<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></head><body><div>Part 1</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 Samsung Galaxy smartphone.</div></div><div><br></div><div style="font-size:100%;color:#000000"></div><div style="font-size:100%;color:#000000"><!-- originalMessage --><div>-------- Original message --------</div><div>From: Judy <judy_boli@ecunet.org> </div><div>Date: 19/01/2019 7:23 pm (GMT-05:00) </div><div>To: Propertalk <propertalk.topic@ecunet.org> </div><div>Subject: [propertalk.topic] My yearly Rev. Dr. M.L.King sermon: "Don't let evol defeat you, but defeat evil with good- how to..." </div><div><br></div></div><div dir="ltr">
<p style="line-height:normal;mso-mirror-indents:yes"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Dear Friends,</span></p>
<p style="line-height:normal;mso-mirror-indents:yes"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> </span></p>
<p style="line-height:normal;mso-mirror-indents:yes"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">This Sunday’s sermon is entitled “Terrible Times-
Don’t Waste Them!” or “God can take your mess and make it into your message.”
(Joel Osteen) or “Don’t let evil defeat you, but defeat evil with good.”
(Romans 12:19) and in honor of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, deals with my
thoughts on the theology of dealing with evil<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>Here it is: <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></p>
<p style="line-height:normal;mso-mirror-indents:yes"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> </span></p>
<p style="line-height:normal;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">I’m sure you remember 9-11.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>My thinking about the presence of evil in the
world and how we deal with it as God’s people got serious after watching those
awful events.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I’ve shared the teachings
in this sermon with you at least every year since then.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>We have our own difficult, painful times- in
fact, some of us are living through them right now.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>A bit over a year ago we buried Mr. Richard
Vaughn.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>A few months ago we buried Ms.
Damika Henderson.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>And now a few weeks
ago we buried Mrs. Felicia Johnson-Martin.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>Our country is in an embarrassing shut-down that might affect food assistance,
security, etc. if it continues.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>We have
members struggling with cancer and other illnesses.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>We have families working to cope with the
death of loved ones.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>We have people with
money problems, moving problems, life problems, relationship problems,
etc.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>In other words- join the human
race.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>This kind of pain is part of the
human condition.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>St. Paul has advice for
us when we face situations like these.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>In Romans 12: 19 he says, “Don’t let evil defeat you, but defeat evil
with good.”<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I know how devoted you are
to your Lord, so I’m sure that this is how you intend to live your life.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Me too.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>The problem is, in frustrating, confusing times like these- how do you
know how to defeat evil with good?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>We’d
be glad to do as God wants, but how do we know what that is?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>For me, one of the blessings of having lived
through pain and suffering (as well as wonderful times) is the chance to think
through and refine my own personal theology of evil based on scripture, and
especially on Gospel.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I’d like to share
it with you again this morning.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>As you
may remember, I see five basic principles in our dealing with evil. </span></p>
<p style="line-height:normal;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> </span></p>
<p style="line-height:normal;text-autospace:none"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt">FIRST PRINCIPLE: We mustn’t delude ourselves about the
power of the enemy.</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Some years ago, I asked our Sunday school
youngsters to tell me what Satan looked like.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>You know what they said: a little man in a red jump suit with a tail, a
pitchfork, fire coming out of his fingernails (too many video games!), and
horns- either red or black- couldn’t decide which.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Wouldn’t that be nice- if we could always
recognize him and his greatest desire was to get us to swear or tell a lie-
don’t we all wish it were that simple.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>The devil (or Satan) is just the name we give “the evil powers of this
world that seek to corrupt and destroy the creatures of God”- i.e. US!<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>(“Book of Common Prayer”- Service of Holy
Baptism, p. 302)<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Satan’s purpose is to
close our open minds; turn our loving hearts into cold, hateful hearts of
stone; make us suspicious of everyone and everything; divide us; enslave us by
fear; and diminish our spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></p>
<p style="line-height:normal;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> </span></p>
<p style="line-height:normal;text-autospace:none"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt">SECOND PRINCIPLE: Evil is highly contagious-</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> look how evil spreads, worse than smallpox or
tuberculosis.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>At the checkout line, a
lady said, “I just can’t see why they (the terrorists) hate us so!”<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I know.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>Among other reasons, one of them goes back to the Jewish holocaust in
World War II.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>When the war was over, our
side- the winning side- officially established a homeland for the Jews in
Palestine and empowered them to become a nation.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I have to be suspicious that one of the
reasons this happened was plain and simple anti-Semitism....they didn’t want
all those Jewish people in their land.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I
remember, as a little girl growing up in Detroit, seeing ad after ad in the
