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<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Being Present</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">How many of us have been to a party where our
host or hosts are so busy with all of the little details that the guests leave
the party thinking, “That was a lovely party, but I wish I had more time to
speak with our host!” I imagine this Martha from over 2,000 years ago to
have something in common with a certain ‘Martha’ from our present. Fussing
over the perfect table setting, the most delicious and perhaps elaborate meal,
adjusting every little detail until it is just so…and only when everything is
perfectly in place, turning to the guests to enjoy their company. There is
a lot of joy to be taken in being a host and doing something gracious your
guests, but it should never compromise the time we have to really enjoy our
contact with them, especially when it starts to feel like ‘work’ as Martha
clearly expresses. </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">I think that one of the things Jesus is
praising in Mary’s behavior in this text is her careful listening and just being
present with her guest and her God. Jesus is telling us that there is great
wisdom in letting the dishes soak in the sink so we can listen to and relax with
others in fellowship. </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Staff, <A href="http://www.esermons.com/"><FONT
color=#ff6600>www.esermons.com</FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT color=#ff6600></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">_________________________________</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">The Highest Priority</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Have you ever been in a hurry and buttoned up a
long overcoat with lots of buttons and when you were done, found out that the
coat was uneven? What went wrong? I'll tell you what went wrong. When you don't
get the first button in the right hole, all the rest are out of sequence too,
right?! That's a parable about life. Jesus said it this way in the Sermon on the
Mount: "Seek first God's kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things
shall be yours as well." (Matthew 6:33) If the Lord is not the high priority in
your life, then, like the overcoat, so many other things in life will be out of
whack as well. <BR><BR>Arthur E. Dean Windhorn</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">_______________________</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Faithful to my Lord's commands</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">I still would choose the better part; <BR>Serve
with careful Martha's hands</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">And loving Mary's heart.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Charles Wesley</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">___________________________</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black">A
Priorities</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black">A time management
guru, a professor in the business school at Harvard, speaks about A, B, and C
priorities, and then he notes that too many people spend too much of their time
on the C priorities! And then he asks, "Why do you think that is?" The answer is
that the C priorities are, first, much easier to accomplish, and, second, give
you the impression that you are actually getting something done. In other words
you can keep busy with the C priorities all day and never get to the more
important things. The lesson from Mary and Martha is "Don't let the good (the C
priorities) get in the way of the best (the A priorities). Sound like anyone you
know? <BR><BR>David E. Leininger, Collected Sermons, <A
href="http://www.sermons.com/"><FONT
color=#800080>www.Sermons.com</FONT></A></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><BR>___________________________________<BR><BR></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black">There Is Always a
Load Limit</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black">Dr. John Anderson
tells about a cartoon that appeared in the NEW YORKER magazine. Approaching a
small bridge plainly marked, "Load Limit 8 tons" was a truck, also marked on its
side, "8 tons." When the 8 ton truck was about in the middle of the bridge with
the 8 ton limit, a bluebird lighted on the top girder. At that point the bridge
gave way and crashed with the truck into the river below, to the obvious
surprise of the bluebird. <BR><BR>The bridge was built as indicated for 8 tons;
the truck weighed exactly that. The bridge could hold up under its load limit,
but not under 8 tons and one bluebird. <BR><BR>Of course, this story is
wonderfully ridiculous. Most bridges could stand up under their load limit and
several thousand bluebirds extra. But, to be sure, all bridges have a breaking
point somewhere "that point at which the bluebird would be just much too much.
But, friends, it really isn't the bluebird that breaks it down. It is the fact
that 8 tons are already present. <BR><BR>We all have bluebird troubles, don't
we? We are all burdened by the facts of our lives which load us to the point of
"load limit." We let little things get the best of us, little bluebirds of
nothingness, tiny bluebirds of no importance, but just the thing to bring us
down. Every person has a limit and we would do well to watch for the warning
signs of one bluebird too many. There is always a load limit.
<BR> <BR>Arthur E. Dean Windhorn,
Sermons.com<BR>________________________________________<BR><BR></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Worry has been defined as "a small trickle of
fear that meanders through the mind until it cuts a channel into which all other
thoughts are drained."</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Unknown</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">__________________</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Humor: When Anxieties Finally Come True</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">For several years a woman had been having
trouble getting to sleep at night because she feared burglars. One night her
husband heard a noise in the house, so he went downstairs to investigate. When
he got there, he did find a burglar. "Good evening," said the man of the house.
"I am pleased to see you. Come upstairs and meet my wife. She has been waiting
10 years to meet you."</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">William Marshall, Eternity Shut in a Span</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">__________________</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black">Inviting Us Out to
Worship</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN style="COLOR: black">There is a chapel somewhere in Wisconsin that
has a stained glass window over the entrance, showing the figure of Jesus with
open arms. Some, seeing it for the first time, remarked, "How meaningful! He
seems to be inviting us in to worship."<BR><BR>"That's true," the pastor said.
"He is indeed inviting us in to worship."<BR><BR>When the service was over and
the same person was going out the door, he looked up at the window again. There
was the figure of Jesus, with the same invitingly open arms. "Look!" he
said….</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">The conclusion to this illustration and for
many additional illustrations and sermons for the Proper 11 can be accessed at
<A title=http://www.sermons.com/ href="http://www.sermons.com/"><FONT
color=#800080>www.Sermons.com</FONT></A>.</DIV>
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