Proper 20
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series VI, Cycle C
Object:
COMMENTARY ON THE LESSONS
Lesson 1: Jeremiah 8:18--9:1 (C)
Jeremiah had a way with words. His sense of God's feelings toward the people is graphically displayed in this passage. "O that my head were waters and my eyes a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night ..." Our language has more recently coined the term "a jeremiahd" to describe a statement of outrage with the implication of dire consequences. We've had any number of prophetic utterances throughout the year, and all have about the same tone: God is angry with His people's (our?) apostasy. Of course the prophets tarred everyone with the same brush, making small allowance for the many good people who, within their limits of understanding, were living responsibly. It would be a little like calling all white people racists, or black people criminals. Some would deserve that title, most would not. We could hardly transfer this passage directly to our congregations. What we could do is generalize about the sad state of affairs in our country, all the way from crime in the streets, through corruption in high places, to the doubtful ethics of many of those who exercise the most influence over America's affairs. Just as some movies are good, still, the entertainment media deserve a lot of criticism for its moral tone. Just as the news media isn't always sensational, still the tendency to sensationalize the news is highly destructive. In our congregations are some people from these various agencies and they need to hear this word. The rest of us, too, as we go about our business in offices, hospitals, boardrooms, courtrooms, factories, on the highway, and yes, in the churches, need to hear of God's intense displeasure at what's happening in our country. There is a place, an essential place, for this word today.
Lesson 1: Amos 8:4-7 (RC); Amos 8:4-7 (8-12) (E)
This lesson says essentially what the one from Jeremiah has to say.
Lesson 2: 1 Timothy 2:1-7 (C); 1 Timothy 2:1-8 (RC, E)
Paul here urges praying for our top leadership that we may have a peaceful life. Best not to comment on the moral leadership from these people at the moment. Suffice it to say, Paul here urges prayers for the king but to us that means the president. He also is, by implication, encouraging intercessory prayer. In the eighth verse which I would include in a sermon, he urges general prayer which is free of anger and argument.
Gospel: Luke 16:1-13 (C, RC, E)
I privately suspect that this story got garbled in the translation somewhere. Not only was that manager incompetent, he was a crook. This story would need a lot of interpretation to be useful. But the point of the story, whatever the original version, is that we are to use money responsibly in this world, in such a way as to serve God. In other words, if we get so enamored of money and things it can buy that we lose sight of the more important things, then we will fail as human beings.
Bishop Gerald Kennedy confessed some trouble with the story, but he said he at least gleaned three important principles. The manager looked to the future, he was resourceful, and Jesus urged faithfulness in all things. So, there is a possible three-point sermon.
SERMON SUGGESTIONS
Title: "Does God Ever Get Mad?"
Text: Jeremiah 8:18--9:1.
Theme: Since God is, so we assume, in command of the universe, does He ever get angry? Well, do you parents ever get angry with your children? Of course you do. But your anger is not rejecting, not punishing in any final sense. It is redemptive. It results from your high expectations of your child. I'm not talking about those too many parents who are so immature and poorly raised themselves that they become abusive when angered. I'm referring to the loving dad and mom who would do anything for their children, but that includes doing whatever it takes to get them and keep them on the right track. If that requires extreme measures, then let them be taken. But in love.
There's a child-raising technique called Tough Love. The example of which I heard was one family whose teenager, a totally disobedient child, had become so unmanageable that one night when he came home, much later than he had been instructed, he found all his clothing on the front porch and the door locked. There was a note which said that he was loved, that he would be welcomed back if at any time he would promise to live agreeably by household rules. But until then, he was on his own. I don't know how that particular case turned out, but I'm told this approach sometimes works.
Then there's a story which also appears elsewhere in this book about the young fellow over in Britain who, after having been a good boy during his early years, had begun to drink and disobey his parents. One night he came home in a drunken stupor, brushed by Mom and Dad who were waiting by the fireside, and ignoring them, went upstairs and closed the door to his room. After a silent wait, Mom quietly left the fireside and went upstairs. A bit later, Dad did likewise to see where Mom was. He found her sitting on the side of her sleeping son's bed. As he watched, she leaned over and gave her son a gentle kiss. Then she explained to Dad, "He won't let me do that when he's awake."
