<html><body><div>Part two of the draft</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><font face="Arial" size="2"> Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?</font><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I will, with God's help.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I will, with God's help.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I will, with God's help.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I will, with God's help.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I will, with God's help.<sup>1<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></sup></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>O.K. sign here.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The promises we took and which we affirm were not only for the times when it seemed convenient. They were given especially for those times when it would be difficult, and, without preparation, without keeping these promises at the forefront of our minds and hearts, it was, is, and will be then that we may start to run into trouble so easily and so quickly, and, unfortunately, so quietly and unobtrusively.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>THAT’S</u></b> what Joshua was emphasizing. When you and I are among people we know and like, we don’t really have to think about how to behave. Well, we <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>DO</u></b>. Behaviour matters. Behaviour should <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>ALWAYS </u></b>be appropriate. Whomever we’re with, it’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>NOT</u></b> O.K. to relax standards and then try to say, “I was only joking”, or “Can’t you take a joke?” Most of the time, though, we know how to behave among those we like … most of the time.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It’s among the others that we have to remember our promises. It’s about the people whom we don’t know so well, for instance, those who are of an ethnicity, or racial group different that our own; it’s among those who may have personalities or habits that distinguish them from us; it’s about people who don’t do the same things that we do, or value what we do, that we have to learn to recognize that they too are children of God, and have probably, in their own way, made the same or similar promises which we have.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It‘s for them and with them that we need to practice our promises most. Besides being how we live in the here and now, how we live out our promises defines how we’re doing our preparation for God’s kindom.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This can seem such a drag, though. It may seem that we spend all of our time in preparation, and not much actually enjoying the final performance. It can be like spending too much time and energy rehearsing with a choir, but then skipping the actual concert. But this isn’t what God is into. God wants us to be able to do at least two things.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>First, we need to sharpen our vision so that we can have as clear a picture of our goal as we can. Sometimes we get sloppy with this, though. Sometimes we treat thinking about where we’re headed in too casual a way. “God is good,” we say and, of course, we’re absolutely right. But God isn’t a magician who pulls incredibly surprising things out of a hat. God knows, like just about everybody else, that you can only pull out of the hat what’s been put into that hat in the first place. Rabbits don’t grow on trees!</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Then, secondly, no matter what we’re planning – a Bazaar, a family dinner or outing, a concert, eternal life; no matter what we’re planning, empty hearts, empty minds, empty souls won’t take us too far. And if we’re talking about eternal life, then we’re dealing with something pretty important.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Of course, there <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>ARE</u></b> some who think that God always picks up the slack, and this is true, up to a point. Jesus pointed out that God is incredibly generous, that’s how God’s love overflows. Yet, in His interaction with those who seemed to be in charge, or thought themselves in charge, Jesus also pointed out that in order to be this generous, God needs at least <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>SOME</u></b>thing with which to start.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>There are also some people who say that every last one of us comes with some kind of a stamp upon us. There are some who feel that they’re already registered as “saved”. So this more or less relieves them of the responsibility of getting their hands dirty by preparing, by interacting with everyone in creation, by accepting responsibilities – responsibilities even if <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>WE</u></b> didn’t create the crises we see in our faith and social communities both here and around the world; we have responsibilities for responding to any and every crises just because – because of what we’re promised. <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“O Jesus, I have promised to serve you to the end:”<sup> 2<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></sup>Thank goodness we’re not singing <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>THAT</u></b> hymn this morning! </span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Oh! Wait!! We <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:
normal"><u>ARE</u></b>!!!</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>This belief that we’ll have God’s blessing no matter how we behave I<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>SN’T</u></b> how we should see things, at least in our Episcopal tradition. The problem with thinking about our behavior is that if we <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>DON’T</u></b> react, to reach out to bring healing, and comfort, and hope to whomever we see or about whom we hear, then we’re condemning part of God’s creation as being worthless.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>This makes today’s parable from Jesus so heart wrenching. We <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:
normal"><u>LOVE</u></b> it when, perhaps in the privacy of our own homes, we talk about come-uppance, that <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>NOT</u></b> bringing enough spare oil means that some people deserve their fate, that it’s not <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>OUR</u></b> problem, because <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>WE</u></b> need all the oil we have; until we remember that oil, for the hearers of Jesus’ story, would register in their minds immediately. They’d understand that “oil” means “righteousness”, which equals “good deeds”.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>So <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>NOW</u></b> we see what’s going on. We <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>DO</u></b> have a choice <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>NOT</u></b> to make these promises, but we <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>DO</u></b> make them. We’re affirming that we’ll use every ounce of our energy until our last breath on behalf of others, regardless of who they are, how thoughtful, or thoughtless, or careless, how wealthy or impoverished, how – I don’t need to say more. It simply doesn’t matter who the other is, how the other looks, even how the other behaves.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>We prepare for eternal life by being ready.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>And November is just around the corner.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'> </span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>NOTES:</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style='margin: 0px; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>[1]</span></span></span></span></span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><font size="2"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">“Holy Baptism, Book of Common Prayer”,</i> Church Publishing Inc., New York. © Pages 302-5 </font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><font size="2"> </font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>2</span></span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">“Hymnal 1982”,</i> Church Publishing Inc., New York. © 1982 Hymn number 655</span></p></div><div><b><br></b></div><div><br></div></body></html>