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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The Gap between Words and Action</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span><br>
One of my
favorite cartoons of all time is one from the Peanuts comic strip. In
this particular one, Snoopy is sitting in the doorway of his dog house
shivering violently during a winter storm. You can see that it is near
Christmas time by the decorations on the dog house. Charlie Brown and
Lucy are walking by - all bundled up and warm as toast. They offer a
greeting, "Be of good cheer, Snoopy," Charlie Brown says. "Yes, be of
good cheer," Lucy replies. And they keep on walking as Snoopy sits there
with chattering teeth.<br>
<br>
The message of the cartoon was powerful.
The most noxious lifestyle of all is when compassionate words come from a
care-less heart. Snoopy would no doubt prefer a blanket over a
greeting. A compassionate heart is a reflection of the heart of God.<br>
<br>
John Jewell, Be Compassionate<br>
_________________________________<br>
<br>
Mommy, I'm Hungry</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span><br>
It's been
years, but I remember Fred Craddock telling of the time he attended a
conference on hunger. Influential, knowledgeable speakers had been
brought in from all over to talk on the subject. Near the end of the
conference, Fred says, a young, willowy woman got up to speak. Her long
straight hair fell down her back, almost to her waist. She carried a
legal pad to the podium and began reading.<br>
<br>
At first, Craddock
says, he couldn't follow what she was saying. Eventually, it dawned on
him, as it did all the other listeners. She was reading the same
sentence over and over, each time in a different language. Finally, at
the very end, she spoke the sentence in English. All the time she was
saying, "Mommy, I'm hungry. Mommy, I'm hungry."<br>
<br>
She was the most
powerful speaker of the entire conference, Craddock says. At least, she
had the most impact upon him. As he and his group drove back to Atlanta,
alongside the highway he read a billboard he had seen numerous times.
Before, he had hardly even noticed it. This time he did. It said, "All
You Can Eat Buffet, $4.99." This time, Craddock says, that message
seemed to him to be obscene.<br>
<br>
Guilt can be a powerful motivator.<br>
<br>
Randy L. Hyde, The Scavenger Hunt<br>
___________________________<br>
<br>
</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The Long Reach of an Act of Kindness</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Alex Haley, the author of Roots tells the story of how his father had his life changed by a simple act of kindness:</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>He was the youngest
of eight children, living as a sharecropping family. Everyone in the
family was needed to help with the crops. After several years of
schooling the family pressed each child into service on the farm.
Fortunately the boy's mother intervened on behalf of her child and was
allowed to stay in school. When he was ready for college he chose the
Lane Institute, working as many as four jobs in addition to full-time
studies. It was all physically and emotionally wearing.<br>
<br>
He
worked for a summer as a porter on a train and happened to meet a man
early in the morning who couldn't sleep and wanted to talk. This man
was impressed by a black porter working to earn money for college and
tipped him the unimaginable sum of five dollars.<br>
<br>
By the end of
the summer Mr. Haley had to decide whether to convert his summer
earnings into a mule and begin to sharecrop, or to stretch to complete
his last year at school. He took the risk of competing college. <br>
<br>
Alex
Haley tells us what happened next: "When Dad arrived on campus, the
president called him into his office and showed him a letter he had just
received. The letter was from the elderly man whom my father had met
on the train, and it contained a check for $518 to cover Dad's
tuition and living expenses for one full year." The kindness of an
unknown friend made all the difference in the life of Alex Haley's
father, Alex Haley himself, and every succeeding generation of that
family.<br>
<br>
As a person who has been in just a minor degree of need, I
know what the acts of love and care performed by virtual strangers can
mean.<br>
<br>
Richard J. Fairchild, When Lord, Did We See You<br>
_______________________</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The Weakest Link</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>From time to time, I
have both revealed my true age and tested the outer limits of your
memory by talking about the games I once played as a child. But, to my
knowledge, I never once mentioned that grand old standby of playgrounds
everywhere, "Red Rover." </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Start with two
teams. Could be five to a team. Could be ten to a team. Red Rover is one
game where almost any number can play. Call one team "Team A." The
other, "Team B." String each team into a line. Have each line face each
other, several yards apart. Encourage each team's members to join hands
or link arms... whatever it takes to unify the line and make it solid.
