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To Choose Weakness

Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
Proper 9 | Ordinary Time 14 - B
Mark 6:1-13
2 Corinthians 12:2-10
2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10
Psalm 48
Robin Lostetter
Christopher Keating
Ron Love
Dean Feldmeyer
Mary Austin
George Reed

Paul has a bracing message for us in this week’s epistle lesson -- one that seems just as appropriate for Americans extolling their country’s virtues on Independence Day as for the Corinthian congregation: “[O]n my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses.” There is much about America to take pride in, but especially on this holiday weekend we tend to be boastful about our perceived superiority over other countries rather than cognizant of our weaknesses.
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John Jamison
Object: Two small containers or boxes and several pieces of paper. I used two shoe boxes with lids and about fifty pieces of used printer paper. Label one box “Judge” and the other box “Not Judge.”

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The Immediate Word

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For February 23, 2025:

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I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. (v. 4)

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Genesis 45:3-11, 15
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Some years back, there was a best-selling book that got a lot of attention in the church, one written by a rabbi, Harold Kushner. The book was called When Bad Things Happen to Good People (HarperCollins, 1982). It is an honest attempt to grapple with the problem of evil. Why is it, Rabbi Kushner wants to know, that good and faithful people sometimes have to suffer?

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When a person enters into any society or any fellowship, he takes upon himself the obligations to live a certain way, by certain standards. If the person fails to live the kind of life necessary, he hinders the purpose of the society.

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