So, there are the two aspects of God's love. Tough love which, however, never really gives up on us. But still, both those boys were lonely wanderers until, as the biblical story of the Lost Boy puts it, they came to themselves. The word to our times is that collectively, we must find our place in all of this. I can't change the media but I can decide what movie to spend my money on. I can't force the other guy to be scrupulously honest, but I can decide to be that myself. Remember the old saying that "Every journey begins with a single step." And every return to the Lord must also begin with a single person -- me.
Title: "Pray For Them"
Text: 1 Timothy 2:1-8
Theme: Prayers in church. In fact, why not a sermon on worship in general? Worship is undergoing quite a revolution these days, what with video, high tech sound systems, multi-colored robes or, as in a growing number of churches, no robes. Then there's the proliferation of contemporary religious music, some good, much of it banal, and the growing preference for instruments other than organs. Dramatic presentations often precede the sermon setting up a particular theme. If these things are all done well they can foster worship. The problem today is that the church world, at least in my experience, is split right down the middle in the matter of preference for change as against tradition. It's the pastor's responsibility to ameliorate this division. Obviously, we can't please everyone but it's important that something as sacred as worship in the church not become divisive.
1. Change is taking place. A congregation's members who prefer the traditional need to know what's going on. I would ask some of them to form a committee and visit two or three churches which are doing all of this well. Whether they like it or not (maybe they will) at least they can then report back on what's happening. In my sermon I would frankly discuss this change. And people need to be reminded that the church has always been open to evolution in the way things are done. The traditional service is not specifically biblical. It's church tradition and subject to revision as cultural styles change.
2. Worship is partly our job. I see congregations who insist on good music but don't want to pay any singers. For the larger church, a paid quartet is essential, not only for their voices, but for the way they draw out the best in the rest of the choir. Some small churches feel this way about organists or, in very small churches, pianists. If they are paid, better talent can be found. We can't expect to attract new worshipers with poor music. One seminary professor even recommended using recorded music for choirs and congregational hymns. Worth thinking about. The sermonic point here is twofold: help the congregation see that high quality personnel are necessary for the best worship, and try to win support for the effort to grow and change if that seems wise. There are thousands of little churches who will resist this process. One Bishop told of one businessman who was celebrated for his forward-looking business acumen, yet he blocked a much needed church renovation project because he'd been baptized there a thousand years ago and didn't want his memories disturbed. Very carefully, one must lead a congregation into the future. The final point here is to acknowledge to the congregation the responsibility on the part of church staff to do the best possible work.
3. Worship is partly your job. By "your" I mean the congregation. The wrong way to worship is to attend with a "show me" attitude. Assuming the preacher devoted all the needed time and creativity to sermon preparation, and that the musicians have rehearsed as needed, and that every other facet to the service is well done, then it is up to me as a worshiper to open my heart and mind to the Lord. A little advance preparation helps -- a brief prayer before entering, a prayer for the preacher as the service begins. Prior to that, a peaceful, deliberate transition from hurried breakfast and kid-preparation to the worship service.
I would use Soren Kierkegaard's famous analogy of worship to the theater. He suggested that just as the theater has actors, audience, and a prompter to help the actor remember his lines, so the church worship has these same elements. But church goers would assume that they are the audience, the preacher is the actor, and God is the prompter. Not so, said Kierkegaard. I, the worshiper, am the actor. God is the audience and the preacher is only the prompter. That's not a perfect analogy, since there is an element of entertainment in all good worship services, but it does help focus the worshiper on his or her main role in worship.
Title: "A Word To The Church"
Text: Luke 16:1-13
Theme: The message might very well be directed to all of us as a Church.
1. The manager was looking to the future. That's good business. An individual must combine two elements: not worrying about tomorrow, yet taking careful prudent steps to prepare for tomorrow. The parents who begin saving for their children's college, the spouse who secures life insurance, the family who set up a separate account for home maintenance so that when a new roof or paint job or furnace is needed, the wherewithal is there to make the repair. These are prudent preparation. However, since we are here for more than financial advice (most of us preachers should be getting that rather than giving it) we can speak mainly in terms of the church. I think Jesus was making a very practical point here. Money is important. I recently heard a devout nineteen year old lecturing her parents about the sin of making money important in life. Her point was valid. But I couldn't help thinking that she'd be a tad less enthusiastic about that advice when she begins to pay her own utility bills, buy her own car insurance, pay for health insurance, and so on. Still, that is Jesus' point. The good Christian finds balance between prudent money management for the future yet keeps one's mind mainly on more important matters. Like one's ethics, one's worship life, one's kindly treatment of family. And all of this applies to the church as an organization.
