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<div><span style="font-size: small">Sermons for Proper 20</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Mark 9:30-37<span style="color: black"> - <strong>"</strong><b>The Measure of Greatness<strong>"</strong></b></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a: <span style="color: black">- <strong>"</strong></span><b>The Problem with ‘Hail Mary’ Moments<strong><span style="color: black">"</span></strong></b><span style="color: black"> by Leonard Sweet</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small"><span style="color: black"><font size="4">M</font>ark 9<font size="4">,</font> the sermon title “The Measure of Greatness" </span></span>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Some
years ago St. Paul School of Theology in Kansas City was seeking a new
president. Over one hundred candidates applied for the position. The
search committee narrowed the list to five eminently qualified persons.
Then somebody came up with a brilliant idea: let's send a person to the
institutions where each of the five finalists is currently employed, and
let's interview the janitor at each place, asking him what he thinks of
the man seeking to be our president. This was done and a janitor gave
such a glowing appraisal of William MacElvaney that he was selected
President of St. Paul's School of Theology.</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"><span style="color: black">Somebody
on that search committee understood, in a flash of genius, that those
who live close to Christ become so secure in his love that they no
longer relate to other people according to rank or power or money or
prestige. They treat janitors and governors with equal dignity. They
regard everybody as a VIP. Children seem to do this intuitively; adult
Christians have to relearn it.</span></span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"><span style="color: black">It
is a telling little piece of scripture in verse 32: "But they did not
understand." That's a picture that can be hung in the halls of the
museum of mankind. When confronted by true greatness, we simply do not
see it…</span></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"><span style="color: black">Members: See James 3 for the sermon titled “</span>The Problem with ‘Hail Mary’ Moments<span style="color: black">” by Leonard Sweet </span></span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">The
end of September means . . . . . . we are hip deep in football season.
So despite the crisp fall weather, and the fashion show of turning
leaves, it is not time for weekend afternoon hikes. It is time for the
weekend afternoon call of “Hike, Hike!” </span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">That
means every week for the next couple of months, along with tailgate
food festivals and ritual chest painting, yet another “religious” ritual
will be enacted by somebody, somewhere: the heaving of a “Hail Mary”
pass. </span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">A
“Hail Mary is of course a desperate, last second decision to jettison
the ball down the field, as far away from the opponents scoring
territory as possible, while praying that somebody from your team might
be down there to catch it. Maybe even they will score a touchdown and
save your team from defeat. There are always a few spectacular “Hail
Mary” passes every season. But there are a lot more of those frantic
flings that nose-dive into nowhere or — even worse — get intercepted and
run back, giving the opposing team an even greater advantage. “Hail
Mary’s” are unplanned, last-ditch, furtive efforts to “save the day.”
They are exciting, but rarely work… </span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"><span style="color: black">The rest of this sermon can be obtained by joining <a target="_blank" __removedlink__1196641544__href="http://mail.churchmail.com/lists/lt.php?id=Kk8CBgMDDAZQD0kCCQBKDAtXUVw%3D">http://www.sermons.com/signup</a> </span></span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Clothed with Humility</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">The
word "humility" means literally a low estimate of self. But this does
not imply self-deprecation. When you hear someone deprecating himself,
usually you can put it down as a sort of counterfeit humility. Someone
has said, "The true way to be humble is not to stoop until you are
smaller than yourself, but to stand at your full height before some
higher nature that will show you how small your greatness is." "Walk
humbly with thy God." Here is where we learn true humility. Walking with
God, seeing ourselves by the side of His greatness, we see how little
we are. And seeing how little we are is the first step toward becoming
what we can and ought to be.<br>
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We never become truly great, we never do our best work until we are
"clothed with humility"; until, like our Lord and Savior, we are willing
to live to serve others. <br>
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John R. Gunn, Facing Life<br>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">The Ambitious Disciples</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Jesus
and his disciples were coming to the town of Capernaum. As they entered
the house where they would be staying, he asked his disciples, “What
were you arguing about on the road?” But they kept quiet, says the
writer of Mark’s Gospel, because on the way they had argued about who
was number one among them. </span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">So,
the disciples were human just like you and I are human. Who doesn’t
want to stand out? Some of the greatest people who have ever lived were
also among the most ambitious.</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">It is said that Michelangelo prayed: “Lord, grant that I may always desire more than I can accomplish.” </span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Abraham
Lincoln often said to himself as a boy studying by the pine log fire at
night: “I will study and get ready and perhaps my chance will come.”
And, indeed, it did come. </span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Having
an African-American president reminds us of other people of color who
have succeeded against even greater odds. They, too, were driven to
succeed.</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Who
can help but be impressed by the accomplishments, for example, of
George Washington Carver? Carver was born to an African slave mother. He
never knew his father. But he wanted to make a difference in the world,
and he did! Carver became one the greatest scientists in American
history.</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">The
disciples were human beings. They wanted their names to be in lights
just as you and I want to stand out from our peers. There is nothing
wrong with that as long it does not cause us to mistreat others or
betray our values. My guess is Jesus wanted them to be ambitious because
ambitious people get things done. He just wanted them to be ambitious
in the right way. </span></div>
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