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<div><span style="font-size: small">Sermons for Proper 26</span><span style="font-size: small"> <br>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"><span style="color: black">Mark 12:28-34</span><span style="color: black"> - <strong>"</strong></span><b><span style="color: black">What to Say When You Roll Out of Bed</span></b><strong><span style="color: black">"</span></strong></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"><span style="color: black">Mark 12:28-34</span> <span style="color: black">- <strong>"</strong></span><b>The Messiah's Mark<span style="color: black">”</span></b><span style="color: black"> by Leonard Sweet</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small"><span style="color: black">Mark 12<font size="4">,</font> the sermon title <b>“</b></span><b>What to Say When You Roll Out of Bed</b>” </span>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt">A
few years ago, a radio station ran a contest. Disc jockeys invited
their listeners to tune in their clock radios. "Just for fun," they
said, "when you wake up to the sound of FM-106, call and tell us the
first words you spoke when you rolled out of bed. If you're the third
caller, you'll win $106."</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt">It
didn't take long for the contest to grow in enthusiasm. The first
morning, a buoyant disc jockey said, "Caller number three, what did you
say when you rolled out of bed this morning?" A groggy voice said, "Do I
smell coffee burning?" Another day, a sleepy clerical worker said, "Oh
no, I'm late for work." Somebody else said her first words were, "Honey,
did I put out the dog last night?" A muffled curse was immediately
heard in the background, and then a man was heard to say, "No, you
didn't." It was a funny contest and drew a considerable audience.</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt">One
morning, however, the third caller said something unusual. The station
phone rang. "Good morning, this is FM-106. You're on the air. What did
you say when you rolled out of bed this morning?"</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"> </div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt">A voice with a Bronx accent replied, "You want to know my first words in the morning?"</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt">The bubbly DJ said, "Yes, sir! Tell us what you said."</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt">The
Bronx voice responded, "Shema, Israel ... Hear O Israel, the Lord our
God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your
heart, with all your soul, and with all your might." There was a moment
of embarrassed silence. Then the radio announcer said, "Sorry, wrong
number," and cut to a commercial.</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt">Try
to remember. What did you say when you rolled out of bed today? Chances
are, those words set the tone for the rest of the day…</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 </span></span><span style="color: black"><a target="_blank" __removedlink__2012313990__href="http://mail.churchmail.com/lists/lt.php?id=Kk8BAgQKCQVUC0kNAQVKDAtXUVw%3D"><span style="font-size: small"><font color="#0000ff">http://www.sermons.com/signup</font></span></a></span><span style="font-size: small"><span style="color: black"> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small"><span style="color: black">_______________________</span></span>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<span style="font-size: small"><span style="color: black">Mark 12<font size="4">,</font> for the sermon titled <b>“</b></span><b>The Messiah’s Mark</b><b><span style="color: black">”</span></b><span style="color: black"> by Leonard Sweet </span></span>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">New
parents are always so eager and anxious for their babies to learn to
talk. We cajole and coo and coax them to get out those first precious
words. But eventually parental prayers are answered, and the child
speaks. </span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Next
thing they know, however, Mom and Dad are being grilled by junior or
missy who have discovered the all important “Why?” question. </span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">There are the science questions</span> — <span style="font-size: 12pt">“Why is the sky blue?” “Why does the wind blow?” “Why is water wet?” “Where exactly in our bodies are we located?”</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">There are the personal questions</span> <span style="font-size: 12pt">—</span> <span style="font-size: 12pt">“Why do I have to go to bed?” “Why do I have to eat my vegetables?” “Why do I have to wear a coat?” </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">There are relational questions</span> <span style="font-size: 12pt">—</span> <span style="font-size: 12pt">“Why are you crying?” “Why did Grandpa die?” Why do I have to be nice to that funny smelling p</span>erson?<span style="font-size: 12pt">” </span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Even
when a long litany of “Why?” questions get tedious, good parents know
they need to keep answering. Children learn from asking question. But it
isn’t so much the answer to their inquiry that they are learning. What
our children are really learning with these first “Why?” questions is to
turn to the ones who love them the most, who care for them as family,
for an expansion of knowledge and an expression of love. Questions keep
parent and child engaged in an on-going, living, growing relationship…</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<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 </span></span><span style="color: black"><a target="_blank" __removedlink__2012313990__href="http://mail.churchmail.com/lists/lt.php?id=Kk8BAgQKCQVUC0kNAQVKDAtXUVw%3D"><span style="font-size: small"><font color="#0000ff">http://www.sermons.com/signup</font></span></a></span><span style="font-size: small"><span style="color: black"> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt">_______________________</span>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Full Devotion to God</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">In the days of the circuit riders a minister was out riding one afternoon and came upon a man out working in his field.</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">"Fine day isn't it?" the minister called out.</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">"Its
fine for you", the man replied, "All you have to do is ride around on
that horse thinking about God all day long, while I have to sweat here
in this field and then walk home afterward. I don't think it is right
you should have things so easy while I have to work so hard."</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">"On
the contrary", the minister answered, "thinking about God is one of the
most difficult things you can do. And to prove it, I'll give you this
horse if you can think about God and nothing else for one minute."</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">"You're
on,” said the man and immediately he sat down in silence. Thirty
seconds later he looked up at the minister, and said, "Does that include
the saddle?"</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">Richard Fairchild, Not Far from the Kingdom of God.</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">__________________</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Watching Out for Us</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt">Jesus
wants us to love God and others with our soul. The soul is that part of
us that denies logic. It is a mystery. Loving with our souls goes
beyond what people would consider as normal. We give forth our love
because we want to and it probably makes no sense to outsiders.<br>
<br>
During the course of earning her master's degree, a woman found it
necessary to commute several times a week from Victory, Vermont to the
state university in Burlington, a good hundred miles away. Coming home
late at night, she would see an old man sitting by the side of her road.
He was always there, in sub zero temperatures, in stormy weather, no
matter how late she returned. He made no acknowledgment of her passing.
The snow settled on his cap and shoulders as if he were merely another
gnarled old tree. She often wondered what brought him to that same spot
every evening. Perhaps it was a stubborn habit, private grief or a
mental disorder.<br>
<br>
Finally, she asked a neighbor of hers, "Have you ever seen an old man
who sits by the road late at night?" "Oh, yes," said her neighbor, "many
times." "Is he a little touched upstairs? Does he ever go home?" The
neighbor laughed and said, "He's no more touched than you or me. And he
goes home right after you do. You see, he doesn't like the idea of you
driving by yourself out late all alone on these back roads, so every
night he walks out to wait for you. When he sees your taillights
disappear around the bend, and he knows you're okay, he goes home to
bed." <br>
<br>
Keith Wagner, Almost Heaven, adapted from Garret Keizer, Watchers in the Night<br>
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