<html><body>part 1 of 4 of tomorrow's sermon<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-outline-level:1"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-font-kerning:18.0pt;mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBAN, ALBANY <span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"></span>THE FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-outline-level:1"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-font-kerning:18.0pt;mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">SONG OF SOLOMON 2:8-13<span style="mso-tab-count:6"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 3"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"></span>PROPER 17 b</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-outline-level:1"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-font-kerning:18.0pt;mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">JAMES 1:17-27 <span style="mso-tab-count:7"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count:3"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>PSALM 45:1-2, 6-9</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-outline-level:1"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-font-kerning:18.0pt;mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">MARK 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count:6"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count:3"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>30<sup>th</sup> AUGUST, 2015</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-outline-level:1"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-font-kerning:18.0pt;mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: -12.0pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-font-kerning:18.0pt;mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><span style="mso-tab-count:3"> </span></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">When despair for the world grows in me </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: -12.0pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:3"> </span>and I wake in the night at the least sound </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: -12.0pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:3"> </span>in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: -12.0pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:3"> </span>I go and lie down where the wood drake </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: -12.0pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:3"> </span>rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: -12.0pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:3"> </span>I come into the peace of wild things </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: -12.0pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:3"> </span>who do not tax their lives with forethought </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: -12.0pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:3"> </span>of grief. I come into the presence of still water. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: -12.0pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:3"> </span>And I feel above me the day-blind stars </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: -12.0pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:3"> </span>waiting with their light. For a time </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: -12.0pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:3"> </span>I rest in the grace of the world, and am free. <sup>1</sup></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-outline-level:1"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-font-kerning:18.0pt;mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>“I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-outline-level:1"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-font-kerning:18.0pt;mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>Finding
rest, being wrapped in grace, feeling within the joy of being made free
– these are what everyone seeks. These are what we all need. Without
one of them, perhaps we can get along for a while, but not for long. Our
physical, mental and spiritual health depend on finding the amazing
affirmation of knowing that one is loved, and appreciated, and
respected.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-outline-level:1"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-font-kerning:18.0pt;mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>This is not to say that we don’t need correctives every now and again. Of course we do. We <b><span style="text-decoration: underline;">ALL</span></b>
need that! Perhaps what we think, or do, or say contributes to the
despair that people experience, and we need to be told that. If we get
in the way of the development of someone’s health, or well-being, we
need to be told – <b><span style="text-decoration: underline;">AND</span></b>
we need to correct it. This isn’t something we can shrug off. After
all, we’re all connected in ways that we can never possibly imagine.
It’s part and parcel of being a human being. It’s a gift from God to be
treasured and to be used.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-outline-level:1"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-font-kerning:18.0pt;mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>From
time to time, one of my many quirks surfaces. If something happens, if
I’m blessed by a gift, especially if it’s something tangible, I may set
it where I can see it, but there are times when I don’t want to use it. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-outline-level:1"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-font-kerning:18.0pt;mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>Am
I afraid I may break it, or tarnish it, somehow take away the lustre I
see in it? There can be several reasons for not using it. But the gift
is given so that I can benefit from it. The gift is given through the
care taken in selecting it and making sure that I receive it in good
condition, precisely so that I can benefit from it.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-outline-level:1"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-font-kerning:18.0pt;mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>Just
so with the grace of God. I’m given skills and I’m invited to use them,
to follow where they may lead, no matter what changes they may require.
We’re all given such gifts, but sometimes the gifts may not be apparent
to us; sometimes we may set them aside as not being useful for our
lives at that point in time; sometimes we may not want to engage them
because we don’t understand them.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-outline-level:1"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-font-kerning:18.0pt;mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>I
wonder if this was part of the problem which confronted the Pharisees
and Scribes with whom Jesus was talking that day. They knew the standard
rules. They even kept them as best they could. But they couldn’t see
behind the gifts with which God had blessed them. Somehow, they’d rather
deprive themselves of what was necessary for their own lives as well as
others in order to comply with what they perceived as the letter of the
law.</span></p></body></html>