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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>A Walking Children's Sermon</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The Rev. Timothy J.
Kennedy tells a wonderful true story that is perfect for Ash Wednesday.
It was told to him by a colleague, Pastor Chris Mietlowski. It
concerned a baptism that Mietlowski once performed on an infant named
Eric. Mietlowski took Eric in his arms and traced the cross of Christ on
Eric's forehead using a special anointing oil. </span></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Following worship,
Eric's family celebrated with a big backyard party. Family and friends
ate burgers and chips and played volleyball under a summer sun. Eric,
being only six months old, was left to nap in his backyard stroller.
When Mom got him up, whoops. Basted on Eric's forehead was the image of
the cross. Mom had forgotten to wash Eric's face following his baptism,
and the oil that the pastor had traced onto his forehead acted the
opposite of a sun screen. The Cross of Christ was imprinted on Eric's
forehead. "For several weeks until it completely disappeared," says Rev.
Kennedy, "that cross was a wonderful reminder as to the meaning of
Baptism and a reminder that the Cross of Jesus was 'written' upon Eric's
forehead."</span></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>And what a powerful
witness it was, says Rev. Kennedy. "Eric's Mom and Dad had to explain
the cross to the pediatrician, to the neighbors, to the stranger in the
grocery store. For a few weeks, Eric was nothing less than a [living]
children's sermon. It was only a bit of a sunburn to be sure, but [it
was] the best basting a child can have to be marked with the cross of
Christ! And why not? That cross is to be the foundation of that child's
life." </span></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>If I read the
little book of Joel right, God's desire is not that we wear a cross on
our forehead, but that it be basted on our hearts. "Rend your heart and
not your garments," says Joel 2:23. That's much harder to do, isn't it?
It's much easier to rend your clothes than to rend your heart. It's much
easier to wear a cross around your neck than it is to bear it daily in
everything you do. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Timothy J. Kennedy, adapted by King Duncan</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>"Some Christians jump all over the room; <br>
Others are as solemn and quiet as a tomb. <br>
Some lift their hands high in the air,<br>
But others wouldn't, even on a dare.<br>
Christians are different in style and in song; <br>
But if they are humble, to Christ they belong."</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Traditional</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>Pancake Day </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Every once in a
while a whimsical story makes the news. Some years ago, the Associated
Press carried a story about a woman in Olney, England, named Dawn
Gallyot who defied snow and a biting wind to beat seven other women to
the finish line in the annual Shrove Tuesday pancake race. In her first
race, the 38-year-old schoolteacher made the 415-yard dash from a pub in
the market square to the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul with a
pancake and a frying pan in her hand in 73 seconds. That was 9.5 seconds
slower than the previous year's pace. Each woman must flip a pancake in
the frying pan at the start and at the finish of the race. The record
is 58 seconds. Mrs. Gallyot reportedly wore a traditional headscarf and
apron, but opted for modern running shoes.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Shrove Tuesday,
known in England as Pancake Day, is traditionally the last day for
merrymaking before the start of Lent. Pancakes are thought to be a good
way to get in the eggs and fat that faithful church people were supposed
to give up for Lent. Legend has it that the Olney race started in 1445
when a housewife, dashing to get to church on time, arrived at the
service clutching in her hand a frying pan with a pancake still in it.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The pancake race is
but one of many traditions that have grown up around the season of
Lent. New Orleans' Mardi Gras is another - one last blowout before a
season of denial...</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px">The rest of this illustration and <span>many additional illustrations and sermons for Ash Wednesday, Lent, and the rest of the year can be accessed at <a shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001O1GlxGfOtULHOE4aFw-Hy6Ggs3edSxO_I7bg1XAvPjXepqFQ5bITwV7D3YyI83h9G9NzjJlfJRNznGainWE7heizyy31JkjCcBzkJJLoYE8=">www.Sermons.com</a>. <br>
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