<font color='black' size='4' face='Times New Roman, Times, serif'>Forwarded: <br>
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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: Sat, Mar 25, 2017 5:57 pm<br>
Subject: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Lent 4A<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 color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">This Sunday’s sermon is entitled “The Egg, the Carrot,
and the Coffee” or “Once I Was Blind, but Now I See” and deals with all the
lessons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here it is: </font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"><font size="3">When
the prophet Isaiah quoted God as saying, “My ways are not your ways, and my
thoughts are not your thoughts,” his words really describe today’s Bible
lessons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In each one, we find God
choosing someone to do His work- someone we probably wouldn’t dream of
choosing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the Old Testament lesson (1</font><sup><font size="2">st</font></sup><font size="3">
Samuel 16: 1-13), we listen as Jesse shows off all of his sons to the prophet
Samuel- actually ALMOST all of his sons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>One by one, they paraded before the prophet, and one by one- Samuel
said- “No, this isn’t the person God has chosen to be king.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Remember, it was only when pressed that Jesse
“remembered” one more son- just a kid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That kid grew to be the mighty King David, the greatest king Israel had ever
seen; the root from whom the messiah, Jesus, developed.</font></font></font></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt; line-height: normal;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">Did you hear the true story of
the lady and the blind man (sent in to Ann Landers and published in the
Washington Post October 13,
1998)?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mrs. Smith was
stark-naked and just about to step into the shower when the doorbell rang. She
hollered, “Who is it?” He shouted back, “It's the blind man.” She figured it
was safe, so she opened the door. He looked at her in shock and asked, “Where
do you want me to hang these blinds, lady?”</font></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">Then
there was the blind man in today’s gospel (John 9: 1-38) - not a man hired to
hang window shades, but a person with the handicapping condition of
blindness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everyone knew a blind man was
useless, yet he was the person who taught the learned Pharisees a thing or two.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When he said in verse 25: “Once I was blind,
but now I see,” his wisdom in recognizing who Jesus was put the ignorance of
the Pharisees to shame.</font></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">Finally
there was Paul, who wrote the wise advice to the Ephesian Church
(Ephesians 5:15-16)
reminding them to “act like people with good sense and not like fools. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are evil times, so make every minute
count.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who was Paul to tell anyone what
to do?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As you recall, he was a mass murderer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had as many Christians as possible
executed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, he was the one who
held the coats while Stephen, the first Christian martyr, was stoned to
death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He reminds me of another person
who wrote something- actually one of our favorite hymns- John Newton, the
author of “Amazing Grace.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Paul was a
murderer, so was John Newton.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
captained slave ships, throwing sick and dying Africans overboard so they
wouldn’t inconvenience his sailors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
later was converted and became a priest in England in our own Anglican
Communion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His friendship was one of the
influences that converted William Wilberforce and then convinced him as a
Christian man to work in the English government to abolish the slave
trade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wilberforce was the prime person
to get the slave trade stopped.</font></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">Why
am I telling you about these people?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Because each one speaks to us about how God can use everyone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps you are (or you know) a discouraged
David- someone whose family disrespects them over and over, someone whose
self-concept is down around their knees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Tell them (or yourself) that out of little acorns, mighty oak trees
grow, so forget about what other people say and be all that you can be.</font></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">Or
perhaps you have a handicapping condition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Maybe you (or someone you love) are too fat, thin, crippled, slow in
school, old, young, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Recall how the
blind man taught the Pharisees a thing or two and remember that God doesn’t
make junk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t worry about what you
can’t do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Focus on what you can do for
the Lord.</font></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">Or
perhaps you (or someone you love) are a Paul or a John Newton.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You’ve done some heavy sinning and think God
can’t use a sinner like you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You may
even have heard people say they’re too sinful to set foot in church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Remember that John Newton didn’t stop
captaining slave ships as soon as he was converted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His awareness of sin grew on him until he
gave his whole life to Jesus, was ordained, wrote “Amazing Grace,” and
discipled William Wilberforce to overcome slavery in the British Isles.</font></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">In
closing, I’m going to remind you of a story I’ve told a number of times. A
daughter complained to her father about her life and how things were so hard
for her. Maybe she was like David and not respected by her family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe she was like the blind man and had a
handicapping condition of some sort.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Perhaps she had made some bad choices and was now living through the
consequences of her behavior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whatever-
she told him that she did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to
give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as soon as one
problem was solved, a new one arose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
had decided that her fate was to lead a disappointing life and that her lot in
life was to never succeed at anything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Her father, a chef, took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with
water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to a boil. In one he
placed a carrot, in the second he placed an egg, and in the last he placed
ground coffee beans. He let them boil for about twenty minutes, then fished
everything out of the boiling water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Turning to her he asked. "Darling, what do you see?"<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she
replied. He brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and
noted that they were soft. He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After
pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, he asked her
to sip the coffee. She smiled as she tasted it and smelled its rich aroma. She
humbly asked. "What does it mean Father?"<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He explained that each of them had faced the
same adversity, boiling water, but each reacted differently. The carrot went in
strong, hard, and unrelenting. But after being subjected to the boiling water,
it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had
protected its liquid interior. But after sitting through the boiling water, its
inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they
were in the boiling water, they had changed the water. </font></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">Like
the carrot, do adverse circumstances weaken you, make you lose your commitment
to God, and give up?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or like the egg, do
adverse circumstances harden you and make you unloving and evil?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hope not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I hope you are like the coffee beans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I hope your faith and love and commitment enrich those adverse
circumstances by the power of the Spirit until they are transformed into a
sweet-smelling gift to our Lord. </font></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" rel="noopener noreferrer" 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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