classified section of the Detroit News: “Apartment for rent- no pets, no
children, no Jews.”<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The problem of
giving them a homeland in Palestine was that someone else already lived there-
the Palestinians.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The Jews said God
promised the land to them through their ancestor Abraham (God did, but the
Palestinians are also Abraham’s descendants.)<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>The Palestinians said it was their land; hatred festered; and Satan
sowed the seed for the poisonous harvest that after all these years we are now
reaping.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Unfortunately, it’s not just
God’s Kingdom that can start with a mustard seed and grow into a mighty tree-
if we water and inflame the hatred, Satan’s can also.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Unless we take preventative measures, what we
sow is what we get</span></p>
<p style="line-height:normal;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> </span></p>
<p style="line-height:normal;text-autospace:none"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt">THIRD PRINCIPLE: Jesus’ teachings, especially those in
the sermon on the mount, are the vaccination against being destroyed when evil
is thrown at us.</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I was talking to a Bible teacher- definitely
someone who should know better, who said he thought we should just go in and
bomb the you-know-what out of any nation that allows terrorists to live within
their borders.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>He justified his opinion
by saying that the Bible is full of war- just look at the Old Testament.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>True, but Jesus came to fulfill the old
covenant.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The Old Testament was written
for the people of God when they were just beginning their journey.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>“An eye for an eye” was a necessity to limit
violence- so a whole family couldn’t be wiped out for the sin of one
member.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>You don’t give a toddler and a
fifty-five year old grandmother or grandfather the same rules.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Jesus said he had come to fulfill the
law.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>In fact, he said, “You have heard
it said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,’ but I tell you- love
(i.e. want what is best for) your enemy.”<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>Remember, he’s not talking about love- a feeling, but love- an action, a
choice.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>St. Paul reminds us that God
says: “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.”<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height:normal;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> </span></p>
<p style="line-height:normal;text-autospace:none"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt">FOURTH PRINCIPLE: Looked at through God’s eyes, the
power for who wins this round- God or Satan, is not in the hands of the evil
person or group, even though they think and act as if they are in charge.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Power is in the hands of the VICTIM.</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>It is the
victim who allows God to take charge of the encounter.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. knew that.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Why?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>Because it is the victim who determines the response to the evil.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Satan can do nothing if the victim responds
as a Christian and refuses to spread anger and hate, but instead works to solve
the initial problem that the devil used to start the whole evil mess.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Look how this principle works.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Since Satan counts on being able to spread
his evil by using one evil person (or a group of evil people) to get something
going, he must pick his person carefully.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>The more negatives emotionally and physically this person or group can
cause the better.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The first incident
only gets the ball going.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The power for
good or evil is in the hands of the victim.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>Look- if an evil person throws a ball of nasty garbage at me, I have a
choice.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>If I can’t dodge it, the
instinctual human choice is to catch it and start throwing it back, letting it
splatter at everyone within range.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>In
fact, I might even miss and get a whole lot of innocent people.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>What happens next?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Those on the other side do the same.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Before long, following our natural
tendencies, we are all a filthy stinking mess.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>However, we are not called to follow our natural tendencies- we are much
more than the highest biological entity on this planet.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>We are called to be children of God, and
there is a better way.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Instead, we might
catch the nasty ball and hold it until we figure out how to dispose of it with
a minimum of damage- I might even use it to fertilize our church garden. thus
taking care of the problem, but not spreading the filth.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>If we are strong enough, courageous enough,
have enough Spirit power, the contamination stops before it corrupts us or spreads
to anybody else.</span></p>
<p style="line-height:normal;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> 《》</span></p>
<p style="line-height:normal;tab-stops:.25in;
mso-mirror-indents:yes"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">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: <a href="http://www.stpaulsepisag.org/">http://www.stpaulsepisag.org</a> .</span></p>
<p style="line-height:normal;mso-mirror-indents:yes"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> </span></p>
<p style="line-height:normal;mso-mirror-indents:yes"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Blessed preaching,</span></p>
<p style="line-height:normal;mso-mirror-indents:yes"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Judy Boli</span></p>
<p style="line-height:normal;mso-mirror-indents:yes"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">St. Paul's Episcopal Church</span></p>
<p style="line-height:normal;mso-mirror-indents:yes"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Saginaw, Michigan</span></p>
</div>
<p></p>
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