<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.18939">
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT size=4>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">How Will the Church Be Lighted?</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Several centuries ago in a mountain village in Europe, a
wealthy nobleman wondered what legacy he should leave to his
townspeople. He made a good decision. He decided to build them a
church. No one was permitted to see the plans or the inside of the church
until it was finished. At its grand opening, the people gathered and
marveled at the beauty of the new church. Everything had been thought of and
included. It was a masterpiece.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">But then someone said, "Wait a minute! Where are the
lamps? It is really quite dark in here. How will the church be
lighted?" The nobleman pointed to some brackets in the walls, and then he
gave each family a lamp, which they were to bring with them each time they came
to worship.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">"Each time you are here'" the nobleman said, "the place
where you are seated will be lighted. Each time you are not here, that
place will be dark. This is to remind you that whenever you fail to come to
church, some part of God's house will be dark"</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">That's a poignant story, isn't it? And it makes a
very significant point about the importance of our commitment and loyalty to the
church. The poet Edward Everett Hale put it like this:</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">I am only one,</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">but still I am one.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">I cannot do everything,</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">But still I can do something;</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">And because I cannot do everything</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">I will not refuse to do the something I can
do.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">What if every member of your church supported the church
just as you do? What kind of church would you have? What if every single
member served the church, attended the church, loved the church, shared the
church, and gave to the church exactly as you do? What kind of church would
you be?</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">James W. Moore, Some Things Are Too Good Not To Be True,
Dimensions: Nashville, 1994. pp. 117-118.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">_______________________</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Breaking Away to Follow Christ</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">A while back Will Willimon, Dean of the Chapel down at
Duke University, got a call from an upset parent, a VERY upset parent. "I hold
you personally responsible for this," he said. <BR><BR>"Me?" Will asked.
<BR><BR>The father was hot, upset because his graduate school bound daughter had
just informed him that she was going to chuck it all ("throw it all away" was
the way the father described it) and go do mission work with the Presbyterians
in Haiti. "Isn't that absurd!" shouted the father. "A BS degree in mechanical
engineering from Duke and she's going to dig ditches in Haiti." <BR><BR>"Well, I
doubt that she's received much training in the Engineering Department here for
that kind of work, but she's probably a fast learner and will probably get the
hang of ditch-digging in a few months," Will said. <BR><BR>"Look," said the
father, "this is no laughing matter. You are completely irresponsible to have
encouraged her to do this. I hold you personally responsible," he said.
<BR><BR>As the conversation went on, Dr. Willimon pointed out that the
well-meaning but obviously unprepared parents were the ones who had started this
ball rolling. THEY were the ones who had her baptized, read Bible stories to
her, took her to Sunday School, let her go with the Presbyterian Youth
Fellowship to ski in Vail. Will said, "You're the one who introduced her to
Jesus, not me." <BR><BR>"But all we ever wanted her to be was a Presbyterian,"
said the father, meekly. Hmm. <BR><BR>David E. Leininger, Collected Sermons,
Adapted from William Willimon, Pulpit Resources, September 10, 1995, p.
45.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">___________________________</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The Right Stuff</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">"The right stuff" describes the qualities of character,
competence, and temperament possessed by the early astronauts. They had "the
right stuff" for the job and all of us admired them for this. In terms of
American history, they are kin to those sturdy folk who first settled this
nation, as well as those who later broke out of the confines of the eastern
seaboard and courageously headed into the western wilderness. Some years ago
there was a book about these latter heroes titled Men to Match My Mountains,
telling the story of those who had the tough, "right stuff" to stretch this
country from coast to coast.<BR><BR>Jesus is certainly talking about having "the
right stuff" in this passage. He is telling us what it would take then, and what
it takes now, to be his follower. There is no soft sentimentalism in these words
of his. He says that the disciple must be prepared to part with family, to
endure suffering, to face enormity of the task, and to give up everything for
the sake of the Kingdom. Here, compressed in these brief verses, is the
delineation of the "right stuff" required of anyone who accepts Jesus’ offer to
follow him.<BR><BR></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Wallace H. Kirby, If Only..., CSS Publishing
Company</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">______________________________</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Are You God’s Wife?</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">A little boy about 10 years old was standing before a
shoe store on the roadway, barefooted, peering through the window, and shivering
with cold. A lady approached the boy and said, “My little fellow, why are you
looking so earnestly in that window?” “I was asking God to give me a pair of
shoes,” was the boys reply. The lady took him by the hand and went into the
store and asked the clerk to get half a dozen pairs of socks for the boy. She
then asked if he could give her a basin of water and a towel. He quickly brought
them to her. She took the little guy to the back part of the store and removing
her gloves, knelt down, washed his little feet, and dried them with a towel. By
this time the clerk returned with the socks. Placing a pair upon the boy’s feet,
she purchased him a pair of shoes. She tied up the remaining pairs of socks and
gave them to him. She patted h im on the head and said, “No doubt, my little
fellow, you feel more comfortable now?” As she turned to go, the astonished lad
caught her by the hand, and looking up in her face, said, "Are you God’s
wife?"</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Traditional</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">_________________________</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Unexpected Cost</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">When I was in college I was one of several young men who
decided to go to work on the section gang of the railroad during the summer
vacation. At that time, there was very little automation on the railroad, and
most of the work was done by manual labor. Many people warned us about the job.
