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<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4>How to Be a Pilgrim</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4>The Pilgrims had the courage to act on
their commitments, no matter what. Do we?</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4>Sociologist Robert Bellah, author of Habits
of the Heart, is impressed by the power of religion. He once said, "We should
not underestimate the significance of the small group of people who have a new
vision of a just and gentle world. The quality of a culture may be changed when
two percent of its people have a new vision (and act on
it)."</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4>Christians make up far more than two
percent of our town, far more than two percent of Massachusetts, far more than
two percent of Americans. So, why don’t we have a greater effect: on issues of
the environment, on justice for the needy, on the quality of life on Cape Cod?
Could it be we need more courage to act on our commitments? To be a Pilgrim
means to stand up for what you believe, no matter what.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4>To be a Pilgrim also means sharing what you
have, and turning thanks into giving. The Pilgrim colonists willingly shared all
they had. During their first three years, all property was held in common. At
one point, they were down to five kernels of corn per day for food. Still, they
divided the corn kernels up equally. And, the original group of fifty that
survived the first winter shared their limited food with the sixty newcomers who
arrived in the spring.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4>One of their finest moments came in 1623,
at the first real Thanksgiving. The small colony hosted over ninety Native
American braves for three days. There was eating and drinking, wrestling,
footraces, and gun and arrow-shooting competitions. It was the Pilgrims’ way of
saying "Thank you" to God, and to the Native Americans who had helped them
survive. To be a Pilgrim means sharing and turning thanks into giving. How
thankful and giving are we? </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4>Alex A. Gondola, Jr., Holidays Are Holy
Days: Sermons for Special Sundays, CSS Publishing Company</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT
size=4>___________________________</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4>Tomorrow Will Be Anxious for
Itself</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4>An ancient Chinese parable tells of Old Tan
Chang who had a small farm overshadowed by a towering mountain. One day he got
the notion to get rid of the mountain. With the help of his wife and sons, he
began to hack at the rock around its base. A neighbor walked by and scoffed,
"You will never finish the job, old man! There are not enough days in the year
for you to do this." </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4>But Tan replied confidently, "I am not as
foolish as you think, my friend. I may be old and feeble, but after I am gone,
my sons will continue to peck away at the mountain. Then their sons and their
sons'' sons will do the same. Since the mountain cannot grow, someday it will be
level with the ground, and the sun will shine upon our land."
</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4>Many of the problems we cannot eliminate
instantly can be moved one piece at a time, one day at a time. Did not Jesus
share in Matthew 6: 25-34 read a few moments ago, "So do not be anxious about
tomorrow, tomorrow will be anxious for itself."</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4>Eric S. Ritz, </FONT><A
href="http://www.sermons.com/"><SPAN style="COLOR: purple"><FONT
size=4>www.Sermons.com</FONT></SPAN></A></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4>_______________________</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4>For That I Am Especially
Thankful</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4>During a harvest festival in India, an old
widow arrived at her church with an extraordinarily large offering of rice - far
more than the poor woman could be expected to afford. The itinerant pastor of
the church did not know the widow well. But he did know that she was very poor
and so he asked her if she were making the offering in gratitude for some
unusual blessing. "Yes," replied the woman. "My son was sick and I promised a
large gift to God if he got well." "And your son has recovered?" asked the
pastor. The widow paused. "No," she said. "He died last week. But I know that he
is in God's care; for that I am especially thankful."</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4>Traditional</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4>____________________</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4>Talking Turkey - Humor</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4>This morning we want to talk about food.
