an<BR>emissary," writes Malachi, "who
comes intending to cleanse your souls."<BR><BR>It all seems a bit presumptuous,
doesn't it? In the midst of our<BR>pre-Christmas hustle and bustle, the church
trots out some primitive prophet<BR>who promises us an Advent scrub-down. Is
that really what we need right now?<BR>You would think that the lectionary could
come up with a few encouraging<BR>words at this time-assuring us that we will
make it through another<BR>Christmas, instead of cheekily suggesting that before
God arrives, we need a<BR>bath.<BR><BR>Scott Black Johnston, Fire and
Soap<BR>________________________________<BR><BR>Preparation - or lack of
it!<BR><BR>To avoid offending anybody, the school dropped religion altogether
and<BR>started singing about the weather. At my son's school, they now hold
the<BR>winter program in February and sing increasingly non-memorable songs such
as<BR>"Winter Wonderland," "Frosty the Snowman" and--this is a real
song--"Suzy<BR>Snowflake," all of which is pretty funny because we live in
Miami. A visitor<BR>from another planet would assume that the children belonged
to the Church of<BR>Meteorology.<BR><BR>Dave Barry in his "Notes on Western
Civilization" Chicago Tribune Magazine,<BR>July 28,
1991<BR><BR>__________________<BR><BR>True repentance is to cease from
sin.<BR>Ambrose of Milan<BR> __________________<BR><BR><BR>To Whom Should
We Repent<BR><BR>When a man undertakes to repent toward his fellowmen, it is
repenting<BR>straight up a precipice; when he repents toward law, it is
repenting into<BR>the crocodile's jaws; when he repents toward public sentiment,
it is<BR>throwing himself into a thicket of brambles and thorns; but when he
repents<BR>toward God, he repents toward all love and delicacy. God receives the
soul<BR>as the sea the bather, to return it again, purer and whiter than he took
it.<BR><BR>Henry Ward
Beecher<BR><BR>__________________<BR><BR><BR>Repentance<BR><BR>True repentance
hates the sin, and not merely the penalty; and it hates the<BR>sin most of all
because it has discovered and felt God's love.<BR><BR>W.M.
Taylor<BR><BR>__________________<BR><BR><BR>Recognizing our Need to
Repent<BR><BR>One critic said he had gone to many churches and heard the
preacher say,<BR>"Don't try to impress God with your works" or "Don't attempt to
please God<BR>with your merits" or "Don't try to keep the rules and regulations
and thus<BR>win your way." He looked around at nearly slumbering collections of
utterly<BR>casual Christians and wondered, "Who's trying?"<BR><BR>Martin
Marty<BR><BR>__________________<BR><BR><BR>Our Basic Problem<BR><BR>Billy
Graham, who has often played the 20th century role of John the<BR>Baptizer, had
these comments about the disease running rampant in our<BR>world: "We're
suffering from only one disease in the world. Our basic<BR>problem is not a race
problem. Our basic problem is not a poverty problem.<BR>Our basic problem is not
a war problem. Our basic problem is a heart<BR>problem. We need to get the heart
changed, the heart transformed."<BR><BR>Michael J. Anton, Good News for Now, CSS
Publishing, p. 12<BR><BR>__________________<BR><BR>The Color Purple<BR><BR>For
those using the liturgical colors of the season of advent: Whenever I<BR>reflect
upon the fact that purple is the color of Advent, I am reminded of<BR>an
historical story. When Louis the IV was a young boy growing up in France<BR>the
Royal family employed one of the best teachers in the land to instruct<BR>him on
the ways of royalty. When he arrived the first thing that he did was<BR>to give
the young prince a purple tunic. Your grace, he said, I cannot give<BR>you
orders, for I am but a commoner. How can a commoner command royalty. But<BR>I
give you this purple tunic. And every time I see you doing
something<BR>unbecoming of the royal prince, I am going to point to the purple
and remind<BR>you that that represents France. I will remind you that it is for
that that<BR>your countrymen died. I will not make my appeal to you, your
Prince, I will<BR>make my appeal to the purple.<BR><BR>Brett Blair, <A
href="http://www.esermons.com/">www.eSermons.com</A>.<BR><BR>__________________<BR><BR><BR>Sermon
Ender - Forgiveness<BR><BR>Carl Michalson, a brilliant young theologian who died
in a plane crash some<BR>years ago, once told about playing with his young son
one afternoon.<BR>They tussled playfully on their front lawn when Michalson
accidentally hit<BR>the young boy in the face with his elbow. It was a sharp
blow full to his<BR>son's face. The little boy was stunned by the impact of the
elbow. It hurt,<BR>and he was just about to burst into tears. But then he looked
into his<BR>father's eyes. Instead of anger and hostility, he saw there his
father's<BR>sympathy and concern; he saw there his father's love and compassion.
