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<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Different Worlds</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 years ago before the death of Mother Theresa, a
television special depicted the grim human conditions that were a part of her
daily life. It showed all the horror of the slums of Calcutta and her love for
these destitute people. The producer interviewed her as she made her rounds in
that dreadful place. Throughout the program commercials interrupted the flow of
the discussion. Here is the sequence of the topics and commercials: lepers
(bikinis for sale); mass starvation (designer jeans); agonizing poverty (fur
coats); abandoned babies (ice cream sundaes) the dying (diamond
watches).</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 irony was so apparent. Two different worlds were on
display--the world of the poor and the world of the affluent. It seems that our
very culture here in the United States, and any other place that has a great
deal of commercialization to it, is teaching us to live as the Rich Man in the
story of Lazarus. We are occasionally presented with the images of the poor man
Lazarus at our gate but we are immediately reminded of the next car we ought to
by and the next meal we should eat. We are slowly and methodically told it is
O.K. to live our life of luxury while others live their life of poverty. But
alas, it is not so! Heaven's reversal of fortune shall one day awaken us to the
fact that we have separated ourselves from the agonies of others. That we did
not care about others who suffered.</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">Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com</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 Violence of Apathy</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">This parable targets the violence of apathy and neglect
which is widening the chasm between rich and poor. The trouble is that even such
abstractions become easy to live with. We need some firsthand experience of
encountering the real people whom we will then not be able to dismiss as
relative statistics. And if that cannot be first hand, we need to help people
engage in active imagination of what it really means to be poor, to be a
refugee, to be caught on the wrong side of the chasms which vested interests
maintain.<BR><BR>William Loader, First Thoughts on Year C Gospel Passages from
the Lectionary<BR>______________________________________<BR><BR></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Who Have We Been Trampling?</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">There is an ancient story about a botanist who was
studying the heather bell found in the highlands of Scotland. While looking
through his microscope at this beautiful flower, he was approached by a shepherd
who asked what he was doing. Rather than trying to explain, the botanist invited
the shepherd to peer through his microscope and observe for himself. When the
shepherd saw the wonder of the flower, he exclaimed, "My God, and I have been
tramping on them all my life!"<BR><BR>Is that the word of warning we need? Wake
up! Pay attention! Look around you. You may be tramping on the heart of someone
nearby. Who is the Lazarus at your gate?</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">King Duncan, Collected Sermons,
www.Sermons.com</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 Torment of the Mature</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 torment of the dead is that they cannot warn the
living, just as it is the torment of the mature that the erring young will not
listen to them."</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">Dr. Helmut Thielicke</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">The Stopped Up Dam</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">There was a beautiful lake that lost its zesty
freshness. The water formerly had been clear. It was alluring to animals and
people alike. But it became covered with a green scum. The farm animals became
ill from drinking the water. Finally someone came by the lake who understood the
problem. Debris collecting from the hard spring rains had stopped up the dam and
prevented the free flow of water, not into the lake, but out of the lake. The
spillway was cleared, and soon the lake was fresh and clean again. The flow in
and out was necessary to keep the water pure!</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">Doesn't the same principle apply to you and me as human
beings? The blessings of life flow to you and me, but we fail to realize that
most of these blessings are not meant just to flow to us, but through us, for
the good of others around us, especially for those in need.</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">Richard W. Patt, All Stirred Up, 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">He who lives only to benefit himself confers on the
world a benefit when he dies.</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">Tertullian</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">Drowsy Living</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">There is a sign series on the West Virginia Turnpike
that says, "Driving while drowsy can put you to sleep - permanently." Drowsy,
uncaring living can put us to sleep - permanently. That kind of person, Jesus
says, is separating himself from God until it becomes permanent, by digging a
chasm between himself and heaven that even the love of God cannot
bridge.</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">Carveth Mitchell, The Sign in the Subway, 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">I Never Lived</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 woman in the hospital was weeping after being told she
was terminally ill with cancer. When a friend sought to console her she replied,
"I'm not weeping because I'm dying. I'm weeping because I never lived." The
awareness of limits and wasted time means we can take up a conscious stance with
regard to our own inevitable mortality. It is this mature insight that will
protect us from slavishly following what the culture wants us to do and
squandering our time in seeking the approval of others by conforming to their
rules and values.</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">W. Robert McClelland, Fire In The Hole, 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">Self Restraint</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 Hildebrand who has lived in the Artesian Valley,
near Fowler, Kansas, since he was two years old, remembers why the valley has
the name it does. "There were hundreds of natural springs in this valley. If you
drilled a well for your house, the natural water pressure was enough to go
through your hot-water system and out the shower head." There were marshes in
Fowler in the 1920s, where cattle sank to their bellies in mud. And the early
settlers went boating down Crooked Creek, in the shade of the cottonwoods, as
far as Meade, twelve miles away.</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">Today the creek is dry, the bogs and the springs have
gone, and the inhabitants of Fowler must dig deeper and deeper wells to bring up
water. The reason is plain enough: seen from the air, the surrounding land is
pockmarked with giant discs of green--quarter-section pivot-irrigation systems
water rich crops of corn, steadily depleting the underlying aquifer. Everybody
in Fowler knows what is happening, but it is in nobody's interest to cut down
his own consumption of water. That would just leave more for somebody
else.</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">Five thousand miles to the east, near the Spanish city
of Valencia, the waters of the River Turia are shared by some 15,000 farmers in
an arrangement that dates back at least 550 years and probably longer. Each
farmer, when his turn comes, takes as much water as he needs from the
distributory canal and wastes none. He is discouraged from cheating--watering
out of turn--merely by the watchful eyes of his neighbors above and below him on
the canal. If they have a grievance, they can take it to the Tribunal de las
Aguas, which meets on Thursday mornings outside the Apostles' door of the
Cathedral of Valencia. Records dating back to the 1400s suggest that cheating is
rare. The huerta of Valencia is a profitable region, growing at least two crops
a year.</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">Two irrigation systems: one sustainable, equitable, and
long-lived, the other a doomed free-for-all. Two case histories cited by
political scientists who struggle to understand the persistent human failure to
solve "common-pool resource problems." The only way to avoid abuse is
self-restraint. And yet nobody knows how best to persuade the human race to
exercise self-restraint.</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">Matt Ridley and Bobbi S. Low, The Atlantic Monthly,
September 1993. Adapted.</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 Only Thing You Have </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">Dr. Leo Buscalgia tells of an experience he had in
Cambodia years ago. He noticed that during monsoon season the people's way of
life changed. The great rains washed away their houses, so the people lived on
great communal rafts, several families together. Dr. Buscalgia writes: "I went
down there on a bicycle and there they were. I thought I'd help these people
move and become part of their community. The Frenchwoman whom I was talking with
just laughed. `What do they have to move?' she asked. `Nature has taught them
the only thing they have is from the top of their head to the bottom of their
feet. Themselves, not things. They can't collect things because every year the
monsoon comes.'" <BR><BR>Dr. Buscalgia reflected upon what he saw…</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 conclusion to this illustration and for many
additional illustrations and sermons for the Proper 21 can be accessed at <A
href="http://www.sermons.com/"><FONT color=#ff6600>www.Sermons.com</FONT></A>.
</SPAN></DIV>
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