Then have Team A single out one member of Team B to test the strength of
that linkage. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Together, Team A
calls across the playground divide: "Red Rover, Red Rover, let Billy
cross over." At which point, Billy (from his position on Team B) sucks
in his breath, marshals his adrenaline, engages his feet and runs
pell-mell toward Team A's line, trying to break through. If Billy
can't... break through, I mean... then he is captured and must remain a
member of Team A. If, however, Billy does manage to break through, then
he selects a member of Team A... usually the strongest and fastest
member of Team A... to take back home and join Team B. The game goes on
until one team is out of players. Or until recess ends. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Some schools, I am
told, now forbid the playing of Red Rover on the grounds that it has the
potential to become overly rough and violent. Truth be told, I suspect
most kids play it anyway. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>As a kid, I quickly
learned that, in playing Red Rover, my head was as important as my
body. When the opposing team called, "Red Rover, Red Rover, let Billy
cross over," they were counting on the fact that they would be able to
keep my body from penetrating their line... given that I clearly and
obviously lacked the girth then that I possess now. They had absolutely
no respect for my physical prowess... failing to see in me the athletic
behemoth I would one day become. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>But while I may
have been spindly, I was far from stupid. I knew I did not have to
overwhelm all 20 kids in that line. I only had to overwhelm one... or at
most, two. Somewhere in that line, there had to be... just had to be...
two kids whose linked arms were scrawnier than my chest. So after
isolating them, I ran at them, through them, or over them. Whatever it
took. For I learned, early in life, that Team A's line was only as
strong as its weakest link.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>That was shortly
before I learned that if we are all created equal, it is only at the
point of opportunity, and seldom (if ever) at the point of ability. I
remember long years of my life when I would have gladly traded the
things I was good at, for even one of the things I wasn't. I would have
willingly accepted C's on my report card in return for the ability to
hit a curve ball. And 12 years of violin training I would have ditched
in a heartbeat for the knowledge that I could beat up Frankie Paciero
(if necessary) or turn the head of sweet Janie Swift. To be sure, I had a
couple of ten-talent chips in my genetic poker hand. But for years, I
didn't know what they were and wouldn't have valued them if I had. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The weakest link. In some setting... on some day... in some endeavor... that's going to be every one of us. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>William A Ritter, <a shape="rect">www.Sermons.com</a></span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>_____________________________</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>A Small Act of Kindness</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Let me suggest that you try something that never gets old or stale or unsatisfying. Do something for somebody truly in need. <br>
<br>
Let
me tell you about a man named Floyd. According to the standards of the
world Floyd was nobody. Floyd traveled around the country looking for
work at harvest time. Floyd had no home and no place to go. A couple
invited him into their home and gave him a home-cooked dinner. Floyd
said very little as they ate. The wife, Nancy, offered to wash his
clothes for him but Floyd declined the offer. He picked cherries in the
orchard next to their home that day and slept under the trees that gave
him his livelihood. <br>
<br>
Early the next morning Floyd returned to the
couple who had shown him kindness. While he finished one last project
in the orchard, Nancy, on an impulse, wrote him a letter telling of
God's love. Then she tucked it with a little cash into a New Testament.
