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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, Dec 13, 2014 8:53 pm<br>
Subject: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Advent 3B<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 “There’s a War Going On” or “Which Side Are You On?” and deals with the Gospel (Isaiah 65: 17-25).</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: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">Did you notice the statement from our Old Testament lesson (Isaiah 65:25): “They won’t hurt or destroy anyone on my holy mountain”?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">I’ve always loved the lion and lamb image, although (as you can tell from today’s Old Testament reading) it really should be a wolf and a lamb.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">I’ve even got a collection of lion and lamb art works of various types.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">They may not hurt or destroy on God’s holy mountain or even in my art collection, but we surely do destroy each other in our homes, our relationships, our city, and our world.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Saginaw is now the 2</font><sup><font color="#000000">nd</font></sup><font color="#000000"> or 3</font><sup><font color="#000000">rd</font></sup><font color="#000000"> most violent city of our size in our country, with 13 homicides this year!</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Isn’t that disgraceful!!!</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Now you can see from where I got the titles of this sermon.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">There is a war going on- a war between the forces of evil and the forces of good, more plainly between Satan and God, which leads to the second sermon title: “Which Side Are You On?”</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span></font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">It’s easy to say- “Oh, I’m on God’s side,” but actions speak louder than words.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Remember how Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers” (Matthew 5)?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Being a peacemaker is easier said than done, because it goes against much of our basic human nature.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Remember that we are born with original sin- i.e. self-centeredness.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">That self-centeredness manifests itself in basically two ways- territoriality and pecking order.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Along with “I’ll do it all by myself!” what else is a favorite statement by almost every two-year-old?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Sure, “MINE!”</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">That’s territoriality. Toddlers do it with toys, scientists do it with ideas, husbands and wives do it with money, gangs do it marking territory with spray paint (as do dogs with urine), and nations do it with war.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Pecking order is the desire to be “top dog,” to be better than someone else.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">“He ‘dissed me!” or “How dare she?!” are examples of pecking order.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">When our territory or pecking order is dishonored, it’s easy to want revenge- and that’s where the violence comes in.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">In Romans (</font><font color="#000000">6:23</font><font color="#000000">), Paul says, “The wages of sin is death.”</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">We’re not just talking about dying before our time, but also how to have a miserable, bitter existence that is death on earth.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">This rock (actually a geode) is really light.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">How much do you think it would weigh?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">(Take guesses.)</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">(Ask for a volunteer.)</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">What if the person held it for one minute?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Not a problem.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">What if he held it for an hour?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">He’d have an ache in his arm.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">What if he held it for a day or a week or a year or a lifetime?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">God has a better way.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">That’s what revenge does to the human spirit.</font></font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">The rest of Paul’s statement is: “But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.”</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">God’s way is hard, but it results in a fulfilling life.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Jesus way is the only way that works: forgive your enemies and pray for them.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">That doesn’t mean letting people walk all over you; it means speaking up, and finding peaceful ways of getting respect.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Most of all, it means NO REVENGE!</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">God says, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.”</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">When we get revenge, the devil wins because now two people have committed the same sin instead of one.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">When we get revenge, it means we don’t trust God to even the score.</font></font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">Therefore: in terms of violence…</font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px 1em 0.75in; line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; tab-stops: list .75in; punctuation-wrap: simple; mso-vertical-align-alt: auto;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">1)</font><span style="font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span></span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">Don’t think it.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span></font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px 1em 0.75in; line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; tab-stops: list .75in; punctuation-wrap: simple; mso-vertical-align-alt: auto;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">2)</font><span style="font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span></span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">Don’t talk it.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span></font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px 1em 0.75in; line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; tab-stops: list .75in; punctuation-wrap: simple; mso-vertical-align-alt: auto;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">3)</font><span style="font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span></span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">Don’t play it.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span></font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px 1em 0.75in; line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; tab-stops: list .75in; punctuation-wrap: simple; mso-vertical-align-alt: auto;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">4)</font><span style="font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span></span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">Don’t plan it.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span></font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">Don’t do it.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span></font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">It’s easy to think- this problem is just too big.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">It can’t be done.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">I’m going to close with an anonymous poem:</font></font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px 1em 0.5in; line-height: normal; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">I am not everyone, </font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px 1em 0.5in; line-height: normal; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">But I am someone.</font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px 1em 0.5in; line-height: normal; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">I cannot do everything, </font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px 1em 0.5in; line-height: normal; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">But I can do something.</font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px 1em 0.5in; line-height: normal; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">What I can do, </font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px 1em 0.5in; line-height: normal; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">I ought to do.</font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px 1em 0.5in; line-height: normal; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">What I ought to do, </font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px 1em 0.5in; line-height: normal; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">I will do-</font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px 1em 0.5in; line-height: normal; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">By the grace of God.</font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">I ask your prayers that God will show us what to do to prevent the atrocious waste of the lives of our precious young people.</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"></font></u></a><u><font color="#0000ff" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.stpaulsepisag.org" target="_blank">http://www.stpaulsepisag.org</a></font></u><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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