It was a hot job ... very, very hot. It was difficult. Everything out there was
heavy. It was a dirty job, and to some extent, it was dangerous. But the pay was
most attractive. None of us could make as much money doing anything else in the
summer. So we went to work on the railroad, and only one of the five of us
lasted the first week. It was too tough or we were too weak. We thought we were
ready for this tough job, but we were not. We had not accurately counted the
cost.<BR><BR></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Thomas C. Short, Good News for the Multitudes, CSS
Publishing </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">____________________________</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The demand for absolute liberty brings men to the depths
of slavery.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Cost of Discipleship</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">_________________________</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">There are three conversions necessary: the conversion of
the heart, the mind and the purse. Of these three, it may well be that we
moderns find the conversion of the purse the most difficult.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Martin Luther</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">_________________________</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The Word Hate</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">"If anyone comes after me and does not hate ..." "Hate"
is not primarily a feeling word in the Aramaic language, the language Jesus
spoke. It is primarily a priority word. It means to abandon or to leave aside;
the way a sailor needs to abandon a sinking ship or the way a general needs to
leave aside distracting things to win his battle.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">John G. Lynch, Troubled Journey, CSS Publishing
Company.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">___________________________</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Knowing Our Business</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Some of us had the joy of listening to one of our
generation's truly great preachers, Fred Craddock when he was chaplain at
Chautauqua for a week. One morning he told a story from the early years of his
ministry in Custer City, Oklahoma, a town of about 450 souls. There were four
churches there, a Methodist church, a Baptist church, a Nazarene church, and a
Christian church (where Fred served). Each had its share of the population on
Wednesday night, Sunday morning, and Sunday evening. Each had a small collection
of young people, and the attendance rose and fell according to the weather and
whether it was time to harvest the wheat. <BR><BR>But the most consistent
attendance in town was at the little café where all the pickup trucks were
parked, and all the men were inside discussing the weather, and the cattle, and
the wheat bugs, and the hail, and the wind, and is there going to be a crop. All
their wives and sons and daughters were in one of those four churches. The
churches had good attendance and poor attendance, but the café had consistently
good attendance, better attendance than some of the churches. They were always
there - not bad men, but good men, family men, hard-working men. <BR><BR>Fred
says the patron saint of the group that met at the café was named Frank. Frank
was seventy-seven when they first met. He was a good, strong man, a pioneer, a
rancher and farmer, and a prospering cattle man too. He had been born in a sod
house; he had his credentials, and all the men there at the café considered him
their patron saint. "Ha! Old Frank will never go to church." <BR><BR>Fred says,
"I met Frank on the street one time. He knew I was a preacher, but it has never
been my custom to accost people in the name of Jesus, so I just was shaking
hands and visiting with him, but he took the offensive. He said, "I work hard, I
take care of my family and I mind my own business. Far as I'm concerned,
everything else is fluff." You see what he told me? "Leave me alone, I'm not a
prospect." I didn't bother Frank. That's why the entire church, and the whole
town were surprised, and the men at the café church were absolutely bumfuzzled
when old Frank, seventy-seven years old, presented himself before me one Sunday
morning for baptism. I baptized Frank. Some of the talk in the community was,
"Frank must be sick. Guess he's scared to meet his maker. They say he's got
heart trouble. Going up there and being baptized, well, I never thought ol'
Frank would do that, but I guess when you get scared..." All kinds of stories.
<BR><STRONG>Dr. Craddock goes on: "We were talking the next day after his
baptism, and I said, 'Uh, Frank, you remember that little saying you used to
give me so much: "I work hard, I take care of my family, I mind my own
business?"' …</STRONG></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><STRONG>The conclusion to this illustration and for many
additional illustrations and sermons for the Proper 18 can be accessed at
</STRONG><A href="http://www.sermons.com/"><STRONG><FONT
color=#ff6600>www.Sermons.com</FONT></STRONG></A><STRONG>.
</STRONG></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN> </DIV></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>