She found his backpack in the yard, and stuck the packet inside. She
imagined him traveling that day looking for work and at the end of the
day bedding down somewhere under the stars, weary and all alone. She was
warmed by the thought of Floyd's surprise when he discovered her note,
the New Testament and the cash she had planted in his backpack. <br>
<br>
This
Christian couple never saw Floyd again. Four years later Floyd's sister
wrote to the them, telling of his death. As Floyd's sister was going
through his few belongings she found the New Testament and the letter
Nancy wrote telling of God's love. "They must have been very dear to his
heart," Floyd's sister concluded, "for he carried them with him until
he died." <br>
<br>
It was such a simple gesture " a note, a Bible and a
little cash " but little counts for a lot in the kingdom of God. I don't
know about you, but I want to be surprised at finding myself among the
sheep on that day of judgment. More importantly, want to possess a faith
that's real. I want to take advantage of one of the most joyous
opportunities Christ gives us, to minister to him.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Nancy Leman, Traveling Friend, Adapted by King Duncan, <a shape="rect">www.Sermons.com</a></span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>_____________________________</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>I Kept an Open Door</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>A Jewish story
goes: I went up to Heaven in a dream and stood at the Gates of Paradise
in order to observe the procedure of the Heavenly Tribunal. I watched as
a learned Rabbi approached and wished to enter. "Day and night," he
said, "I studied the Holy Torah."</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>"Wait," said the
Angel. "We will investigate whether your study was for its own sake or
whether it was a matter of profession and for the sake of honors.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>A Righteous Person
[a Zaddik] next approached. "I fasted much," he said, "I underwent many
ritual cleansings; I studied the Zohar the mystical commentary on the
Torah day and night." </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>"Wait," said the Angel, "until we have completed our investigation to learn whether you motives were pure."</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Then a tavern-keeper drew near. "I kept an open door and fed without charge every poor man who came into my inn," he said.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The Heavenly Portals were opened to him. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Rabbi Aaron Leib of
Primishlan, as quoted in Abraham Karp, The Jewish Way of Life and
Thought, New York: KTAV Publishing Inc., 1981, p.177 </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>________________________________</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Why Do You Wear that Battered Cloak?</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>When Martin of
Tours (who lived in the 4th century), a young Roman soldier and seeker
of the Christian faith, met an unclothed man begging for alms in the
freezing cold, he stopped and cut his coat in two and gave half to the
stranger. That night he dreamt he saw the heavenly court with Jesus
robed in a torn cloak. One of the angels present asked, "Master, why do
you wear that battered cloak?" Jesus replied, "My servant Martin gave
it to me." Martin's disciple and biographer Sulpicius Severus states
that as a consequence of this vision Martin "flew to be baptized". God
is gracious and merciful; his love compels us to treat others with mercy
and kindness. When we do something for one of Christ's little ones, we
do it for Christ. Do you treat your neighbor with mercy and love as
Christ has treated you? <br>
<br>
Don Schwager, The Sheep and the Goats<br>
_________________________________</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Lest We Forget</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>When Queen Victoria
celebrated her diamond jubilee in 1897, the London Times printed
Rudyard Kipling's poem "Recessional." It scandalized the English because
instead of celebrating their empire, the poem called them to
repentance. The refrain "lest we forget--lest we forget" ended each
stanza. England too stood under God's judgment and might vanish as a
power on the world stage.<br>
<br>
The tumult and the shouting dies;<br>
The captains and the kings depart:<br>
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,<br>
An humble and a contrite heart.<br>
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,<br>
Lest we forget--lest we forget!<br>
<br>
Edgar Krentz, Justice and Judgment, article in The <a shape="rect">Christian Century</a>,<a shape="rect">Nov 6, 1996</a><br>
___________________________________</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>A Deep Love for God, A Deep Love for Neighbors</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>There is an Irish
legend about a king, who had no children to succeed him on the throne.
So, he had his messengers post signs in every town and village of his
kingdom inviting qualified young men to apply for an interview with the
king. This way the king hoped to be able to choose a successor before he
died. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Two qualifications, especially, were stressed. The person must have a deep love for God and a deep love for his neighbor. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>A young man saw one
of the signs. He indeed had a deep love for God and neighbor. He felt a
kind of inner voice telling him to apply for an interview. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>But the young man was so poor that he didn't have decent clothes to wear to an interview...</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span>The conclusion to
this illustration and many additional illustrations and sermons for
Christ the King Sunday, Thanksgiving, and Advent can be accessed at <a shape="rect">www.Sermons.com</a>.<font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><br>
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