That's a relevant subject for most of us.<BR><BR>The two biggest sellers in any
bookstore, according to Andy Rooney, are the cookbooks and the diet books. The
cookbooks tell you how to prepare the food and the diet books tell you how not
to eat any of it.<BR><BR>Orson Welles once said, "My doctor has advised me to
give up those intimate little dinners for four, unless, of course, there are
three other people eating with me."<BR><BR>Champion archer Rick McKinney
confesses that he regularly eats chocolate chip cookies for breakfast. He refers
to "the basic four food groups" as a Big Mac, fries, a shake and a lemon tart. A
California scientist has computed that the average human being eats 16 times his
or her own weight in an average year, while a horse eats only eight times its
weight. This all seems to prove that if you want to lose weight, you should eat
like a horse.<BR><BR>A young fellow watched as his dad finished a heavy meal and
then loosened his belt. "Look, Mom," he said. "Pop's just moved his decimal
point over two places."</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4>King Duncan, Collected Sermons, </FONT><A
href="http://www.sermons.com/"><SPAN style="COLOR: purple"><FONT
size=4>www.Sermons.com</FONT></SPAN></A><FONT size=4> </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4>________________</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4>The Source of
Thanksgiving</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4>I will remind you of that wonderful
Children's holiday classic "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas." It was released a
few years ago as a movie staring Jim Carrey. You'll recall in the story how the
Grinch enters all the homes by way of their chimneys disguised as Santa Clause.
He takes all the presents and ornaments, the trees and stockings, and even their
food down to the last morsel. He drags his loot up to his mountain and then
looks down upon Whoville with a sinister grin. He is listening for the cries and
wailings of the people to start as they wake up on Christmas morning to discover
a Christmas lost. What he hears instead surprises him. Up from the town of the
Whos comes a joyful Christmas carol. They are singing. "Why?" he asks. It is
because, he learns, Christmas resides not in things but in the heart which is
thankful. He could not steal their gratitude.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4>Brett Blair, </FONT><A
href="http://www.esermons.com/"><SPAN style="COLOR: purple"><FONT
size=4>www.eSermons.com</FONT></SPAN></A></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4>__________________</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4>Thankful In All Things</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4>Our forefathers were not so much thankful
for something as they were thankful in something. In bounty or in want they were
thankful. In feast or in famine they were thankful. In joy or in misery they
were thankful. There is a big difference between being thankful for things and
being thankful in all things.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4>Our closing hymn this morning was carefully
selected. It was written in 1637 by a German by the name of Martin Reinkardht.
The name of the hymn is "Now Thank We All Our God." In the year that Rinkardht
wrote that hymn it is interesting to note that over 6000 persons in his German
village, including his wife and his children, died of pestilence. Yet, in the
midst of that catastrophic social and personal loss Reinkardht set down to pen
this great hymn of praise: Now thank we all our God, with hearts and hands and
voices.' The Christian faith affirms that in the midst of everything--in death,
in loss, in hardship--we are to turn to God in praise.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4>Brett Blair, </FONT><A
href="http://www.esermons.com/"><SPAN style="COLOR: purple"><FONT
size=4>www.eSermons.com</FONT></SPAN></A></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4>__________________</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4> Better Not Bitter</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4>If we are not thankful then we can become
bitter. If we are not thankful, then it becomes too easy to sit around and
ponder the question: why me?</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4>Dr. Jim Moore, pastor of St. Luke’s UMC in
Houston wrote a book entitled "You Can Grow Bitter or You Can Grow Better". He
writes that he got the idea for the title from a young woman who once came to
him in a most tragic moment in her life. She had tears in her eyes and her
knuckles were white as she twisted a handkerchief. She had just received word
that her twenty-six year old husband had been killed in a farming accident,
leaving her alone with three pre-school age children. One moment he was alive
and vibrant, the next moment gone. "I don't know how I am going to be able to
get along without him," she sobbed. "But I do know one thing. I can either get
bitter or I can get better."</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4>One way that we can get better rather than
bitter is to develop a thankful heart…</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4>The conclusion to this illustration and for
many additional illustrations and sermons for Christ the King, Thanksgiving, and
Advent can be accessed at </FONT><A href="http://www.sermons.com/"><FONT
color=#ff6600 size=4>www.Sermons.com</FONT></A><FONT size=4>.
</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
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