2. The manager was resourceful. The church could take a lesson here. We have so much to offer the world, and yet we so frequently fall short when it comes to getting our message across. The number one best way to build a church -- and let's agree that mere size is not meritorious, but serving more people, winning more people to Christ is meritorious -- is word of mouth. If one in ten families were to invite a non-attending family to your church next Sunday, you would have a ten percent increase that week. You would have some new prospects for membership. Ah, but what happens when these people get there? Your best resource is your own congregation. Are they friendly and welcoming without, however, overdoing and making people feel like they're at an insurance convention? Leslie Weatherhead once wrote that some Christians make him feel like they merely want, as he put it, to hang his scalp on their belt.
I always used the analogy of a magnet. Let's say you have just dropped a handful of iron filings on your carpet. There are thousands of them. How long would it take to gather all those iron filings? A long time, and even then you wouldn't get them all. Unless, you pick them up with a magnet. Then whoosh, you'd get every one. Your church is the magnet. The programming: the study groups, the adult classes, the music program, the youth program, and in larger churches with staff, the marriage class, the parent-of-preschooler class, the spouse of an Alzheimer's patient support group, the divorce recovery group. These are your magnet.
3. Jesus called the man to faithfulness. And that is? Missions. Not only to Africa and Central America, but right here at home. It is good biblically based preaching. It is also generous giving to the institution. If I move to your neighborhood, and I attend your church, and I find myself walking down dingy hallways, and I notice the restrooms are poorly maintained, and the lawn isn't pretty, and floors aren't clean, I'll probably decide this congregation doesn't think much of themselves. Guess I'll try somewhere else next Sunday. That all takes money. But the Bible is always on the side of well-maintained places of worship. Faithfulness is also integrity by clergy and staff. It is kindly caring for shut-ins, those in hospital or nursing home, those who are bereaved. It is well-prepared and carefully managed Church School for children. It is more.
ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS
Saint Augustine insisted that "Our whole business in this life is to restore to health the eye of the heart whereby God can be seen."
Huckleberry Finn described conscience as being like a little yellow dog which will turn and bite the hand of its master when least expected.
Thomas Wolfe wrote: "The deepest search in life, it seems to me -- the thing that is one way or another central to all living -- is man's search for a Father. Not merely the father of his flesh, not merely the lost father of his youth, but the image of a strength and wisdom external to his need, and superior to his hunger to which the belief and power of his own life could be united."
____________
The story is told of the harried-looking woman who climbed on a bus, worn, tired, carrying a suitcase in one hand, she grabbed the back of a seat with the other, and waited for the bus to move. A kindly man, seeing the woman's plight, said: "Ma'am, you can set the suitcase down now. The bus will carry it."
____________
This has been quoted many, many times. But some of the younger clergy may not have it in their files and it is always good. It was written by Myra Brooks Welch.
The Touch Of The Master's Hand
'Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer
Thought it scarcely worth his while
To waste much time on the old violin,
But held it up with a smile.
"What am I bidden, good folks," he cried;
Who will start the bidding for me?"
A dollar, a dollar, then "two!" "Only two?"
Two dollars, and who'll make it three?
Three dollars once, three dollars twice,
Going for three -- but no.
From the room far back, a gray haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow.
Then, wiping the dust from the old violin,
And tightening the loose strings,
He played a melody pure and sweet,
As sweet as an angel sings.
The music ceased, and the auctioneer,
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said, "What am I bidden for this old violin?"
And he held it up with the bow.
"A thousand dollars, and who'll make it two?
Two thousand! And who'll make it three?
Three thousand once, three thousand twice,
And going, and gone," said he.
The people cheered, but some of them cried,
"We do not quite understand
What changed its worth" -- swift came reply,
"The touch of the master's hand."
And many a man with a life out of tune,
And battered and scattered with sin,
Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd,
Much like the old violin.
A "mess of potage," a glass of wine;
A game -- and he travels on.
