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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 <propertalk.topic@ecunet.org><br>
Sent: Tue, Jul 12, 2016 10:04 pm<br>
Subject: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Proper 11C<br>
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<div 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></div>
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<div 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 “Who Does She Think
She Is!?” or “Be All that You Can Be” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></font><font color="#000000">and
deals with the Gospel (Luke 10:38-42).</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000">
</font></span><font color="#000000">Here it is: </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 face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">This morning, we heard the
extremely familiar episode of the words between Mary and Martha when Jesus
spent time in their home as a dinner guest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></font><font color="#000000">I’m sure you’ve heard sermons about service (emphasis on Martha) and contemplation-
spending time with Jesus (emphasis on Mary).</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000">
</font></span><font color="#000000">I thought about focusing on priorities- God first (Mary), then service
(Martha).</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Let’s examine the Biblical
account to see what other wisdom we can draw from this situation.</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 face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">Martha’s name meant
“mistress of the house,” and in this story she really lived up to her
name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></font><font color="#000000">The episode actually probably
began in Martha’s head.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">She was most
certainly delighted when Jesus accepted their dinner invitation, and she really
wanted this meal to be perfect!</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">I’m sure
she planned dish after dish to impress and delight the Master.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">I’m also sure that Mary helped in the kitchen
with the preparations- until- that is UNTIL Jesus actually came to the door and
started teaching the men.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Mary’s name
means “rebellion,” and she really lived up to her name in this story.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Mary probably heard a little bit of the men’s
conversation and then did something no woman of that day would ever have dared
to do- sit at his feet like a disciple, listen to him, and ask him questions.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Do you remember the bumper sticker from many
years back: “A woman’s place is in the house---of bishops.”</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">People in that culture really believed the
first six words.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Women, as well as
children, were to barely be seen, but certainly not heard, and women really
belonged in the kitchen and the bedroom- period.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">In fact, two common quotations from rabbis of
that period point this out: “It is better to burn the Torah (first five books
of the Bible) than to teach it to a woman,” and “it is better to teach a daughter
to be a prostitute than to teach her the Torah!”</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">You’ve heard the statement: “Knowledge is
power.”</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Here’s just one more example of
the truth of that statement- just as in slavery times, it was illegal to teach
a slave to read, so here in Jesus’ time educating a woman was simply not done.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Young people- get your education- “Knowledge
IS power!”</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span></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 face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">Now, back to the
story.....Martha watched her sister’s behavior with horror- this simply was not
done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></font><font color="#000000">Besides, her family would be the
talk of the town.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">She’d probably never live
down this latest behavior of her little sister.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000">
</font></span><font color="#000000">She went to Jesus and complained- she was doing all the work and Mary
was shirking her responsibility.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Notice
Jesus’ answer: Martha, Martha (her name called two times- pay attention!), you
worry too much.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Only one thing (i.e.-
one dish) is enough.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Put first things
first- ME.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Listen to ME, no matter what
your culture says.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Mary has chosen the
best part- ME, and I’m not sending her away.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000">
</font></span><font color="#000000">To Martha’s credit, we don’t hear about her saying, “O.K.- I won’t worry
about feeding anyone,” and then waiting until the guests’ stomachs start to
growl!</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 face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">That’s what happened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></font><font color="#000000">That’s all we know.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">We really don’t know what Martha did
next.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">We do know, however, that on the
death of her brother Lazarus (John </font><font color="#000000">11:
27</font><font color="#000000">) she made the same confession of faith that Peter did- “Jesus is
the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000">
</font></span><font color="#000000">True to their culture (and ours) Peter gets all the credit and her
statement is usually overlooked.</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 face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">I see two life-lessons for
us in this episode.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></font><font color="#000000">First- watch your
attitude!</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Look at Martha’s
attitude.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Did you hear the story of the
man who was in the express lane at the store quietly fuming?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Completely ignoring the sign, the woman ahead
of him had slipped into the check-out line pushing a cart piled high with groceries.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Imagine his delight when the cashier beckoned
the woman to come forward, looked into the cart and asked sweetly, “So, which
