<font color='black' size='4' face='Times New Roman, Times, serif'><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Forwarded: (Part 2 of 2)</span><br style="font-size: large; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br style="font-size: large; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br style="font-size: large; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="arial, helvetica" style="font-size: 10pt;">-----Original Message-----</font><br>
<font face="arial, helvetica" style="font-size: 10pt;">From: Judy <</font><a href="mailto:judy_boli@ecunet.org" style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, helvetica; color: blue; cursor: pointer;">judy_boli@ecunet.org</a><font face="arial, helvetica" style="font-size: 10pt;">></font><br>
<font face="arial, helvetica" style="font-size: 10pt;">To: Propertalk <</font><a href="mailto:propertalk.topic@ecunet.org" style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, helvetica; color: blue; cursor: pointer;">propertalk.topic@ecunet.org</a><font face="arial, helvetica" style="font-size: 10pt;">></font><br>
<font face="arial, helvetica" style="font-size: 10pt;">Sent: Sat, Jan 16, 2016 9:45 pm</font><br>
<font face="arial, helvetica" style="font-size: 10pt;">Subject: [propertalk.topic] Srmon for Epiphany 2C (Part 2}</font><br>
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<div style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, helvetica; margin: 1em 0px;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">Dear Friends,</font></span></div>
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<div style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, helvetica; margin: 1em 0px;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">This Sunday’s sermon is entitled ““Terrible Times- Don’t Waste Them!” or “God can take your mess and make it into your message.” (Joel Osteen) or “Don’t let evil defeat you, but defeat evil with good.” and deals with concepts from The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s teaching and practice. </font><font color="#000000">It’s a yearly repeat sermon.</font><font color="#000000"> </font><font color="#000000">Here it is:</font></font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">(Part 2)</span></font></div>
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<div style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, helvetica; margin: 1em 0px;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">Bringing it down to the nitty-gritty of life, how do we do this? </font><font color="#000000">Do we let evil people walk all over us?</font><font color="#000000"> </font><font color="#000000">Of course not.</font><font color="#000000"> </font><font color="#000000">As Christians, our motivation for an action is what is most important.</font><font color="#000000"> </font><font color="#000000">If a crazed gunman started shooting children at our neighborhood school, what should law-enforcement do?</font><font color="#000000"> </font><font color="#000000">They should stop him- using as much force as necessary, even if it meant killing him.</font><font color="#000000"> </font><font color="#000000">Why?</font><font color="#000000"> </font><font color="#000000">To get revenge?</font><font color="#000000"> </font><font color="#000000">No- to stop the violence, the killing of innocent children.</font><font color="#000000"> </font><font color="#000000">Christians have no business getting revenge- only stopping evil and bringing the guilty to justice.</font><font color="#000000"> </font><font color="#000000">If we try to get revenge, we will participate with Satan in destroying our own spirit.</font><font color="#000000"> </font><font color="#000000">The Rt. Rev. Nathan Baxter, former dean of the National Cathedral in Washington DC and now bishop of Central Pennsylvania, expresses this idea well when he stated, “As we act, we must not become the evil we deplore.”</font><font color="#000000"> </font></font></span></div>
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<div style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, helvetica; margin: 1em 0px;"><font face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000">FIFTH PRINCIPLE: </font></span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000">Don’t waste terrible times! </font><font color="#000000">When someone does something terrible to you, or when encountering a ghastly life tragedy- don’t waste it!</font><font color="#000000"> </font><font color="#000000">What do I mean?</font><font color="#000000"> </font><font color="#000000">Think about it.</font><font color="#000000"> </font><font color="#000000">Think about the huge negative energy generated by evil experience.</font><font color="#000000"> </font><font color="#000000">That energy can be redirected, by your skill and obedience to our Lord, as positive power for God and for good.</font><font color="#000000"> </font><font color="#000000">You don’t believe me?</font><font color="#000000"> </font><font color="#000000">The best example of this is the cross.</font><font color="#000000"> </font><font color="#000000">What worse catastrophe could Satan throw at us than having people execute God’s son naked on a garbage heap?</font><font color="#000000"> </font><font color="#000000">And yet, through Jesus’ obedience- came the glorious resurrection, eternal life, salvation, fullness-of-living for all who would accept it.</font><font color="#000000"> </font><font color="#000000">The Chinese character for calamity is a combination of characters- crisis and opportunity- same idea.</font><font color="#000000"> </font><font color="#000000">So my challenge to us today is, since we’ve already lived through the crisis (I hope), find the opportunity.</font><font color="#000000"> </font></span></font></div>
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<div style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, helvetica; margin: 1em 0px;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">I’m going to close with a very familiar story- almost a parable- that I use at just about every funeral, but it’s worth repeating. </font><font color="#000000">This story illustrates using crises and mistakes for positives.</font><font color="#000000"> </font><font color="#000000">Before I retired from teaching, Mr. Spencer Porter was often the art teacher assigned to work with my fifth grade students.</font><font color="#000000"> </font><font color="#000000">He was one of the best art teachers I have ever seen.</font><font color="#000000"> </font><font color="#000000">If the youngsters were doing art on paper, he would start passing out the supplies, and you could bet that by the time the last student got a paper, some of the first students were already waving their hands.</font><font color="#000000"> </font><font color="#000000">“Mr. Porter,” they would say- “Mr. Porter, I messed up my paper.</font><font color="#000000"> </font><font color="#000000">I need a new one.”</font><font color="#000000"> </font><font color="#000000">Mr. Porter would answer, “Turn it over and use the back.”</font><font color="#000000"> </font><font color="#000000">Within a few minutes, the hands would start to wave again.</font><font color="#000000"> </font><font color="#000000">“Mr. Porter, Mr. Porter, I messed up the back too!” they would lament.</font><font color="#000000"> </font><font color="#000000">Spencer Porter’s answer- “I’m not giving you another paper.</font><font color="#000000"> </font><font color="#000000">Now is your chance to become an artist and really do art. </font><font color="#000000"> </font><font color="#000000">Look at your paper on the front, and look at your paper on the back, and figure out what your can turn your mistakes into.”</font><font color="#000000"> </font><font color="#000000">My friends, some of the most amazing artwork came from those students, because their “mistakes” forced them to think outside the box, be creative, and try new solutions to what they thought were impossible problems.</font><font color="#000000"> </font><font color="#000000">I only hope they are continuing to apply that kind of thinking to their lives today, and I hope we learn from their example.</font><font color="#000000"> </font><font color="#000000">The crises we face in our world today, plus those we face every day in the normal demands of living, require fresh, Godly, Gospel solutions and the sure knowledge that with God as our guide, mistakes are simply lessons- lessons to be learned and used for the Kingdom.</font></font></span></div>
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<div style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, helvetica; margin: 1em 0px;"><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 web site under “Sermons & Stuff”. The address is: </font><a target="_blank" href="http://www.stpaulsepisag.org/" style="color: blue; cursor: pointer;"><u><font color="#0000ff" face="Times New Roman"></font></u></a><u><font color="#0000ff" face="Times New Roman"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.stpaulsepisag.org/" style="color: blue; cursor: pointer;">http://www.stpaulsepisag.org</a></font></u><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> .</font></span></div>
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<div style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, helvetica; margin: 1em 0px;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">Blessed preaching,</font></span></div>
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<div style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, helvetica; margin: 1em 0px;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">Judy Boli</font></span></div>
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<div style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, helvetica; margin: 1em 0px;"><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="font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, helvetica; margin: 1em 0px;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">Saginaw, Michigan</font></span></div>
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