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<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica;font-size:10pt;color:black">-----Original Message-----<br>
From: Judy <judy_boli@ecunet.org><br>
To: propertalk.topic <propertalk.topic@ecunet.org><br>
Sent: Sat, Jul 26, 2014 8:45 pm<br>
Subject: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Proper 12A<br>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">Dear Friends,</font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">This Sunday’s sermon is entitled “Thy Kingdom Come” and deals with the gospel
(13:31-33, 44-52).</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Here it is:</font></font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; line-height: normal; tab-stops: center 3.0in right 6.0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">“Thy Kingdom Come”- where’s
that from?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Sure, the Lord’s Prayer.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">We heard Jesus teaching about God’s Kingdom
in today’s gospel.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">This morning, I’d
like us to look at the that very familiar phrase, so when we say that beloved
prayer later on in our liturgy and when we say it this evening before we go to
bed, it will have even greater meaning.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span></font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; line-height: normal; tab-stops: center 3.0in right 6.0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">Have you ever visited a new
car showroom or watched automobile commercials on TV and dreamed?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">I wonder if the Kingdom of God is like a
beautiful new automobile- full of promise and excitement.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Did you hear the story of the couple who
needed a new car?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">He wanted a tough,
rugged truck, but she wanted a pretty little sports car.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Finally, the wife figured out how to get her
pretty little car.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Her birthday was
coming up in a few weeks, so she told him, “I just want something that goes
from 0 to 200 in just a few seconds.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Now
surprise me.”</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Her husband did just
that.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">He did get her something that goes
from 0 to 200 in a few seconds, and she really was surprised!</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">What was it?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000">
</font></span><font color="#000000">A bathroom scale!</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">They went to a
marriage counselor the very next day!</font></font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; line-height: normal; tab-stops: center 3.0in right 6.0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">Jesus said the Kingdom of
God is like- not a car, but a mustard seed- strange, but true.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Years ago, someone planted the seed, the God
seed, in your life.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">How did you first
become a Christian?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Who first told you
about Jesus, got you baptized, started you going to church?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Maybe that seed took root right away, or
maybe it sat there in your mind for a while; but when the time was right, it
took root and here you are.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">That seed
which started so very small, is in process of blossoming into a mighty tree
strong enough to withstand whatever storms life throws at you.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Jesus is right.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">The Kingdom of God is like a seed.</font></font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; line-height: normal; tab-stops: center 3.0in right 6.0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">Jesus also said that the
Kingdom of God is like yeast in three large batches of flour (actually about 80
pounds of flour- enough to make bread for 100-150 people).</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">You’ve seen this at work in your own life and
the lives of others. Think of the times the God used one willing person to
bring about His will in a family or a group or a class or a nation.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Moses was the yeast that empowered the
children of Israel to escape from Egypt and travel through the dessert to the
Promised Land.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Harriet Tubman and other
(mostly anonymous) underground railroad conductors- they were the yeast that
empowered American slaves to claim their freedom, in spite of huge
adversity.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">The Rev. Martin Luther King,
Jr. was the yeast that started our great country in its march toward racial and
social justice.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">God uses people as His
yeast to bring forth His will.</font></font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; line-height: normal; tab-stops: center 3.0in right 6.0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">Jesus said that the Kingdom
of God is like treasure someone happens to find in a field or a pearl someone
finds in a jewelry shop.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">That person
makes purchasing that field or pearl his or her highest priority.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">God’s will doesn’t just happen.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">God uses people who put God first, who make
God their highest priority.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span></font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; line-height: normal; tab-stops: center 3.0in right 6.0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">Finally, Jesus said that
the Kingdom of God is like a net full of fish.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000">
</font></span><font color="#000000">What’s he saying here?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">The church
is like the net, and Jesus is saying that everyone is welcome.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">No one should ever pick and choose who’s
welcome in their church.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">It’s not our
business.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">The angels decide at the close
of the age, in other words when we die, if we truly are part of the
Kingdom.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span></font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">The Kingdom of God is like
a mustard seed- keep fertilizing and watering it.</font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">The Kingdom of God is like
yeast in 80 pounds of flour- speak God’s Words of justice, peace and love- no
matter what the cost.</font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">The Kingdom of God is like
treasure in a field or a pearl in a jewelry shop.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Spend what you must of time and energy to
achieve it.</font></font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">The Kingdom of God is like
various kinds of fish in a net.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">The
ground is level at the foot of the cross.</font></font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">Thy Kingdom come, O
Lord!</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Amen.</font></font></span></div>
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<div 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 target="_blank" 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></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">Blessed preaching,</font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">Judy Boli</font></span></div>
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<div 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></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">Saginaw, Michigan</font></span></div>
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