six items would you like to buy?”</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Our
resentment doesn’t usually get taken care of as easily as that, and neither did
Martha’s.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">She resents Mary’s supposed
laziness.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">She resents her sitting at
Jesus’ feet.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">She resents her making a
laughing-stock of their family by her behavior.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000">
</font></span><font color="#000000">My friends, resentment doesn’t work- it will poison our souls and make
us bitter people.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Watch for these
thoughts: “She owes me!</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">He could at
least apologize!”</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">The person who is
treating us this way either doesn’t know or doesn’t care.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Tell them politely (don’t let them pull you
down to their level) and then give it to God.</font><font color="#000000"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>St. Paul</font><font color="#000000">
had advice on how to deal with such situations in Ephesians (</font><font color="#000000">4: 26</font><font color="#000000">-27, 29-30a, 31-32): “Don't get
so angry that you sin.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Don't go to bed
angry and don't give the devil a chance.....Do not use harmful words, but only
helpful words.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Say the right thing at
the right time and help others by what you say.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000">
</font></span><font color="#000000">Don't make God's Spirit sad.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Stop
being bitter and angry and mad at others. Don't yell at one another or curse
each other or ever be rude.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Instead, be
kind and merciful, and forgive others, just as God forgave you because of
Christ.”</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">In other words- drop it; don’t
involve others; work it out; pray it out; don’t give the Devil his due.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Fr. Bill shared a trick with me that he has
personally used for years- write down what (or more likely who) you’re mad at,
scrunch it up, and throw it into the waste basket.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">There- it’s done.</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 face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">The second life-lesson:
don’t let our culture force you in its mold.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></font><font color="#000000">Break the mold.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Be all that you
can be.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Like Mary, claim your right as a
daughter or son of the King, so don’t believe the messages that say you can’t
or it won’t work.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">You are not too dark
or too light, too tall or too short, too male or too female, too old or too
young, too fat or too thin.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">You are not
too anything.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">You were created JUST
RIGHT for who God intended you to be.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">God
made you JUST THE WAY HE WANTED YOU, so don’t disrespect your creator.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">God’s got a “Kingdom puzzle” and He knows
just where He wants you in it.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">With God,
all things are possible.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">If God wants it
and you will work for it, you can do it.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000">
</font></span><font color="#000000">Here’s an example of a real sadness in my life that happens all too
often.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Fr. Bill and I would go out to
lunch frequently, and one of our favorite waitresses was a woman in her mid-forties.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">When we first started going to that
restaurant, she recognized me as her former sixth grade teacher.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">We talked a bit, and I asked her about her
life.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">I remember her as a brilliant
sixth grade student- one of the smartest young people in her class.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Now here she is barely making it, waiting
tables, working two jobs.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Another very
smart student, safety-patrol captain, about the same age- was bussing tables in
the same restaurant- glad to get a job after a prison term for selling
dope.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Don’t get me wrong- there’s
nothing the matter with waiting or bussing tables- all good, honest work, but
maybe God intended (or intends- they’re not too old) for one of them to be the
first woman president or the second Black president or to discover the cure for
AIDS or cancer, but they believed the messages of our society and limited
themselves.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">They are not being all that
they can be, and our society and their own children are the poorer for it.</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 face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">So- from Martha- watch your
attitude.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></font><font color="#000000">From Mary- don’t let our
culture force you into its mold.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">May God
bless us with the power and grace to continually, day by day, be all that we
can be for His sake.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Amen.</font></font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal; mso-mirror-indents: yes; tab-stops: .25in;"><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/"><u><font color="#0000ff" face="Times New Roman"></font></u></a><u><font color="#0000ff" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.stpaulsepisag.org" target="_blank">http://www.stpaulsepisag.org</a></font></u><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> .</font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal; mso-mirror-indents: yes;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">Blessed preaching,</font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal; mso-mirror-indents: yes;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">Judy Boli</font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal; mso-mirror-indents: yes;"><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="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal; mso-mirror-indents: yes;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">Saginaw, Michigan</font></span></div>
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