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<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align="left"><span style="COLOR: #0000ff; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><strong>This week's Illustration:</strong></span></div>
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<div><span style="COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><strong>Prevenient Grace</strong></span></div>
</font>everal years ago, psychiatrist Scott Peck wrote a national bestseller called The <i>Road Less Traveled</i>.
It was filled with what he had learned about life from his work with
people with all sorts of mental ailments. One thing he observed was a
tendency toward mental wellness even among patients who had reasons to
seek psychiatric help. Some of these people had survived serious
emotional traumas much better than the circumstances seemed to warrant,
and Peck came to think of a force of goodness in the world. He
eventually identified this force using the word “serendipity,” which the
dictionary defines as “the gift of finding valuable or agreeable things
not sought for.” As a Christian, Peck also realized that the word
“grace” fit that definition too. So in the book, he wrote extensively
about this force, using both words. Associating grace with serendipity
was one of his original contributions to the subject of grace.
<div style="text-align:justify; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:3px; margin-left:3px"> Several
years later, Peck was on a flight to Minneapolis. He usually took
advantage of flying time to do some writing, so when a man took the seat
next to him, Peck gave the usual nonverbal signals one gives when one
doesn’t want to engage in conversation. The man soon buried himself in a
novel, and they flew side by side in silence for most of the flight.
Finally, the man looked up from his novel and said, “I hate to bother
you, but you don’t happen, by any chance, to know the meaning of the
word ‘serendipity,’ do you?”</div>
<div style="text-align:justify; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:3px; margin-left:3px"> Peck
responded that as far as he knew, he was the only person who had
written a substantial portion of a book on the subject, and that it was
perhaps serendipity that at the precise moment the man wanted to know
the meaning of the word, he happened to be sitting next to an authority
on the subject.</div>
<div style="text-align:justify; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:3px; margin-left:3px"> This,
of course, led to further conversation, and Peck explained that his
book was a kind of integration of psychology and religion.</div>
<div style="text-align:justify; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:3px; margin-left:3px"> The
man said, “Well, I don’t know about religion anymore,” and went on to
tell Peck about some doubts that had him thinking he needed to leave the
church.</div>
<div style="text-align:justify; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:3px; margin-left:3px"> In
response Peck explained how questioning helped individuals move from
the hand-me-down religion of childhood to a mature, personal one. When
the two landed in Minneapolis, the man said, “I don’t have the foggiest
idea what all of this means, but maybe I don’t have to leave the church
after all.” (M. Scott Peck, <em>The Road Less Traveled and Beyond</em> [New York: Touchstone, 1997], 260-261).</div>
<div style="text-align:justify; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:3px; margin-left:3px"> That
was God’s prevenient grace, running ahead of the man, putting him into a
conversation with someone who could help him when he needed it on his
spiritual road.</div>
<div style="text-align:justify; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:6px; margin-left:3px"> You
see, prevenient grace is just as amazing as saving grace. It runs ahead
of us, preparing the way for us to respond to God. We just couldn’t do
that without him.</div>
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<div><img alt="stripe" border="0" height="3" width="400"></div>
<a name="LETTER.BLOCK18"></a>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align="center"><span style="COLOR: #0000ff; FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><strong>Proclaim Sermon for this Week</strong></span></div>
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<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; COLOR: #ff0000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><strong>Wishing for More Wine and Less Anger</strong></div>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="COLOR: #993300; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><strong>March 11, 2012</strong></span></div>
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<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 8pt"><strong>John 2: 13-22 (RCL)<br>
John 2: 13-25 (LFM)</strong><br>
<em>Lent 3</em></div>
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<div style="COLOR: #993300; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><em><strong>Summary</strong></em></div>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><em>Although
we prefer the story of Jesus turning water into wine, we need to hear
of how Jesus confronts the animal-sellers and money-changers. Jesus'
good wine fills our emptiness, but Jesus' confrontation of our
compromises enables us to face the things in us we need to change.
Because we trust Jesus to offer us good wine, we can trust Jesus to
cleanse and overturn the things in us and the church that keep us from
genuine worship.</em></div>
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<div style="COLOR: #993300; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><strong>Excerpt</strong></div>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', ' Geneva', ' Arial', ' Helvetica', ' sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> John would not have moved this story without a reason.</div>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', ' Geneva', ' Arial', ' Helvetica', ' sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> This
dramatic narrative of Jesus chasing out the animal-sellers and
religious officials likely belongs near the end of Jesus' ministry,
where the other three gospels put it. In Mark, this episode serves as
the boiling point, after which Jesus' opponents couldn't take any more.
When Jesus turned over the last table, they decided to destroy him. In
John, his opponents simply raise an eyebrow because they don't catch the
wordplay when Jesus identifies himself as the "temple," as the
manifestation of God's presence in this world. So, John moves this
episode to the opening days of Jesus' ministry.</div>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', ' Geneva', ' Arial', ' Helvetica', ' sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> When
we move anything, we expend effort, either physical or mental, so John
went to much trouble to move this story. In Mark, Jesus' actions in the
temple set everything in motion leading to his death. In John, this
brazen act of Jesus just hangs there, without much follow-up. So John
goes to much effort to move this story. When John puts the story here,
at the beginning of Jesus' ministry, he intends it to represent a way to
define Jesus' ministry, just as for Mark casting out the unclean spirit
helps us interpret Jesus' whole ministry.</div>
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<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', ' Geneva', ' Arial', ' Helvetica', ' sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><strong>First, the water into wine</strong></div>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', ' Geneva', ' Arial', ' Helvetica', ' sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> Maybe
John wrenches this story from its original place because he knows us
pretty well. He puts this story near the beginning of Jesus' ministry to
help us understand the whole of Jesus' ministry, but he doesn't put it
at the very first. First, he tells us the delightful story of Jesus
turning water into wine. Don't miss the humor of that story, with the
chief steward asking why the groom brought out the good stuff after
everyone was too buzzed to enjoy it. Beyond the narrative winks and
humor, the story about Jesus turning water into wine touches us where we
feel our need. As with every narrative in John, the episode with the
wine speaks to us on several levels. On the surface, Jesus comes to the
rescue of some klutzy people who didn't plan ahead. On a theological
level, the story tells us that Jesus has come as the Messiah. An
abundance of wine marked the coming of the Messiah. We might find
ourselves drawn more to the spiritual level of reading the story. Jesus
meets us where our resources have run out.</div>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', ' Geneva', ' Arial', ' Helvetica', ' sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> When
we read about Jesus turning water into wine, we should hear about how
Jesus fills our emptiness. When our efforts fizzle out, Jesus offers us
good wine. When the things of the world leave us thirsting for real
fulfillment, Jesus offers us good wine. When grief leaves our souls
hollowed out, Jesus offers us good wine. When God seems light years
away, Jesus offers us good wine. When our guilt hangs on our souls like a
sack of iron, Jesus offers us good wine. When we don't want to face
tomorrow, Jesus offers us good...(approximately 1,210 words remaining.)</div>
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