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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, Jun 27, 2015 10:53 pm<br>
Subject: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Proper 8B<br>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal; mso-mirror-indents: yes;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">Dear Friends,</font></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal; mso-mirror-indents: yes;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000" size="3">This Sunday’s sermon is entitled “Share What You Have” or “Reach Out and Touch” and deals with Jesus and life.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">Here it is:</font></font></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000" size="3">Good morning.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">Once again we have really thought-provoking Bible lessons, but this time they meddle, because each of them is talking about a subject we’d really like to say is our personal business- i.e. nobody’s business but our own.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">Paul sums up what these lessons are about in the epistle when he says: “It is only fair for you to share with others when you have so much and they have so little” (2</font><sup><font color="#000000" size="2">nd</font></sup><font color="#000000" size="3"> Corinthians 8:13b-14).</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">That’s the Christianity-rubber-hits-the-road topic: sharing.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">Our Bible lessons teach about five important aspects of sharing for us to use as we walk with our Lord through life.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">Then our thought for the week tells one important reason why we share: “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give” (Norman MacFinan).</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span></font></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000" size="3">Let’s look at the Old Testament lesson from Exodus (15:7-11).</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">As you can see, the topic is loans, but its basic teaching is about lending a helping hand.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">Moses, speaking for God, tells his people that they are to help those in need whenever they can, even if it is at their own disadvantage.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">Their society had a wonderful custom given to them by God.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">That’s where Jubilee comes from.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">Every Sabbath year of Sabbath years (7X7 years plus 1- due to how they counted), all property reverted to its original owner, all slaves were freed, every family had a second chance.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">What we heard Moses warning the Israelites about was to forget about which year it was if someone was in need.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">Just help them.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">If it is year one of seven years, you have six years to get your stuff back; if it is year six of seven years- you only have one year to get it back.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">Don’t think about yourself- think about the person in need and help them, even if you yourself end up getting shortchanged.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">How many friendships have been wrecked, how many relationships have been destroyed, how much violence has been done because someone couldn’t (not wouldn’t- couldn’t) pay back a debt.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">That’s hard teaching, because the message to us is “Forget about yourself and concentrate on the needy person and help him or her.”</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">If you get your stuff back- fine.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">If not (and it’s not their fault)- forgive.</font></font></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000" size="3">The Psalm reminds us that what goes around comes around- good as well as bad.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">Do you want blessings?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">Well then- be a blessing to others.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">Did you hear the story of the little girl who went to the doctor’s office with her mother?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">She was usually absolutely awful in the waiting room, but this time she was wonderful- even when she had to be left alone while her mother went in to see the doctor.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">The receptionist was so impressed that she offered the child some candy from her candy jar, but the little girl dropped her eyes and looked shy, so the receptionist just took a handful and gave it to her.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">As soon as they were outside, her mother couldn’t stand it any longer- since she knew her daughter was NOT shy.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">“Why didn’t you get your own candy?” she asked.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">“Oh, that’s easy,” said her daughter.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">“The receptionist has bigger hands!”</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">That receptionist’s hands may be big and therefore able to hold more goodies, but God’s hands are infinitely bigger and they can hold an amazing amount of blessings.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">We don’t give to be blessed, but when we give- blessings just seem to find us.</font></font></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000" size="3">In today’s epistle, we hear Paul trying to get his church in Corinth to share.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">What you need to know is that the Jerusalem church was in serious difficulty because there was a famine in that part of the world.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">People were starving.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">Paul did his best to get the other churches to send money to the Jerusalem church to relieve their desperate food needs.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">The problem was- most of the Christians in the Jerusalem church were Jews, and many of the Christians in Paul’s churches were gentiles.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">You already know that Jews discriminated against gentiles, so you can only imagine what people said when Paul told them to send some of their hard-earned cash to help those Jews, but Paul didn’t back down.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">The lesson for us: don’t worry about if you like the person in need; don’t even worry about if they are your enemy- in Jesus’ name, help them.</font></font></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000" size="3">Today’s gospel shows Jesus in the act of sharing- reaching out to those in need, not with money- but with himself.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">First he starts to Jairus’ house to heal his daughter.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">Part way there, he feels a woman touch him- and you know the rest of the story.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">He stops and has a rather lengthy discussion with her to be sure she is healed and whole, then goes on to Jairus’ house.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">The lesson for us- those distractions; don’t we hate them!</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">We just start one task when the phone rings or someone calls our name.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">We stop to help them and while we are still doing it- someone rings the doorbell.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">What did Jesus do?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">He went with the flow.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">He handled the interruptions as they came, without anger- but with compassion.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">Easy?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">NO, but who ever said following Jesus would be easy?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">It seems I remember something about a cross.</font></font></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000" size="3">Listening to these lessons, it sounds like we should help everyone who comes to us, but that’s not what the Bible teaches.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">Paul faced a problem in his Thessalonian church that speaks to this.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">Members in this church were sure that Jesus was coming back soon, like maybe today or tomorrow, so some of them didn’t see any need to work.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">They quit their jobs and just sponged food from their hard-working Christian sisters and brothers who had maintained their jobs.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">When Paul found out about it, he wrote that under circumstances like these when someone was just being lazy and not using the gifts God had given them, he gave them this rule: “If you don't work, you don't eat” (2</font><sup><font color="#000000" size="2">nd</font></sup><font color="#000000" size="3"> Thessalonians 3:10).</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">The lesson for us- don’t let people misuse your goodness, or you will just enable and weaken them.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">Help those who need it, but use good judgment.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">(Some people would call it “Tough Love.”) and don’t let people con you.</font></font></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000" size="3">In closing, I’m going to tell you a personal story, something that really happened to me, so you can learn from my mistake.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">It’s a warning about how important it is to reach out, share of yourself, even if we’re talking about a huge interruption.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">Shortly after I was ordained, I was doing a hospital call at St. Mary’s.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">Along with the person I was seeing from St. Paul’s, there was also an out-of-town woman who had asked to see an Episcopal priest.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">I was still teaching full time then, and I was really tired when I finished seeing the St. Paul’s person, so I went to the nursing station to see how the out-of-town woman was doing.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">(These were the old days when I could find out.)</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">The nurse said she was doing fine and would probably be going home in a day or two, so I decided I would just drag my tired self home to my recliner and TV set- I could go back the next day.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">Well, the next day I went up to the floor, but couldn’t find the lady.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">When I asked at the desk, the nurse said, “Oh, she died last night.”</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">Lesson for me?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">You bet- it changed my priesthood.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">Never again!</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">I’ve learned to listen to those Holy Spirit whispers.</font></font></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000" size="3">May God bless you as you share from your abundance with those in need.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">Amen.</font></font></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal; mso-mirror-indents: yes; tab-stops: .25in;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">For anyone who is interested, this sermon and updated African-American wisdom statements are posted on our parish’s 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" size="3"></font></u></a><u><font color="#0000ff" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><a href="http://www.stpaulsepisag.org" target="_blank">http://www.stpaulsepisag.org</a></font></u><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3"> .</font></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal; mso-mirror-indents: yes;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">Blessed preaching,</font></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal; mso-mirror-indents: yes;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">Judy Boli</font></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal; mso-mirror-indents: yes;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">St. Paul's Episcopal Church</font></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal; mso-mirror-indents: yes;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">Saginaw, Michigan</font></div>
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