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<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica;font-size:10pt;color:black">-----Original Message-----<br>
From: Judy <judy_boli@ecunet.org><br>
To: Propertalk <propertalk.topic@ecunet.org><br>
Sent: Sun, Apr 19, 2020 7:04 pm<br>
Subject: [propertalk.topic] Sermon preached on Facebook live video: Faith for a Time like This<br>
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<div style="line-height:normal;"><strong><span style="font-weight:normal;">Dear Friends,</span></strong></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><strong><span style="font-weight:normal;"> </span></strong></div>
<div style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:normal;"><strong><span style="font-weight:normal;">The name of Sunday’s sermon is “Faith
for a Time like This.”<span style=""> </span>It is based on all
the lessons.<span style=""> </span>Here it is. </span></strong></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;">What a fascinating story about
faith we heard in this gospel about Thomas! Actually, all the Bible lessons are
about faith one way or another. And all of them are about having faith in
difficult times. Did you hear the story about the husband with foot-in-mouth
disease? </div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"> </div>
<div style="line-height:normal;">A husband and wife are getting
ready for bed. The wife is standing in front of a full-length mirror taking a
hard look at herself. “You know love,” she says, “I look in the mirror and I
see an old woman. My face is all wrinkled, my stomach is sticking out in front
and my butt is hanging out behind. I've got fat legs and my arms are all
flabby.”<span style=""> </span>She turns to her husband and
says, “Tell me something positive to make me feel better about myself.”<span style=""> </span>He thinks about it for a bit and then says in
a soft voice, “Well...your<span style=""> </span>eyesight’s
still pretty good!” <b>Noah (Old Testament reading), the church to whom Peter
was writing (epistle), and Thomas (gospel) would all have been able to
understand where that couple were coming from, because all of them knew about
hard times and how faith during these times will carry us through.</b></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"> </div>
<div style="line-height:normal;">Let’s look at Noah’s situation
first. Some years ago when I was into embroidery, I stitched a picture of Noah
and the ark.<span style=""> </span>The caption on the
stitchery read: “Plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.”
Actually, that’s a huge understatement, because it wasn’t at all likely it was
ever going to seriously rain WHERE Noah built the ark- because it was a desert
(or at least a simi-desert) area. You know the story. God told Noah to build an
ark. He obeys and loads the animals up just as he was told- to the jeering rude
laughter of his neighbors. When we pick up the story, we find the significance
of Noah’s obedience. He has saved every species from extinction. Even more important,
the rainbow in the sky signifies God’s bow (his weapon- i.e. bow and arrow)
hung on the wall- his weapon put away. When God promises he will never again
destroy life by water, since water is a symbol for chaos, he is promising chaos
will never wipe out life on this planet. What a promise, and all possible
because of Noah’s faith and willingness to obey in hard times. What does all
this have to do with you in the middle of COVID-19? Noah didn’t let his
neighbors’ nastiness change him.<span style=""> </span>Sacrifice!<span style=""> </span>Do the loving thing, not your thing. PLEASE
don’t COVID-19 change you.</div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"> </div>
<div style="line-height:normal;">Then there was Peter and the
church to whom he was writing. They were under huge Roman persecution- probably
the same persecution that later caused the execution of Peter and Paul. The church
was under intense temptation to give up the faith. Family members were being
tortured, thrown to lions, burned at the stake, and God only knows what else
evil humanity could think up. They were also having to work out the solutions
to hideous questions. What should they do with church members (or even family
members) who had chickened out during torture and betrayed family members, who
were then executed? What about those who had worshipped the emperor because of
fear, while others died refusing to bow the knee to anyone but Jesus, the Christ?
To make matters worse, many of these people wanted back in the family or into
the fellowship. Should they be forgiven? How could they ever stand to see them
again? Peter reminded them to stick with it. God will win and we shall
overcome.<span style=""> </span>How does that speak to us in
our time?<span style=""> </span>Many of us are tired of being
stuck in four walls and we’re getting on each other’s nerves.<span style=""> </span>FORGIVE and THINK!<span style=""> </span>(True? Helpful? Important? Necessary &
Now? Kind & loving?)</div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"> </div>
<div style="line-height:normal;">Finally, we have Thomas. When
Lazarus was so ill, Thomas was the one who convinced the disciples to accompany
Jesus to the Jerusalem area, even though their lives were in danger the last
time they went. Thomas was also the one who had the courage to challenge Jesus
when he said, “I am going to prepare a place for you, you know where I am
going, and you know the way.” Remember- Thomas said, “Lord, we don’t even know
where you are going. How can we know the way?” It was this question that gave
Jesus the marvelous opportunity to make his earth-shaking statement: “I am the
Way; I am the Truth; and I am the Life. No one comes to the father except
through me.” After all this, Thomas was missing on the evening of the
resurrection when the other disciples encountered the risen Lord. When they
told him about Jesus’ resurrection, he wouldn’t believe unless he touched the
scars. The next Sunday, when they were all gathered again for Holy Communion-
there was Jesus confronting Thomas with what he said. Thomas went from
disbelief to supreme faith and stated the church’s first creedal statement- “My
Lord and my God!”</div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"> </div>
<div style="line-height:normal;">Maybe you are like Thomas. Your
heart breaks as you watch good people suffer- with all the pain and sickness
and death and disruption and chaos of this novel coronavirus. Or perhaps you are
wondering why God allows this terrible COVID-19 in the first place.<span style=""> </span>You (like Thomas) look at the mess and say, “Chaos
reigns.<span style=""> </span>God, where are you? Why do you
allow such terrible things to happen?” And God answers- “DON’T BLAME ME! <span style=""> </span>My precious, precious child. You only use a
small portion of the resources I give you!<span style="">
</span>I send you children who could grow up to be physicians and scientists who
could find ways to plan ahead and create vaccines to prevent these terrible
pandemics before they even start.<span style=""> </span>I send
you children who could develop medicine that would heal this and many terrible
illnesses and you don’t nurture them, don’t educate them, and they end up in
prison or dead before their time. I send you prophets and diplomats and
negotiators and leaders and yet you continue to glorify violence in your media
and make decisions from greed and arrogance. You asked me why I allow such
things- strange. I was going to ask you the same question.”</div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"> </div>
<div style="line-height:normal;">Please stay faithful.</div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><strong><span style="font-weight:normal;"> </span></strong></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><strong><span style="font-weight:normal;">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 rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.stpaulsepisag.org/"><span style="color:windowtext;text-decoration:none;">http://www.stpaulsepisag.org</span></a> .</span></strong></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><strong><span style="font-weight:normal;"> </span></strong></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><strong><span style="font-weight:normal;">Blessed preaching,</span></strong></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><strong><span style="font-weight:normal;">Judy Boli</span></strong></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><strong><span style="font-weight:normal;">St. Paul's Episcopal Church</span></strong></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><strong><span style="font-weight:normal;">Saginaw, Michigan</span></strong></div>
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