<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></head><body ><br><br><br>-------- Original message --------<br>From: joeparrish <joeparrish@compuserve.com> <br>Date: 06/28/2014 6:26 PM (GMT-05:00) <br>To: propertalk@stsams.org <br>Cc: joeparrish@compuserve.com <br>Subject: Fwd: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Proper 8A <br> <br><br><div><br></div><div><div><div><div dir="ltr"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">This Sunday’s sermon is entitled “An Old-Fashioned Tough-Man Contest”
or “In the Name of God, STOP!” and deals with the Old Testament lesson (Genesis
22:1- 14).</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Here it is:</font></font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">I’m going to start this
sermon with two stories.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">The first is of
a fourth century monk named Telemachus. Although Telemachus was in a cloistered
monastery, he felt God saying to him, “Go to </font><font color="#000000">Rome</font><font color="#000000">”; so he put his possessions in a sack
and set out for </font><font color="#000000">Rome</font><font color="#000000">.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">When he arrived in the city, people were thronging
in the streets. </font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">He asked why all the
excitement and was told that this was the day that the gladiators would be
fighting and killing each other in the coliseum- the great Roman stadium.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">This was the day of the games- what they
called “the circus.” He thought to himself, “Four centuries after Christ- and
they are still killing each other for enjoyment?!” </font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Telemachus ran to the coliseum and heard the
gladiators shouting, “Hail to Caesar! we die for Caesar!” and he thought, “This
just isn't right.” </font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">He jumped over the
railing and went out into the middle of the field, got between two gladiators,
held up his hands and said “In the name of Christ, STOP!”</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">The crowd protested and began to shout, “Run
him through with the sword!</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Run him
through with the sword!”</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">A gladiator
came over and hit him in the stomach with the back of his sword.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">It sent Telemachus sprawling in the sand. He
got up and ran back and again said, “In the name of Christ, STOP!” </font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">The crowd continued to chant, “Run him through
with the sword!</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Run him through with the
sword!”</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">One gladiator came over and
plunged his sword through the little monk's stomach and Telemachus fell into
the sand, which began to turn crimson with his blood. </font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">The crowd got what it wanted- his body was run
through with the sword.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">One last time
Telemachus gasped out, “In the name of Christ, STOP!”</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Then he died.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000">
</font></span><font color="#000000">A hush came over the 80,000 people in the coliseum. </font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Soon a man stood and left, then another and more,
and within minutes all 80,000 had emptied out of the arena. What’s the
significance of this little-known event?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000">
</font></span><font color="#000000">This was the last-known gladiatorial contest in the history of </font><font color="#000000">Rome</font><font color="#000000">.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">You see, God almighty had looked down from
heaven to see the disgraceful, disgusting situation in which two men would
fight to the death, cheered on by a stadium-full of 80,000 people.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">God was sick and tired of two men fighting
like two pit-bulls or two roosters.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">God
looked and found one ordinary person to answer the call to speak for Him, to be
his prophet.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Telemachus passed his
test.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">He saved many lives and did much
to civilize our culture.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">We’ll come back
to this story later.</font></font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">Here’s the second story-
you’ve heard it before: There was a little boy who was overheard saying the
following bedtime prayers: “Now I lay me down to rest and hope to pass
tomorrow's test. </font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">If I should die before
I wake- that’s one less test I’ll have to take.”</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">I’m sure Abraham felt the same way, because
the episode in Genesis (22: 1-14) was one of the worst tests any parent could
possibly be called to take.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">This is one
of my least favorite stories in the entire Bible- the story of Abraham almost
sacrificing his beloved son, Isaac, in obedience to God’s command.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">The reason I avoid this story is because it
is so easily misunderstood.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">It’s almost
impossible to enter into the culture of the event, so huge confusions
result.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">This morning, since we can’t
avoid it (the story is in the lessons to be read for today) let’s look at it to
see what in the world it probably meant then and what wisdom it has for us
today.</font></font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">We’ll start with what
happened.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">As you recall, we’ve been
following the story of Abraham for some time now.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Abraham and Sarah (his wife) were called by
God to go to an unknown land.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">If they
obeyed, they were promised much land and as many descendants as the stars in
heaven.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">You remember the problem- when
all this started, Abraham and Sarah were both probably in their seventies and
