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From: Judy <judy_boli@ecunet.org><br>
To: Propertalk <propertalk.topic@ecunet.org><br>
Sent: Sat, Mar 31, 2018 9:10 pm<br>
Subject: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Easter: “Easter- Claim Life!”<br>
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<div 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></div>
<div style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></div>
<div 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 “Easter- Claim Life!”
and deals with the gospel (John 20: 1-18).<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Here it is: </font></span></div>
<div style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">Happy Easter!<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Did anyone get a chocolate bunny yet today?<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>A chocolate egg?<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>A chocolate ANYTHING?<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Did you hear the story of the little girl who
visited her friend’s house the day before Easter?<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>She and her friend decided they’d try to find
the Easter candy ahead of time.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>They
found some and ate it, but it really tasted strange.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Later at home, she confessed to her mother
what she had done and said, “Mommy”, I do have one question I need to ask
you.”<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“What, dear?” asked her mother.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“Can chocolates walk?” asked the child.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“No, dear,” her mother says. “Of course
not.”<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“Oh-oh!,” the child exclaimed, “I
guess I’d better go brush my teeth, because I think I just ate a
cockroach.”<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Don’t settle for the fake
Easter- the one with chocolate bunnies and cream eggs and jelly beans and
baskets.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Enjoy that one, but claim the
real thing, the Easter with resurrection power!<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Let’s look at what happened.</font></span></div>
<div style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">We are all aware of how atrociously painful Jesus’
last days were, but- if you think about it, his friends had also lived in
crisis.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The entire week had been
unbelievably bad for all of Jesus’ friends- actually going from terrible to
worse.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>They’d watched everyone turn
against him; with even his disciples leaving him to face his worst times alone.
They saw the trial, the beatings, the mocking, the torture, his execution, and
his burial. <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Worse yet, because the
Sabbath was approaching, they couldn’t even give Jesus a proper burial- his
body had to be just quickly placed in the grave and locked in with a huge
stone.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Early Sunday morning, the women
went to anoint the body of Jesus.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>When they
got there, the stone was rolled away, the body was gone, and the risen Christ
appeared to the very first disciple- Mary Magdaline!</font></span></div>
<div style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">That’s what happened.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>What’s it to you?<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Let me tell you
what Easter means to me.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It’s not just
the door to the tomb that’s open- LIFE is open!<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Check it out. From the word “OPEN: </font></span></div>
<div style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">“O”- I have an open door to heaven!<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>I’ll see Fr. Bill again!<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Thank
you Jesus!</font></span></div>
<div style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">“P”- I have power for living and loving and overcoming now!<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Thank you Jesus!</font></span></div>
<div style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">“E”- EVERYONE!<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Jesus’ overcoming
death and offering full, meaningful life is for everyone- just accept Him.
Thank you Jesus!</font></span></div>
<div style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">“N”- Negatives can’t overwhelm me- can’t keep me stuck!<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>By the power of Jesus’ death and
resurrection, we CAN OVERCOME! </font></span></div>
<div style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.5in;"><font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;">So, are you an Easter person
yet?<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>If not, why not become one!<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Wishing won’t do it.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Living in the past won’t do it.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Making a decision to live as Jesus’ Easter
people will.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;">Did you hear the story of the depressed man and his
friend who tried to cheer him up?<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The
man said to his friend: “Say, you look depressed. What are you thinking
about?”<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“My future,” was the quick
answer.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“What makes it look so
hopeless?”<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“My past.” </span></font></font></div>
<div style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">There- did I get you thinking?<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>WE’RE NOT HOPELESS!<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Let me close with a final story that perhaps
will allow this Easter to become a turning point in your life, because if you
do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I’m going to share with you a story I haven’t
told since ChristMass, 2016, but its message fits our Easter focus-<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>living life to its fullest under God.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It’s the goldfish story.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Remember what happened to Clarence Harvey
(Congress of 1988) when he was young?<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>This is how he tells it.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“When I
was a little kid, I had a pet goldfish.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>One summer as I was packing to spend three months with relatives at the
lake up north, my dad said, ‘Take this goldfish with you.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I don't want to take care of it this
summer.’<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>One day after we got up to the
lake, I decided to become a liberator.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I
went down to the dock with my fishbowl and gave my fish a little talk.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>‘I am going to throw you in this lake,’ I
said.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>‘You will be free.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>You can eat well here and grow up to be a big
fish.’<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>But when I put the goldfish in
the water at the end of the dock, it stayed right there.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I backed off, thinking the fish was attracted
to my shadow.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>But when I moved back to
be sure it was gone, it was still right there.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>I even threw a stone into the water to scare it away, but that goldfish
just swam around it.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>When I came back
after lunch, the goldfish was still there, swimming in the same spot.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I sat down and thought, ‘That fish should be
free.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It's got the whole lake to swim
in.’ Suddenly, I saw a big ripple in the water - a huge ripple.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Whop!<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>A big bass swallowed my little goldfish.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Later in life someone told me that a goldfish, once it has lived in a
circumference of a certain size, has been conditioned to think small.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It will stay there until it dies - swimming
around in that small circle.”<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Easter
offers a new perspective.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Uncondition
yourself!<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Don’t let life swallow you
up!<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In the name of the living Christ-
break free!</font></span></div>
<div style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">One of our old thoughts for the week said, “Life’s not
the way it’s supposed to be. It’s the way it is.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The way you cope with it is what makes the
difference” (Anonymous).<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>My friends-
don’t let your past determine your future!<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Your past is the diving board, God’s Easter power is the spring in the
springboard to your future.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Easter power
reminds us that the future belongs to God and you.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Think BIG!<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>If you can conceive it, and God wants you to do it, the sky’s the limit;
and the Risen Christ can give you the power to overcome!<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Jesus rose, so make Easter choices and follow
Him.</font></span></div>
<div style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></div>
<div 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 target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.stpaulsepisag.org/"><u><font color="#0000ff"></font></u></a><u><font color="#0000ff"><a href="http://www.stpaulsepisag.org" target="_blank">http://www.stpaulsepisag.org</a></font></u><font color="#000000"> .</font></font></span></div>
<div style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></div>
<div 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></div>
<div 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></div>
<div 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></div>
<div 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></div>
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