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<div style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #fff; MARGIN: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Sans-Serif; COLOR: #000; FONT-SIZE: 12px" id=AOLMsgPart_0_d834b71c-03c8-460c-b1f3-11522b4c74c6><PRE style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt"><TT><FONT size=4>Forwarded:</FONT></TT></PRE><PRE style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt"><TT>Note #33191 from JUDY BOLI to PROPERTALK:
Dear Friends,
Sundays sermon is entitled Choose Life or Are You a Thermometer or a
Thermostat? (Pentecost 15, Proper 18C: 9-5-10) and deals with all the lessons.
Here it is:
If you knew today was the last day you would ever see your loved ones again, and
if they were all gathered around you, listening for your advice, you can imagine
that the ideas you shared would be your most important thoughts, from the bottom
of your heart. Well this was the situation with Moses and the children of
Israel in our Old Testament Bible reading this morning. We heard Moses last
words to the children of Israel, those beloved (and frustrating) people he had
led from Egypt through the desert for forty years. He remembered some of their
terrible, self-destructive choices- worshipping the golden calf when they got
tired of waiting for him to come down the mountain with the Ten Commandments,
complaining about God, etc. The worst was- they never seemed to learn from
their mistakes. They sinned, suffered the consequences, and turned right around
and committed the same sin again. It was like they werent even finished with
the consequences of their first disastro!
us sin when they were already doing the same thing again. This is probably why
God implores his beloved people to Choose life, and this is the message that
comes down to us through the ages from the Bible readings- CHOOSE LIFE!
Choose life- get your priorities right- God first. Remember, Jesus said, I am
the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14: 6). In todays gospel he spells out
how to live life to its fullest- by getting our priorities right. Jesus reminds
us to put God first- not family, not possessions, not even self. If you think
about it, his advice makes sense. If we put ourselves or anything that we
consider ours first, its so easy to be possessed by those things- protecting
them, focusing too narrowly on them, making them better than anyone elses
stuff, that they will own us. You have seen the results when parents put
their children above God, so they dont allow others in authority to discipline
them- after all, they are mine. All too often the world disciplines their
beloved children when they are grown much more harshly than neighbors, teachers,
principals, etc. ever would have. Popularity, possessions, honor, family, even
our own selves are wonderful gif!
ts from God, when thankfully accepted in that way, but they make terrible
idols- terrible masters.
Choose life- think for yourself. Remember the Psalm. Dont follow the evil
advice of other people- thats the contribution of todays Psalm. Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. wisely reminds us that, Most Christians are thermometers that
record or register the temperature of majority opinion, rather than thermostats
that transform and regulate the temperature of society. It doesnt make any
difference what anyone else thinks or does. You know whats right. Is it
loving God and putting God first? Is it loving your neighbor and doing what
needs to be done to help him or her? Dont be a thermometer and follow peer
pressure. Be a thermostat, live Jesus values, and affect peer values.
Choose life- dont be paralyzed by your present circumstances. How many people
let sickness, poverty, misuse by other people, the death of a loved one, age,
etc. give them a depressed or angry attitude, thus making them powerless for the
Kingdom. St. Paul was in prison when he had to figure out how to help the
runaway slave, Onesimus. It sounded like a hopeless situation- but God doesnt
even know the meaning of hopeless and neither should we. You know the poem
about the donut and the hole:
As you go through life you will have no cares
If you watch the lines and not the squares.
As you go through life, make this your goal
Watch the donut, and not the hole.
So, dont look at the hole- look at the donut. Dont look at what you cant do-
figure a way to do what you can do. Im telling you this story with permission.
Some years ago, our dear sister, Ms. Ellen Williams, had to tell her beloved
adult son Thomas that he probably wasnt going to get better from his cancer.
Thomas answer- Thats all right, mother. I intend to live until I die, and
he did! His friends would come by for him in their car, and he and his medical
equipment would get in. His advice is good for all of us- dont focus at what
you cant do, do what you can, and live until you die.
Choose life- dont be paralyzed by your past. In the epistle, Onesimus started
out as a slave. When he escaped, it seems very probable that he also stole from
his master. Now he had to face that same master, but this time with a letter
from Paul commending him as a brother in Christ. How easy it would have been to
keep running. But Onesimus did not let this difficult past diminish his future,
and there is a good chance this runaway slave ended up as a first century
bishop. Remember- to Jesus- its not where youve been thats important, its
where youre going. How many people do you know who let an embarrassing,
sinful, frustrating, or unjust past interfere with their future? Theyre still
blaming their mother for their problems while theyre in their thirties or
forties or beyond. Use your past as a launching pad, not a sinkhole. Heres an
example of a little boy who learned the hard way about the potential slavery of
the past. His name was Johnny; and !
he and his sister were visiting their grandparents for the summer. While he
was there, he received his first slingshot. Johnny practiced in the woods, but
he could never hit his target. As he came back to Grandma's back yard, he spied
her pet duck. On an impulse he took aim and let fly. The stone hit, and the
duck fell dead. The boy panicked. Desperately he hid the dead duck in the
woodpile, only to look up and see his sister watching. Sally had seen it all,
but she said nothing. After lunch that day, Grandma said, "Sally, let's wash
the dishes." But Sally said, "Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen
today. Didn't you, Johnny?" And she whispered to him, Remember the duck! So
Johnny did the dishes. Later Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go
fishing, Grandma said, "I'm sorry, but I need Sally to help make supper."
Sally smiled and said, "That's all taken care of. Johnny wants to do it." Again
she whispered, "Remember the duck." Johnny sta!
yed while Sally went fishing. After several days of Johnny do!
ing both
his chores and Sally's, finally he couldn't stand it. He confessed to Grandma
that he'd killed the duck. "I know, Johnny," she said, giving him a hug. "I
was standing at the window and saw the whole thing. Because I love you, I
forgave you. I wondered how long you would let Sally make a slave of you.
(Richard Hoefler, Will Daylight Come?) Dont let your past enslave your
future.
So- CHOOSE LIFE- put God first, and everything else will fall into place.
CHOOSE LIFE- think for yourself.
CHOOSE LIFE- dont be paralyzed by your present circumstances.
CHOOSE LIFE- dont be paralyzed by your past.
For anyone who is interested, this sermon and updated African-American wisdom
statements are posted on our NEW PARISH WEB SITE. The address is:
<A href="http://www.stpaulsepisag.com/" target=_blank>http://www.stpaulsepisag.com</A> .
Blessed preaching.
Judy Boli
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Saginaw, Michigan
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