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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 11, 2015 2:36 pm<br>
Subject: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Proper 10B<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 “John the Baptist” and deals with the gospel (Mark 6: 14- 29).</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: 0in 0in 0pt; line-height: normal;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000" size="3">This morning we heard about one of the strangest characters in the Bible- John the Baptist.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">He was the last of the Old Covenant prophets and had the job of preparing the way for Jesus.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">Even his beginnings were unusual.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">John’s parents, Elizabeth and Zechariah, were childless and way too old to have children.</font><font color="#000000" size="3"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></font><font color="#000000" size="3">Elizabeth</font><font color="#000000" size="3"> was Mary’s cousin and Zechariah was a priest in the temple.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">One day, Zechariah was doing his job in the temple when the angel Gabriel appeared and told him that he and his wife would have a baby, who was to be named John.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">Zechariah doubted the angel, so he was struck dumb.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">Shortly after this incident and against all odds, </font><font color="#000000" size="3">Elizabeth</font><font color="#000000" size="3"> became pregnant.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">It’s obvious that Zechariah and Elizabeth were accepting, compassionate people because after the Virgin Mary became pregnant, she spent some time with them- probably to gain courage to face everyone when she began to “show.”</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">Well, in due time the child promised to Zechariah and </font><font color="#000000" size="3">Elizabeth</font><font color="#000000" size="3"> was born; and when he was circumcised and presented in the temple, everyone was about to name him “Zechariah” after his father.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">It was the custom of the day to name children after a relative.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">Zechariah still could not speak, so he communicated by writing, “His name is John.”</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">Immediately, Zechariah’s speech impediment vanished.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">Those watching these happenings wondered what kind of a man this “John” would turn out to be.</font></font></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"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">They were wise to wonder, because this “John”, actually “John the Baptist” was truly unusual- many must have wondered about his sanity.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">While others lived in comfortable houses, he lived in the desert.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">While others dressed fashionably (or at least comfortably), he wore an itchy camel skin.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">While others ate fish and bread and occasionally some meat, he ate what he could find- usually locusts and wild honey.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">He spent his time baptizing people in the </font><font color="#000000">Jordan River</font><font color="#000000">, giving them a second chance to enter the Promised Land following God’s way.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">As you recall, Jesus (John’s second cousin) was baptized by John.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">When he wasn’t baptizing, he was preaching.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">He encouraged the common people to repent and return to God, but he infuriated those in power by calling them “snakes”- not a very good way to get ahead.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">When King Herod married his sister-in-law, John condemned the whole affair.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Needless to say, he had many enemies in high places.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Herod was so angry with John’s meddling that he threw him in prison.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">While John was there he must have experienced a period of doubt, because he sent some of his followers to ask Jesus if he was really the Messiah, or was he going through all of this imprisonment for nothing.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Jesus sent them back with the message that the deaf hear, the blind see, the lame walk, and the poor have the good news preached to them- in other words- the Jubilee message.</font></font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">One of John’s most dangerous enemies was Herodias, the sister-in-law whom King Herod married.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">One day, Herod threw a party (actually a birthday banquet).</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">After all the men at the party were drunk, Salome (daughter of Herodias) really turned them on with her dancing.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Herod was so impressed that he promised her anything she wanted, even half of his kingdom.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Salome asked her mother what she should request, and the answer came back clearly: “Ask for the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Since Herod didn’t want to look like a fool in front of his friends by going back on his word, that’s just what happened.</font></font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">Out of the strange life of one of God’s greatest prophets, what’s the message for us?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Here are five thoughts:</font></font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px 1em 0.25in; line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; 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">John didn’t follow the crowd and neither should we.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Don’t worry what everyone expects you to do.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Instead, be true to yourself and your Christian values- especially “Love one another as much as I have loved you.</font></font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px 1em 0.25in; line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; 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">Be careful about judging people by their appearances- these days: tattoos, piercings, drooping pants, hair, etc.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Look, if John the Baptist walked in here right now, I’m here to tell you that we’d probably get a little nervous because (to put it mildly) he’d look different.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Actually, we’d probably wonder if we had a crazy man in here!</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">If we didn’t take him seriously, we would have missed one of the holiest people in the Bible.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Remember, Jesus comes to us in other people.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">(“Whatever you do to the least of these, my sisters or brothers, you do to me.”)</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Don’t diminish anyone just because of how he looks or talks or what she wears.</font></font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px 1em 0.25in; line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; 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">We love second chances for ourselves.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">As God has given us many second chances, so must we do the same for others.</font></font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px 1em 0.25in; line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; 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">Watch those promises.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Be careful about making them, and if you realize you’ve made an unloving one- face up to it and risk looking foolish, but don’t keep it.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Love, not honor, is our Christian expectation.</font></font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px 1em 0.25in; line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; 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">5)</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">If you meet people who aren’t quite sure about this “Jesus event,” be kind.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Remember, even John had his doubts when times were hard and he was in prison.</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">May God bless us as we try to faithfully follow our Lord in this difficult world.</font></span></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"> </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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