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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>Then It Is Still Night</span></font><font size=1
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>An old rabbi once asked his pupils how they could tell
when the night had ended and the day had begun. "Could it be," asked
one student, "when you can see an animal in the distance and tell whether
it's a sheep or a dog?" "No," answered the rabbi. Another asked,
"Is it when you can look at a tree in the distance and tell whether it's a
fig tree or a peach tree?" "No," answered the rabbi. "Then
when is it?" the pupils demanded. "It is when you can look on the
face of any person and see that it is your sister and brother. Because if you
cannot see this, it is still night."</span></font><font size=1
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>Frank Schaefer, Christ’s Last Words</span></font><font
size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>___________________________</span></font><font size=1
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>Humor: Giving While We Are Alive</span></font><font
size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'><br>
I'm sure you've heard the old story of the conversation between a pig and a
cow. The pig is complaining to the cow that nobody ever has a kind word for
him. "Look at the way I give of myself," he says. "I produce
bacon, ham, and pork chops. The bristles of my skin are used for brushes, my
hide for luggage. Why, some people even pickle my feet and consider them a
delicacy. Why is it then that everyone speaks more kindly of you, the cow, than
of me?" To which the cow replied, "My friend, perhaps it is that I
give of myself while I am still alive."<br>
<br>
Lee Griess, Return to The Lord, Your God, CSS Publishing Company </span></font><font
size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=3 face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>___________________________</span></font><font
size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>Losing Sight of Life's Goals</span></font><font size=1
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>In Steven Covey's best seller "The Seven Habits of
Highly Effective People," talks about how we can lose sight of our main
goals in life. In no other place are the consequences more destructive than in
our families: Covey writes:</span></font><font size=1 face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'> "I value
my children. I love them, I want to help them. I value my role as their
father. But I don't always see those values. I get caught up in the "thick
of thin things." What matters most gets buried under layers of
pressing problems, immediate concerns, and outward behaviors. I become
reactive. And the way I interact with my children every day often bears
little resemblance to the way I deeply feel about them."</span></font><font
size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>For us Fathers...to truly be known by our children would
be wonderful. I suspect that this is so much more difficult for men than women.
And yet here in Jesus' prayer it is his first thought, that we might know the
Father and the Son. This, he says, is salvation. You want to know what being
saved means, what the meaning of life is? It is written here in Jesus prayer:
If you will come to know God, the only true God, and the Son whom he has sent,
you will be saved.</span></font><font size=1 face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>You might say this is difficult for me to do--to know God.
Yes it is. It is difficult for you to do. But it is not difficult for God to
make himself known to you.</span></font><font size=1 face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>Brett Blair, <a
href="http://www.esermons.com/newadmin/www.eSermons.com"><font size=1
color=blue><span style='font-size:8.5pt;color:blue'>www.eSermons.com</span></font></a>
</span></font><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>_________________________</span></font><font size=1
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>A Weapon Terrible to Behold</span></font><font size=1
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>In one of my favorite Peanuts cartoons, Lucy comes into
the living room to find Linus in control of the TV. She demands he change the
channel. "What makes you think you can walk right in here and take
over?" asks Linus.</span></font><font size=1 face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>"These five fingers," says Lucy.
"Individually they're nothing but when I curl them together like this into
a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold."</span></font><font
size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>"Which channel do you want?" asks Linus.</span></font><font
size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>Turning away, he looks at his fingers and says, "Why
can't you guys get organized like that?"</span></font><font size=1
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>Brett Blair, <a
href="http://www.esermons.com/newadmin/www.eSermons.com"><font size=1
color=blue><span style='font-size:8.5pt;color:blue'>www.eSermons.com</span></font></a>
</span></font><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>____________________________</span></font><font size=1
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>Prayer for Work</span></font><font size=1 face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>Peter Marshall once began a Senate session with this
prayer, "O Lord, forgive us for thinking that prayer is a waste of time,
and help us to see that without prayer our work is a waste of time."</span></font><font
size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>Robert J. Bryan, All Constantly Devoted to Prayer.</span></font><font
size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>__________________________</span></font><font size=1
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an
uprising against the disorder of the world.</span></font><font size=1
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>Karl Barth</span></font><font size=1 face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>__________________________</span></font><font size=1
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>Shoving It All Back</span></font><font size=1
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>The moment you wake up each morning, all your wishes and
hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning
consists in shoving it all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that
other point of view, letting that other, larger, stronger, quieter life come
flowing in.</span></font><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>C.S. Lewis</span></font><font size=1 face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>___________________________</span></font><font size=1
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>Individual Skills</span></font><font size=1 face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>We still have to live in the world and each of our
individual skills can be used to enhance the kingdom. Some are more visible
than others. Some are very subtle. For example; Idlers of a seacoast town
watched the village smith day after day as he painstakingly wrought every link
of a great chain he was forging. Behind his back they scoffed at such care
being taken on such an ordinary thing as a chain. But the old craftsman worked
on, ignoring them as if he had not heard them at all.</span></font><font
size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>Eventually the chain was attached to a great anchor on the
deck of an ocean vessel. For months it was never put to use. But one day the
vessel was disabled by a breakdown in its steering apparatus while nearing the
coast in a storm. Only a secure anchorage cold prevent the vessel from being
driven onto the rocky coast. Thus the fate of the ship and hundreds of
passengers depended on the strength of that chain. No one knew of the care and
skill that had been lavished on each link of that chain by an obscure smith who
was only doing his best. The chain held, both the ship and its passengers and
crew were saved. The blacksmith had saved the day.</span></font><font size=1
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>Keith Wagner, In a Different World</span></font><font
size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>______________________</span></font><font size=1
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>Grabbing up the Truths</span></font><font size=1
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'><br>
Forty-three years ago, I read something by Sherwood Anderson in an upper-level
literature class at <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Albion</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">College</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>. Which took me a
while to find, given that I wanted to see if it was as I remembered it. But I
did. And it was.<br>
<br>
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Anderson</st1:City></st1:place> shared
a legend, suggesting that in the beginning there was a valley filled with
truths. And the truths were all beautiful. There were truths about every
subject under the sun. There were truths about virginity and truths about
passion....truths about wealth and truths about poverty....truths about thrift
and truths about profligacy....truths about carefulness and truths about
abandon. There were hundreds and hundreds of truths, all of them beautiful.<br>
<br>
And then the people came along, pouring into the valley…</span></font><font
size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>The conclusion to this illustration and for many
additional illustrations and sermons for Easter 7 can be accessed at <a
href="http://www.sermons.com/"><font size=1><span style='font-size:8.5pt'>www.Sermons.com</span></font></a>.</span></font><font
size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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