He's "going once, and going twice,"
He's "going," and almost "gone."
But the master comes, and the foolish crowd
Never can quite understand
The worth of a soul and the change that's wrought
By the touch of the master's hand.
____________
Handley Page, a pioneer flyer in the early days of aviation, told of taking off one day from a field in India. His plane was of the old open cockpit variety, and when he was airborne, he heard a gnawing sound. He realized with sudden fear that a rat had gotten in the plane and was chewing on something. Planes were fragile then and Page was fearful that the rat might chew away one of the cables guiding the plane, which could plunge him to his death. Then he remembered that rats can only survive at relatively low altitudes. He pulled back on the stick and began to gain altitude. He flew as high as he could until he reached his destination. When he had safely landed, he looked in the back of the plane and, sure enough, there was a dead rat and signs of it having gnawed on one of his control cables. (We won't push this story too far, but it does demonstrate what results when we live our lives as high as we possibly can.)
____________
Thomas C. Reeves, in his new book The Empty Church: The Suicide Of Liberal Christianity, writes: "... the Bible as it comes to us from God and His prophets is a profoundly strange book. Once it and other holy documents have been stripped of their 'necessary offense,' as the theologian M. G. Reardon has put it, any religion based upon those texts is reduced to a mere adjunct of the surrounding culture rather than a challenge to it. The typical congregant at a liberal church or temple finds it increasingly hard to see why he should spend his Sunday morning or Friday night in a place where secular views are simply echoed.
"Weigh the benefits," writes Mr. Reeves: "Sunday with the family at the beach or in church listening to a sermon on AIDS; working for overtime wages or enduring pious generalities about 'dialoguing,' 'inclusiveness,' and 'sharing and caring'; studying for exams or hearing that the consolations and promises of the Bible are not 'really' or 'literally' true. As he admirably summarizes the problem, "liberal Protestantism ... has succeeded in making itself dispensable." (From a book review by David Klinghoffer, literary editor of National Review)
____________
Psalm Of The Day
Psalm 79:1-9 -- "O God, the heathen have come into thy inheritance."
Prayer Of The Day
Bless especially, we pray, those whom you have called into the service of the Church. Grant us creativity, energy, wisdom, and most of all, fidelity. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Lesson 1: Jeremiah 8:18--9:1 (C)
Jeremiah had a way with words. His sense of God's feelings toward the people is graphically displayed in this passage. "O that my head were waters and my eyes a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night ..." Our language has more recently coined the term "a jeremiahd" to describe a statement of outrage with the implication of dire consequences. We've had any number of prophetic utterances throughout the year, and all have about the same tone: God is angry with His people's (our?) apostasy. Of course the prophets tarred everyone with the same brush, making small allowance for the many good people who, within their limits of understanding, were living responsibly. It would be a little like calling all white people racists, or black people criminals. Some would deserve that title, most would not. We could hardly transfer this passage directly to our congregations. What we could do is generalize about the sad state of affairs in our country, all the way from crime in the streets, through corruption in high places, to the doubtful ethics of many of those who exercise the most influence over America's affairs. Just as some movies are good, still, the entertainment media deserve a lot of criticism for its moral tone. Just as the news media isn't always sensational, still the tendency to sensationalize the news is highly destructive. In our congregations are some people from these various agencies and they need to hear this word. The rest of us, too, as we go about our business in offices, hospitals, boardrooms, courtrooms, factories, on the highway, and yes, in the churches, need to hear of God's intense displeasure at what's happening in our country. There is a place, an essential place, for this word today.
Lesson 1: Amos 8:4-7 (RC); Amos 8:4-7 (8-12) (E)
This lesson says essentially what the one from Jeremiah has to say.
Lesson 2: 1 Timothy 2:1-7 (C); 1 Timothy 2:1-8 (RC, E)
Paul here urges praying for our top leadership that we may have a peaceful life. Best not to comment on the moral leadership from these people at the moment. Suffice it to say, Paul here urges prayers for the king but to us that means the president. He also is, by implication, encouraging intercessory prayer. In the eighth verse which I would include in a sermon, he urges general prayer which is free of anger and argument.
