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<div><span style="font-size: 12pt">Sermons for Proper 9:</span> </div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt"> Matthew 11:</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt"> 16-19, 25-30 </span><span style="font-size: 12pt"> - "The Burden Bearing Christ"</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt"> Romans 7:15-25a - "A Community of Practice, Not a Community of Perfection" by Leonard Sweet</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"> </div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt">Matthew 11<font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">,</font></font> the sermon titled "The Burden Bearing Christ"<font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> </font></font> </span>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">There
is a wonderful legend concerning the quiet years of Jesus, the years
prior to his visible ministry. The legend claims that Jesus the
carpenter was one of the master yoke-makers in the Nazareth area. People
came from miles around for a yoke, hand carved and crafted by Jesus son
of Joseph.</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
customers arrived with their team of oxen Jesus would spend
considerable time measuring the team, their height, the width, the space
between them, and the size of their shoulders. Within a week, the team
would be brought back and he would carefully place the newly made yoke
over the shoulders, watching for rough places, smoothing out the edges
and fitting them perfectly to this particular team of oxen.</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
the yoke Jesus invites us to take. Do not be misled by the word “easy,”
for its root word in Greek speaks directly of the tailor-made yokes:
they were “well-fitting.” The yoke Jesus invites us to take, the yoke
that brings rest to weary souls, is one that is made exactly to our
lives and hearts. The yoke he invites us to wear fits us well, does not
rub us nor cause us to develop sore spirits and is designed for two. His
yokes were always designed for two. And our yoke-partner is none other
than Christ himself.</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Running
throughout all scripture from the beginning to the end is the theme
that ours is a burden bearing Christ. He is not just a Lord whom we
burden, and we do, but a Lord who actually solicits our burdens. I want
to think with you this morning concerning that thought. He who would be
effective must first be free from his burdens. And, it is Christ who
frees us. Frees us from…</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">1. The burden of sin</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">2. The burden of self-righteousness.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">3. Our burdens. So we can bear the burden of others.</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 rest of this sermon following the outline above can be obtained by joining <a target="_blank" __removedlink__1499933194__href="http://www.esermons.com/signup"><font color="#0000ff">http://www.sermons.com/signup</font></a></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"> </div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt"> Romans 7<font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">,</font></font> the sermon titled "A Community of Practice, Not a Community of Perfection" by Leonard Sweet </span>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">When
your child is playing a musical instrument that is “rented” from the
school, instead “owned” by you, there is a big decision to make at the
end of the school year. Do you pay rental fees for the summer break? Or
do you turn the instrument in? Paying rental fees for the summer means
that the instrument will be practiced on hot summer days and during
beautiful sunsets. Turning the instrument in means that summer is for
swimming, sleep-away camps, family vacations, flexible schedules and
peace and quiet.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-size: 12pt">Your
decision is based both on the passion of your budding musician for
their instrument and on your personal preferences. For parents, on the
one hand, there is the knowledge that structure and practice and
commitment are all good things for a young musician. On the other hand,
there is the prospect of a few weeks without squeaks and squawks,
without hearing the same fractured tune repeated over and over again in
your head, an earworm that can be as ragging and nagging as “It’s a
Small World After All.” </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Professional musicians, as well as the garage band guys, the Christmas party piano player, the community band enthusiasts</span> <span style="font-size: 12pt">---</span> <span style="font-size: 12pt">all
seem to make their music effortlessly. But it took a lot of
squeaky-squawky, off-key, eardrum bruising moments to get to the degree
of proficiency where, suddenly, they were making music. </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">Music that brings ecstasy and enchantment. </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Music that channels creativity and sparks the imagination. </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Music that fills a lonely evening. </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Music that brings a party to life. </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">Okay, okay: the hope of that mystic connection to music is why you DO pay for that instrument over the summer vacation.</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
it sounds good, it looks easy. But it took a lot of practice to get to
that point of sounding good. Why is it we will put up with the
imperfections and disruptions of “practice” when it comes to learning to
play a musical instrument . . . but we find it so much harder to put up
with the discord and dissonance that comes when we are all engaged in
“practicing” the greatest instrument we have each been given? </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 instrument is the living Spirit of Christ within each of us.</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
Church is best defined as a “community of practice.” A place where
those who have chosen to live the life of Christ can hit flats and
sharps, miss entrances, go off-beat, and even get completely lost for a
while</span> — <span style="font-size: 12pt">yet still be a</span> <span style="font-size: 12pt">part
of the church community’s “practice session” that is Christ’s church.
Isn’t growing a soul, like learning any musical instrument, a life-long
project? Yes, it brings great joy. Yes, it brings focus and direction.
Yes, it brings a love of artistic perfection. But it does take
continual, gradual, life-long practice. </span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">In
today’s epistle text it is not surprising that it took Martin Luther
and other reformation theologians to shift the focus of Paul’s words
away from the “pre-Christian” Saul to the “post-Christian” Paul…</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 rest of the sermon can be found here: <a target="_blank" __removedlink__1499933194__href="http://www.sermons.com/signup"><font color="#0000ff">http://www.sermons.com/signup</font></a> <br>
</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt">A Style in Mistakes</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt">The only way we ever really know any
of the masters, the real geniuses, is by knowing their style. Suppose
you hear a strain of music that you have never heard before, but in just
a minute you say, "that’s Brahms," or "that’s Beethoven." How do you
know? That’s their style, the way they do it. No one else does it quite
that way. We had quite a controversy some time ago when somebody gave
two wonderful Rembrandts to the art museum in Detroit. So we all went
and ooohed and ah-h-d and thought they were wonderful. Then a couple of
Philistines came in and said, "Fakes." What do you mean fakes? "They are
not originals." How do you know. So the press had a great time and we
all took sides. Then they sent for a couple of experts. Now, an expert
is just somebody from way off, you know. They got two fellows from New
York, and they came and studied it and they pondered and they finally
came and s
aid,
"Yes, they are fakes. This copyist just didn’t make the mistakes that
Rembrandt always made." A style in mistakes.<br>
We know the great masters by their style.</div>
Kent Moorehead, Achieving An All-In Victory, CSS Publishing Company <br>
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