<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></head><body><div>Forwarded: </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div id="composer_signature"><div style="font-size:85%;color:#575757" dir="auto">Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device</div></div><div><br></div><div style="font-size:100%;color:#000000"><!-- originalMessage --><div>-------- Original message --------</div><div>From: Judy <judy_boli@ecunet.org> </div><div>Date: 7/29/17 6:46 PM (GMT-05:00) </div><div>To: Propertalk <propertalk.topic@ecunet.org> </div><div>Subject: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Proper 12A: "Thy Kingdom Come" </div><div><br></div></div><div dir="ltr">
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">Dear Friends,</font></span></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">This Sunday’s sermon is entitled “Thy Kingdom Come” and
deals with the Gospel (Matthew 13: 31-33, 44-52).<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Here it is: </font></span></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman">“Thy Kingdom Come”- where’s that from?<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Sure, the Lord’s Prayer.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>We heard Jesus teaching about God’s Kingdom
in today’s gospel.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This morning, I’d
like us to look at the that very familiar phrase, so when we say that beloved prayer
later on in our liturgy and when we say it this evening before we go to bed, it
will have even greater meaning.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></font></font></font></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">Have you ever visited a new car showroom or watched
automobile commercials on TV and dreamed? <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I wonder if the Kingdom of God is like a
beautiful new automobile- full of promise and excitement.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Did you hear the story of the couple who
needed a new car?<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>He wanted a tough,
rugged truck, but she wanted a pretty little sports car.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Finally, the wife figured out how to get her
pretty little car.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Her birthday was
coming up in a few weeks, so she told him, “I just want something that goes
from 0 to 200 in just a few seconds.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Now
surprise me.”<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Her husband did just that.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>He did get her something that goes from 0 to
200 in a few seconds, and she really was surprised!<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>What was it?<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>A bathroom scale!<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>They went to a
marriage counselor the very next day!</font></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">Jesus said the Kingdom of God is like- not a car, but a
mustard seed- strange, but true.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Years
ago, someone planted the seed, the God seed, in your life.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>How did you first become a Christian?<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Who first told you about Jesus, got you
baptized, started you going to church?<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Maybe that seed took root right away, or maybe it sat there in your mind
for a while; but when the time was right, it took root and here you are.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>That seed which started so very small, is in
process of blossoming into a mighty tree strong enough to withstand whatever
storms life throws at you.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Jesus is
right.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The Kingdom of God is like a
seed.</font></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">Jesus also said that the Kingdom of God is like yeast in
three large batches of flour (actually about 80 pounds of flour- enough to make
bread for 100-150 people).<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>You’ve seen
this at work in your own life and the lives of others. Think of the times the
God used one willing person to bring about His will in a family or a group or a
class or a nation.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Moses was the yeast
that empowered the children of Israel to escape from Egypt and travel through
the dessert to the Promised Land.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Harriet
Tubman and other (mostly anonymous) underground railroad conductors- they were the
yeast that empowered American slaves to claim their freedom, in spite of huge
adversity.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The Rev. Martin Luther King,
Jr. was the yeast that started our great country in its march toward racial and
social justice.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>God uses people as His
yeast to bring forth His will.</font></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman">Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is like treasure
someone happens to find in a field or a pearl someone finds in a jewelry shop.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>That person makes purchasing that field or
pearl his or her highest priority.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>God’s
will doesn’t just happen.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>God uses
people who put God first, who make God their highest priority.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></font></font></font></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman">Finally, Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is like a net
full of fish.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>What’s he saying
here?<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The church is like the net, and
Jesus is saying that everyone is welcome.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>No one should ever pick and choose who’s welcome in their church.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It’s not our business.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The angels decide at the close of the age, in
other words when we die, if we truly are part of the Kingdom.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></font></font></font></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px 16px 48px; line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.5in;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">The Kingdom of God is
like a mustard seed- keep fertilizing and watering it.</font></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px 16px 48px; line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.5in;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">The Kingdom of God is
like yeast in 80 pounds of flour- speak God’s Words of justice, peace and love-
no matter what the cost.</font></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px 16px 48px; line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.5in;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">The Kingdom of God is
like treasure in a field or a pearl in a jewelry shop.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Spend what you must of time and energy to
achieve it.</font></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px 16px 48px; line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.5in;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">The Kingdom of God is
like various kinds of fish in a net.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The
ground is level at the foot of the cross.</font></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px 16px 48px; line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.5in;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px 16px 48px; line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.5in;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">Thy Kingdom come, O
Lord!<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Amen.</font></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">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 href="http://www.stpaulsepisag.org/"><u><font color="#0000ff">http://www.stpaulsepisag.org</font></u></a><font color="#000000"> .</font></font></span></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">Blessed preaching,</font></span></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">Judy Boli</font></span></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">St. Paul's Episcopal Church</font></span></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">Saginaw, Michigan</font></span></p>
</div>
<p></p>
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