Gospel: Luke 16:1-13 (C, RC, E)
I privately suspect that this story got garbled in the translation somewhere. Not only was that manager incompetent, he was a crook. This story would need a lot of interpretation to be useful. But the point of the story, whatever the original version, is that we are to use money responsibly in this world, in such a way as to serve God. In other words, if we get so enamored of money and things it can buy that we lose sight of the more important things, then we will fail as human beings.
Bishop Gerald Kennedy confessed some trouble with the story, but he said he at least gleaned three important principles. The manager looked to the future, he was resourceful, and Jesus urged faithfulness in all things. So, there is a possible three-point sermon.
SERMON SUGGESTIONS
Title: "Does God Ever Get Mad?"
Text: Jeremiah 8:18--9:1.
Theme: Since God is, so we assume, in command of the universe, does He ever get angry? Well, do you parents ever get angry with your children? Of course you do. But your anger is not rejecting, not punishing in any final sense. It is redemptive. It results from your high expectations of your child. I'm not talking about those too many parents who are so immature and poorly raised themselves that they become abusive when angered. I'm referring to the loving dad and mom who would do anything for their children, but that includes doing whatever it takes to get them and keep them on the right track. If that requires extreme measures, then let them be taken. But in love.
There's a child-raising technique called Tough Love. The example of which I heard was one family whose teenager, a totally disobedient child, had become so unmanageable that one night when he came home, much later than he had been instructed, he found all his clothing on the front porch and the door locked. There was a note which said that he was loved, that he would be welcomed back if at any time he would promise to live agreeably by household rules. But until then, he was on his own. I don't know how that particular case turned out, but I'm told this approach sometimes works.
Then there's a story which also appears elsewhere in this book about the young fellow over in Britain who, after having been a good boy during his early years, had begun to drink and disobey his parents. One night he came home in a drunken stupor, brushed by Mom and Dad who were waiting by the fireside, and ignoring them, went upstairs and closed the door to his room. After a silent wait, Mom quietly left the fireside and went upstairs. A bit later, Dad did likewise to see where Mom was. He found her sitting on the side of her sleeping son's bed. As he watched, she leaned over and gave her son a gentle kiss. Then she explained to Dad, "He won't let me do that when he's awake."
So, there are the two aspects of God's love. Tough love which, however, never really gives up on us. But still, both those boys were lonely wanderers until, as the biblical story of the Lost Boy puts it, they came to themselves. The word to our times is that collectively, we must find our place in all of this. I can't change the media but I can decide what movie to spend my money on. I can't force the other guy to be scrupulously honest, but I can decide to be that myself. Remember the old saying that "Every journey begins with a single step." And every return to the Lord must also begin with a single person -- me.
Title: "Pray For Them"
Text: 1 Timothy 2:1-8
Theme: Prayers in church. In fact, why not a sermon on worship in general? Worship is undergoing quite a revolution these days, what with video, high tech sound systems, multi-colored robes or, as in a growing number of churches, no robes. Then there's the proliferation of contemporary religious music, some good, much of it banal, and the growing preference for instruments other than organs. Dramatic presentations often precede the sermon setting up a particular theme. If these things are all done well they can foster worship. The problem today is that the church world, at least in my experience, is split right down the middle in the matter of preference for change as against tradition. It's the pastor's responsibility to ameliorate this division. Obviously, we can't please everyone but it's important that something as sacred as worship in the church not become divisive.
1. Change is taking place. A congregation's members who prefer the traditional need to know what's going on. I would ask some of them to form a committee and visit two or three churches which are doing all of this well. Whether they like it or not (maybe they will) at least they can then report back on what's happening. In my sermon I would frankly discuss this change. And people need to be reminded that the church has always been open to evolution in the way things are done. The traditional service is not specifically biblical. It's church tradition and subject to revision as cultural styles change.
2. Worship is partly our job. I see congregations who insist on good music but don't want to pay any singers. For the larger church, a paid quartet is essential, not only for their voices, but for the way they draw out the best in the rest of the choir. Some small churches feel this way about organists or, in very small churches, pianists. If they are paid, better talent can be found. We can't expect to attract new worshipers with poor music. One seminary professor even recommended using recorded music for choirs and congregational hymns. Worth thinking about. The sermonic point here is twofold: help the congregation see that high quality personnel are necessary for the best worship, and try to win support for the effort to grow and change if that seems wise. There are thousands of little churches who will resist this process. One Bishop told of one businessman who was celebrated for his forward-looking business acumen, yet he blocked a much needed church renovation project because he'd been baptized there a thousand years ago and didn't want his memories disturbed. Very carefully, one must lead a congregation into the future. The final point here is to acknowledge to the congregation the responsibility on the part of church staff to do the best possible work.