Instead<BR>of exploding into tears, the little boy suddenly burst into laughter.
What<BR>he saw in his father's eyes made all the difference!<BR><BR>The sharp
blow of God's message to us is: Repentance. But, look into your<BR>father's
eyes. What he offers you is forgiveness and that makes all the<BR>difference.
Repent and you will be forgiven.<BR><BR>James W. Moore, Some Things Are too Good
Not to Be True,<BR>Nashville:Dimensions, p. 43.
Adapted.<BR><BR>______________________<BR><BR><BR>Turning Up the Religious
Machinery<BR><BR>Eugene Peterson claims in one of his books: "For a long time I
have been<BR>convinced that I could take a person with a high school education,
give him<BR>or her a six-month trade school training, and provide a pastor who
would be<BR>satisfactory to any discriminating American congregation. The
curriculum<BR>would consist of four courses. Course 1: Creative Plagiarism. I
would put<BR>you in touch with a wide range of excellent and inspirational
talks, show<BR>you how to alter them just enough to obscure their origins, and
get you a<BR>reputation for wit and wisdom. Course 2: Voice Control for Prayer
and<BR>Counseling. We would develop your own distinct style of Holy Joe
intonation,<BR>acquiring the skill in resonance and modulation that conveys an
unmistakable<BR>aura of sanctity. Course 3: Efficient Office Management. There
is nothing<BR>that parishioners admire more in their pastors than the capacity
to run a<BR>tight ship administratively ... Course<BR>4: Image Projection. Here
we would master the half-dozen well-known and<BR>easily implemented devices that
create the impression that we are<BR>terrifically busy and widely sought after
for counsel by influential people<BR>in the community."<BR><BR>As one preacher
speaking to others, Peterson is poking fun, of course, but<BR>he is also
speaking a hard truth. The clergy always run the risk of merely<BR>putting on a
good show. Ministers like me can grow so accustomed to the<BR>absence of God
that we lose our vocabulary for naming God's presence. And we<BR>fill the vacuum
by heaping up empty prayers and tuning up the religious<BR>machinery.<BR><BR>The
one thing we need is a Word from God. The one gift we cannot purchase<BR>out of
a catalog is the Word that names us, claims us, judges us, and<BR>redeems us. We
do not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds<BR>from the mouth of
God.<BR><BR>In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, God didn't speak to
the<BR>politicians. During the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, God
didn't<BR>speak to the religious functionaries. No, "the word of God came to
John, son<BR>of Zechariah, in the wilderness."<BR><BR>Praying for a Whole New
World, William G. Carter, CSS Publishing
Company<BR><BR>______________________<BR><BR><BR>The Work of the
Church<BR><BR>At the Annual Conference of the Methodist Church in Sierra Leone,
West<BR>Africa. The meetings were held in the large sanctuary in the capital
city,<BR>Freetown. Each day as we entered the large doors into the sanctuary
there<BR>was a young girl, maybe about the age of 8, who begged at the door.
She<BR>looked ragged, dirty, her hair was matted and knotty, and she had
on<BR>tattered clothes. No one seemed to know her, and people brushed her
aside<BR>upon entering. Some of the pastors tried to tell her to go away. We
were<BR>busy doing the work of the church. She was a bother. This went on
for<BR>several days.<BR><BR>As I sat in the pew observing the Conference one
day, my peripheral vision<BR>caught some motion outside. I looked out the
window, and there on the patio,<BR>outside the sanctuary was a woman, a lay
member of the conference.<BR>She found a bucket and some soap.<BR><BR><BR>The
conclusion to this illustration and for many additional illustrations<BR>and
sermons for Advent 2 can be accessed at <A
href="http://www.sermons.com/">www.Sermons.com</A>.<BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>