<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></head><body ><div>Forwarded: Part 1 of 2</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><div style="font-size:8px;color:#575757">From my Android phone on T-Mobile. The first nationwide 4G network.</div></div><br><br>-------- Original message --------<br>From: Judy <judy_boli@ecunet.org> <br>Date:01/30/2016 10:03 PM (GMT-05:00) <br>To: Propertalk <propertalk.topic@ecunet.org> <br>Subject: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Epiphany 4C <br><br><div dir="ltr"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal; mso-mirror-indents: yes;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">Dear Friends,</font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal; mso-mirror-indents: yes;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal; mso-mirror-indents: yes;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">This Sunday’s sermon is entitled “All You Need Is
Love” or “Love Makes the World Go Round” and deals with the epistle (1st
Corinthians 13:1-13).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></font><font color="#000000">Here it is: </font></font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal; mso-mirror-indents: yes;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">We just heard the story of how Jesus’ family and neighbors in his home
town of Nazareth tried to throw him off of a cliff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></font><font color="#000000">Talk about not liking to hear the Word of
God!</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">It reminds me of the Sunday school
teacher who was trying to teach his five and six year-olds about the Ten
Commandments.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">After explaining the
commandment to honor thy father and thy mother, the teacher asked, “Is there a
commandment that teaches us how to treat our sisters and brothers?”</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">“Sure is!” answered a precocious little girl
with a toddler for a brother.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">“Thou
shalt not kill.”</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">You know how the Bible
says, “A little child shall lead them?”</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000">
</font></span><font color="#000000">Well, the people of Nazareth needed to hear what the little Sunday
school girl said.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">They didn’t want to
hear that God loved those Gentiles, and they surely didn’t want to hear about
Jubilee!</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">They only wanted to hear from
their hometown boy that God loved them, and their fury made them try to throw
God’s gift of love- his own Son- off a cliff.</font></font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">This morning I’d like us to look at what God expects of us in terms of
love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></font><font color="#000000">As you know, English has really
only one word for “love,” but Greek (the language in which the New Testament
was written) has three: “eros”- sexual love, “philia”- friendship love, and
“agape”- Christian love.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">We’re talking about
Christian love- the foundation of a Christian’s relationships.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">One of the best explanations of Christian
love was written by St. Paul when he was so frustrated by the unloving behavior
of his church in Corinth.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">As you recall,
Paul was one of the greatest missionary bishops the world has ever seen.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">He would start a church, get it going
dependably, ordain local leaders, and then travel on to start another church
somewhere else.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">As soon as he left his
church in Corinth, the bad news started coming.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000">
</font></span><font color="#000000">It seems that the Corinthian church had divided into four cliques; those
who had been baptized by Peter, those who had been baptized by Apollos, those
who had been baptized by Paul himself, and those who spoke in tongues.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Not only did the groups not get along with
each other, but those who spoke in tongues thought they were superior to
everyone else.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">The church was in a bad
way, so Paul (since he couldn’t leave his new church to come in person) sent
them a letter, part of which we read today.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000">
</font></span><font color="#000000">His teachings on love are as true now as they were in the first century,
so let’s look at what God expects of us as his children.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span></font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">He starts by pointing out that no gift is any good to God’s Kingdom
without love- not languages nor cooking nor music nor academics nor having a
charming personality nor understanding the Bible nor prayer nor being the star
quarterback on one of the Super Bowl teams.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></font><font color="#000000">It’s done with love or it’s useless, according to the Bible (1</font><sup><font color="#000000">st</font></sup><font color="#000000">
Corinthians 13:1-2).</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Huge sacrifices for
others are useless unless they are done with the right motivation, and that
motivation is love (1</font><sup><font color="#000000">st</font></sup><font color="#000000"> Corinthians 13:3).</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Haven’t you ever known someone who was always
helping others, even making great sacrificial efforts, but you were suspicious
they had a selfish motivation- trying to buy or control someone else?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">That is an example of exactly this Bible
truth.</font></font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">In fact, it goes further than that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></font><font color="#000000">This is how God, our Creator, made us so our lives would work out
well.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Say I buy a box of cake mix and
decide to make the cake my way.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Instead
of following the directions on the back of the cake mix box, I substitute
vinegar for the milk and use olives and bologna instead of the chocolate
chips.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Is that the cake you want for
your birthday?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">The creator of the cake
mix knows how his cake should be made.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000">
</font></span><font color="#000000">Well, our creator knows how our lives should be made.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">If we live our lives by God’s definition of
love, we will have good lives- if not; all the money in the world won’t make us
happy.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">How many people do you know who
go around cheating their acquaintances, stealing their best friend’s boyfriends
or husbands or girlfriends or wives, gossiping about their neighbors, getting
mad easily and not forgiving, screaming and yelling and cursing at family
members, and on, and on, and on?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">What
kind of lives do they have?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Sure.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">They’re forever working out the consequences
of their behavior- and then they wonder why God doesn’t help them.</font></font></span></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">(Continued in Part 2)</font></font></span></p><ul style="list-style-type: square; direction: ltr;"><li style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; "><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: normal; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; "><span style="font-size: 11pt;">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: <a href="http://www.stpaulsepisag.org/"><u><font color="#0000ff">http://www.stpaulsepisag.org</font></u></a> .</span></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: normal; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; "><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: normal; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; "><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Blessed preaching,</span></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: normal; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; "><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Judy Boli</span></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: normal; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; "><span style="font-size: 11pt;">St. Paul's Episcopal Church</span></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: normal; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; "><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Saginaw, Michigan</span></p></li></ul><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
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