childless.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">They did as God asked; and
finally Isaac, the child of promise, was born.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000">
</font></span><font color="#000000">Today’s episode takes place when Isaac was about twelve years old.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">God tests Abraham by ordering him to
sacrifice Isaac on an altar.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">We heard
how God provided a ram to be sacrificed instead of Isaac.</font></font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">To comprehend the significance
of this story, it’s important to understand what life was like at that time,
especially in terms of two entities: God and children.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Let’s look at their understandings of God
first.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Jesus taught us that God is our
heavenly Father, and that God is love.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000">
</font></span><font color="#000000">The ancients had no such understanding.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000">
</font></span><font color="#000000">They almost all believed that their gods played with humans like cats
play with mice.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">They believed that the
gods had to be bought off by sacrifices; and in crisis situations, the gods had
to be persuaded to help people with ghastly sacrifices- their oldest
children.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">This sounds so impossible for
us, but it’s how out ancestors saw the universe.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Their understandings of children were just as
primitive.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">As late as the time of Jesus,
boy babies were much preferred to girl babies, so if a female infant was born-
often the child would be left in the wilderness to die (just as Abraham
intended for Hagar and Ishmael).</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Owners
of houses of prostitution would scour the wilderness for these girl
babies.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">The owners would take them to
their business establishments and raise them as prostitutes.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">This means that if a man went to a prostitute
(common and accepted in the pagan culture), he might be having sex with his own
daughter.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">That’s how the ancients viewed
children.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">It must have blown their minds
when Jesus said, “Let the children come to me! Don't try to stop them. People
who are like these children belong to God's kingdom.” (Luke 18:16)</font></font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">I can hear you now- “Rev.
Judy, all these are interesting facts and stories, but what’s the point?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">In all this- what can you tell me from the
Bible to help me improve my spiritual walk and live my life better as a
Christian this coming week?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Friends,
what Telemachus did in the fourth century AD, Abraham did at the dawn of civilization.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">You see, God almighty had looked down from
heaven to see beautiful children- given as gifts from Him to their parents, but
then killed- sacrificed on the altar.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000">
</font></span><font color="#000000">God saw people afraid of Him, desperately trying to appease Him, and
misusing their children.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">God looked and
found one ordinary person to answer the call to speak for Him.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Abraham passed his test.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">As Telemachus was God’s instrument for
stopping the disgraceful gladiator contests, Abraham was God’s instrument for
stopping child sacrifice by God’s people.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000">
</font></span><font color="#000000">Except for times of extreme apostasy, the Israelites never again offered
their children on the altar of sacrifice.</font></font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">It wasn’t just Telemachus and Abraham who said, “In
the name of God, STOP!”</font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">Moses shouted, “In the name of God, STOP!”</font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">The prophet Amos proclaimed, “In the name of God,
STOP!”</font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">Jesus of Nazareth taught, “In the name of God, STOP!”</font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">Harriet Tubman stated, “In the name of God, STOP!”</font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. prophesied, “In
the name of God, STOP!”</font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">Throughout the ages, many of God’s faithful people
(the unknown as well as the famous) proclaimed, “In the name of God, STOP!”</font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">So where does this leave
you?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">What is God calling you to do?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">What difference in this world is God calling
you to make?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Who is God calling you to
feed, clothe, help, love?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">What
injustices in your family, neighborhood, city, country, world is God calling
you to heal?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span></font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> <></font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal; tab-stops: .25in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">For anyone who is interested, this sermon and updated
African-American wisdom statements are posted on our parish’s NEW WEB SITE
under “Sermons & Stuff”. The address is: </font><a href="http://www.stpaulsepisag.org/"><u><font color="#0000ff" face="Times New Roman">http://www.stpaulsepisag.org</font></u></a><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> .</font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">Blessed preaching,</font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">Judy Boli</font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">St. Paul's Episcopal Church</font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">Saginaw, Michigan</font></span></p></div></div></div></div></body>