3. Worship is partly your job. By "your" I mean the congregation. The wrong way to worship is to attend with a "show me" attitude. Assuming the preacher devoted all the needed time and creativity to sermon preparation, and that the musicians have rehearsed as needed, and that every other facet to the service is well done, then it is up to me as a worshiper to open my heart and mind to the Lord. A little advance preparation helps -- a brief prayer before entering, a prayer for the preacher as the service begins. Prior to that, a peaceful, deliberate transition from hurried breakfast and kid-preparation to the worship service.
I would use Soren Kierkegaard's famous analogy of worship to the theater. He suggested that just as the theater has actors, audience, and a prompter to help the actor remember his lines, so the church worship has these same elements. But church goers would assume that they are the audience, the preacher is the actor, and God is the prompter. Not so, said Kierkegaard. I, the worshiper, am the actor. God is the audience and the preacher is only the prompter. That's not a perfect analogy, since there is an element of entertainment in all good worship services, but it does help focus the worshiper on his or her main role in worship.
Title: "A Word To The Church"
Text: Luke 16:1-13
Theme: The message might very well be directed to all of us as a Church.
1. The manager was looking to the future. That's good business. An individual must combine two elements: not worrying about tomorrow, yet taking careful prudent steps to prepare for tomorrow. The parents who begin saving for their children's college, the spouse who secures life insurance, the family who set up a separate account for home maintenance so that when a new roof or paint job or furnace is needed, the wherewithal is there to make the repair. These are prudent preparation. However, since we are here for more than financial advice (most of us preachers should be getting that rather than giving it) we can speak mainly in terms of the church. I think Jesus was making a very practical point here. Money is important. I recently heard a devout nineteen year old lecturing her parents about the sin of making money important in life. Her point was valid. But I couldn't help thinking that she'd be a tad less enthusiastic about that advice when she begins to pay her own utility bills, buy her own car insurance, pay for health insurance, and so on. Still, that is Jesus' point. The good Christian finds balance between prudent money management for the future yet keeps one's mind mainly on more important matters. Like one's ethics, one's worship life, one's kindly treatment of family. And all of this applies to the church as an organization.
2. The manager was resourceful. The church could take a lesson here. We have so much to offer the world, and yet we so frequently fall short when it comes to getting our message across. The number one best way to build a church -- and let's agree that mere size is not meritorious, but serving more people, winning more people to Christ is meritorious -- is word of mouth. If one in ten families were to invite a non-attending family to your church next Sunday, you would have a ten percent increase that week. You would have some new prospects for membership. Ah, but what happens when these people get there? Your best resource is your own congregation. Are they friendly and welcoming without, however, overdoing and making people feel like they're at an insurance convention? Leslie Weatherhead once wrote that some Christians make him feel like they merely want, as he put it, to hang his scalp on their belt.
I always used the analogy of a magnet. Let's say you have just dropped a handful of iron filings on your carpet. There are thousands of them. How long would it take to gather all those iron filings? A long time, and even then you wouldn't get them all. Unless, you pick them up with a magnet. Then whoosh, you'd get every one. Your church is the magnet. The programming: the study groups, the adult classes, the music program, the youth program, and in larger churches with staff, the marriage class, the parent-of-preschooler class, the spouse of an Alzheimer's patient support group, the divorce recovery group. These are your magnet.
3. Jesus called the man to faithfulness. And that is? Missions. Not only to Africa and Central America, but right here at home. It is good biblically based preaching. It is also generous giving to the institution. If I move to your neighborhood, and I attend your church, and I find myself walking down dingy hallways, and I notice the restrooms are poorly maintained, and the lawn isn't pretty, and floors aren't clean, I'll probably decide this congregation doesn't think much of themselves. Guess I'll try somewhere else next Sunday. That all takes money. But the Bible is always on the side of well-maintained places of worship. Faithfulness is also integrity by clergy and staff. It is kindly caring for shut-ins, those in hospital or nursing home, those who are bereaved. It is well-prepared and carefully managed Church School for children. It is more.
ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS
Saint Augustine insisted that "Our whole business in this life is to restore to health the eye of the heart whereby God can be seen."
Huckleberry Finn described conscience as being like a little yellow dog which will turn and bite the hand of its master when least expected.
Thomas Wolfe wrote: "The deepest search in life, it seems to me -- the thing that is one way or another central to all living -- is man's search for a Father. Not merely the father of his flesh, not merely the lost father of his youth, but the image of a strength and wisdom external to his need, and superior to his hunger to which the belief and power of his own life could be united."
____________
The story is told of the harried-looking woman who climbed on a bus, worn, tired, carrying a suitcase in one hand, she grabbed the back of a seat with the other, and waited for the bus to move. A kindly man, seeing the woman's plight, said: "Ma'am, you can set the suitcase down now. The bus will carry it."
____________
This has been quoted many, many times. But some of the younger clergy may not have it in their files and it is always good. It was written by Myra Brooks Welch.
The Touch Of The Master's Hand
'Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer
Thought it scarcely worth his while
To waste much time on the old violin,
But held it up with a smile.
"What am I bidden, good folks," he cried;
Who will start the bidding for me?"
A dollar, a dollar, then "two!" "Only two?"
Two dollars, and who'll make it three?
Three dollars once, three dollars twice,
Going for three -- but no.
From the room far back, a gray haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow.
Then, wiping the dust from the old violin,
And tightening the loose strings,
He played a melody pure and sweet,
As sweet as an angel sings.
The music ceased, and the auctioneer,
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said, "What am I bidden for this old violin?"
And he held it up with the bow.
"A thousand dollars, and who'll make it two?
Two thousand! And who'll make it three?
Three thousand once, three thousand twice,
And going, and gone," said he.
The people cheered, but some of them cried,
"We do not quite understand
What changed its worth" -- swift came reply,
"The touch of the master's hand."
And many a man with a life out of tune,
And battered and scattered with sin,
Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd,
Much like the old violin.
A "mess of potage," a glass of wine;
A game -- and he travels on.
He's "going once, and going twice,"
He's "going," and almost "gone."
But the master comes, and the foolish crowd
Never can quite understand
The worth of a soul and the change that's wrought
By the touch of the master's hand.
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Handley Page, a pioneer flyer in the early days of aviation, told of taking off one day from a field in India. His plane was of the old open cockpit variety, and when he was airborne, he heard a gnawing sound. He realized with sudden fear that a rat had gotten in the plane and was chewing on something. Planes were fragile then and Page was fearful that the rat might chew away one of the cables guiding the plane, which could plunge him to his death. Then he remembered that rats can only survive at relatively low altitudes. He pulled back on the stick and began to gain altitude. He flew as high as he could until he reached his destination. When he had safely landed, he looked in the back of the plane and, sure enough, there was a dead rat and signs of it having gnawed on one of his control cables. (We won't push this story too far, but it does demonstrate what results when we live our lives as high as we possibly can.)
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Thomas C. Reeves, in his new book The Empty Church: The Suicide Of Liberal Christianity, writes: "... the Bible as it comes to us from God and His prophets is a profoundly strange book. Once it and other holy documents have been stripped of their 'necessary offense,' as the theologian M. G. Reardon has put it, any religion based upon those texts is reduced to a mere adjunct of the surrounding culture rather than a challenge to it. The typical congregant at a liberal church or temple finds it increasingly hard to see why he should spend his Sunday morning or Friday night in a place where secular views are simply echoed.
"Weigh the benefits," writes Mr. Reeves: "Sunday with the family at the beach or in church listening to a sermon on AIDS; working for overtime wages or enduring pious generalities about 'dialoguing,' 'inclusiveness,' and 'sharing and caring'; studying for exams or hearing that the consolations and promises of the Bible are not 'really' or 'literally' true. As he admirably summarizes the problem, "liberal Protestantism ... has succeeded in making itself dispensable." (From a book review by David Klinghoffer, literary editor of National Review)
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Psalm Of The Day
Psalm 79:1-9 -- "O God, the heathen have come into thy inheritance."
Prayer Of The Day
Bless especially, we pray, those whom you have called into the service of the Church. Grant us creativity, energy, wisdom, and most of all, fidelity. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
