<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></head><body><div>Part 2: </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">Part 2: </p>
<p style="line-height:normal;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Bringing it down to the nitty-gritty of life, how do
we do this?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Do we let evil people walk
all over us?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Of course not.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>As Christians, our motivation for an action
is what is most important.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>If a crazed
gunman started shooting children at our neighborhood school, what should
law-enforcement do?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>They should stop
him- using as much force as necessary, even if it meant killing him.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Why?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>To get revenge?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>No- to stop the
violence, the killing of innocent children.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>Christians have no business getting revenge- only stopping evil and
bringing the guilty to justice.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>If we
try to get revenge, we will participate with Satan in destroying our own
spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The Rt. Rev. Nathan Baxter,
former dean of the National Cathedral in Washington DC and retired bishop of
Central Pennsylvania, expresses this idea well when he stated, “As we act, we
must not become the evil we deplore.”<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">FIFTH PRINCIPLE: </span></b><span style="font-size:
11.0pt">Don’t waste terrible times!<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>When
someone does something terrible to you, or when encountering a ghastly life
tragedy- don’t waste it!<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>What do I
mean?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Think about it.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Think about the huge negative energy
generated by evil experience.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>That
energy can be redirected, by your skill and obedience to our Lord, as positive
power for God and for good.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>You don’t
believe me?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The best example of this is
the cross.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>What worse catastrophe could
Satan throw at us than having people execute God’s son naked on a garbage heap?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>And yet, through Jesus’ obedience- came the
glorious resurrection, eternal life, salvation, fullness-of-living for all who
would accept it.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The Chinese character
for calamity is a combination of characters- crisis and opportunity- same
idea.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>So my challenge to us today is,
since we’ve already lived through the crisis (I hope), find the opportunity.<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"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">I’m going to close with a very familiar story- almost
a parable- that I use at just about every funeral, but it’s worth
repeating.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>This story illustrates using
crises and mistakes for positives.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>Before I retired from teaching, Mr. Spencer Porter was often the art
teacher assigned to work with my fifth grade students.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>He was one of the best art teachers I have
ever seen.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>If the youngsters were doing
art on paper, he would start passing out the supplies, and you could bet that
by the time the last student got a paper, some of the first students were
already waving their hands.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>“Mr.
Porter,” they would say- “Mr. Porter, I messed up my paper.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I need a new one.”<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Mr. Porter would answer, “Turn it over and
use the back.”<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Within a few minutes, the
hands would start to wave again.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>“Mr.
Porter, Mr. Porter, I messed up the back too!” they would lament.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Spencer Porter’s answer- “I’m not giving you
another paper.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Now is your chance to
become an artist and really do art.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Look
at your paper on the front, and look at your paper on the back, and figure out
what your can turn your mistakes into.”<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>My friends, some of the most amazing artwork came from those students,
because their “mistakes” forced them to think outside the box, be creative, and
try new solutions to what they thought were impossible problems.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I only hope they are continuing to apply that
kind of thinking to their lives today, and I hope we learn from their
example.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The crises we face in our world
today, plus those we face every day in the normal demands of living, require
fresh, Godly, Gospel solutions and the sure knowledge that with God as our
guide, mistakes are simply lessons- lessons to be learned and used for the
Kingdom.</span></p>
<p style="line-height:normal"><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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