Sixth Sunday Of Easter
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series VI, Cycle C
Object:
COMMENTARY ON THE LESSONS
Lesson 1: Acts 16:9-15 (C)
This has always been one of my favorite passages. It tells of Paul's decision to change his plans because of what he called a vision. It has never bothered me that some people believe in direct visions from God while other people assume that Paul either had a dream or some other emotional sensation. What's important is that Paul felt that God had called him to change his plans from his original intention of going east to Asia. Had we begun with verse 6, we would have seen that Paul was dissuaded three times from his plans before having this vision. What a priceless word to speak to people today who are facing disappointment of one kind or another. Paul must have been terribly discouraged over the repeated disruption of his plans. For all we know, that vision may have been associated with the weary exhaustion which can result from failing efforts made over and over. Anyway, here we are reminded that God can intercede when we are headed in wrong directions. Remember, if Paul had succeeded in his earlier plans, Christianity might very well have been a religion of the far east rather than the driving force for western civilization.
Lesson 1: Acts 15:1-2, 22-29 (RC)
Judas and Silas are chosen to accompany Paul and Barnabas (interesting to note that Barnabas is named before Paul here) to meet with some Gentiles who have wrongly been instructed that they must be circumcised, which no doubt implied full accordance with Jewish law. Paul and his friends wrote a letter explaining that this was simply not the case, it was incorrect instruction. The only prohibitions were certain food limitations and commitment to sexual morality. I would probably use this to preach on that very last portion -- the fact that there is a lot of freedom in this Christian faith. But sexual morality is one of the necessary requirements of a true Christian.
Lesson 1: Acts 14:8-18 (E)
What a warning this is against the deification of religious leaders. We have seen several instances of this excess. In truth, it can easily happen in small ways within our own congregations. Highly talented and very dedicated preachers sometimes, usually without realizing it, attract a following of devoted admirers who easily attribute more merit and less human frailty to these clergy than is deserved. This could be a worthy passage for someone preaching to a gathering of clergy. Stay alert. It may be pleasing in the short run to receive the adulation (and material gifts?) which may come from this. But in the long run, it is sinful and can cause great damage. I myself can name three extraordinarily talented men who got carried away with such adulation from members of the opposite sex and paid a heavy price. I also once overheard a little bit of boasting by two pastors of wealthy churches, one remarking on the fine automobile he received for Christmas from a study group, and the other topping that with the information that he was a member of a fine country club in which all his dues and all his many expenses are paid by worshipful members of the congregation. Little wonder the Church these days is besieged by instances of the abuse of clergy office.
Lesson 2: Revelation 21:10, 22--22:5 (C); Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23 (RC); Revelation 21:22--22:5 (E)
Here is another instance of figurative language filled with glowing images depicting the someday-arriving City Of God in which all those who have been faithful will be included, and the economic structures of society will be healed and ennobled as well. A sermon on this passage might offer the hope that creation is heading somewhere. We don't know where. We have no idea at all of the time frame of creation but we know that God is engaged in purposeful activity and that any of us who choose are included in that purpose. Today's troubles may seem of paramount importance in our lives, but were we able to see things from God's perspective, we would realize that all of this will fit together into a perfect and glorious pattern of divine harmony.
Gospel: John 14:23-29 (C, RC, E)
Three important sermon themes are contained in this passage. First, Jesus makes it clear that obedience to God's will as conveyed in the teaching of Jesus is important if we are to be included in God's favor. Those who disobey will have some problems. This could be seen as somewhat in opposition to Paul's contention that salvation comes by faith alone. This passage here must be seen in the context of the entire teaching of Jesus which includes the promise that we can be forgiven for our disobedience, that God will always accept us even though we may go for a significant length of time before we truly accept Jesus.
The second theme is the promise of the Holy Spirit who will teach us everything. That too raises some interesting questions. If two sincere people of devout beliefs have quite different interpretations of the Bible and of the teachings of Jesus, how do we decide who is right? I taught a Bible class just a few weeks ago in which I invited people to struggle with the question as to just what we mean when we speak of Jesus as divine. One member, a gentleman who seems to have no unanswered questions whatsoever, assured me that Jesus had said, "I and the Father are one." That settled it for him. Though we then referred to the fact that the number of words attributed to Jesus in the New Testament are less than what two of us might speak over lunch, whereas his ministry lasted as long as three years (so some must be later summaries of Jesus' teaching), my friend was undismayed. I let it go at that since no one has ever won a religious argument. But it does present a dilemma when genuinely sincere people cannot agree. If we each pray to the Holy Spirit, perhaps there are different truths for different people according to many factors in our lives. Care to sort that one out?
Third, Jesus promised to give us peace, but not as the world does. What did he mean? How does the world give peace? Drugs and alcohol? Material wealth? No. We know too many people who have all those things, and miserable lives besides. Peace as Jesus defined it was the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is the inner assurance that one is loved, that one can never be beyond God's caring oversight no matter what happens. It is the knowledge that one is loved and valued and is to be an important part of God's ultimate plan. Trouble may come. There will be suffering. Battles remain to be won. But the final outcome, guaranteed if one accepts this Spirit (of Jesus), is victory.
SERMON SUGGESTIONS
Title: "God's Better Way"
Text: Acts 16:6-10
Theme: Notice, I have taken the liberty of starting with verse 6. The full power of this story requires us to report that Paul had been frustrated and the call to Macedonia required Paul to change his plans. While we are talking about using the Lectionary here, we needn't be slavish if we feel guided to do a little bit of creative rearrangement.
1. Life is Plan "B." That's my wife's favorite expression. We clergy surely know all about that, considering how often we get late night or early morning calls which rearrange our day's plans. Scott Peck wrote that one of his favorites adages goes like this: "Life is what happens to you when you had other plans."
2. God may have a different idea for you. J. W. Stephenson told, in his marvelous though sadly out of print little book God In My Unbelief, about the Scottish pastor who was learning the hard way in a small parish how God works. He wrote this: "There was laughter in it too, as when I prayed that I might be used in the service of Christ's compassion, and a steady succession of needy folks came to my door at inconvenient hours, just as I had planned on giving myself to the Lord's work ..." So it is. When we pray, often our plans are changed, sometimes in highly inconvenient ways. And yet, could we only know, these changes are always blessings. But this is usually true only when we are praying. I must admit there is a point of confusion on my part here. I have had unwelcome plan changes in my life back when I did not pray, which were grand blessings I now know. Yet, it seems that it is when I am praying that these things happen most frequently. What I do know is this: If I am consciously trying to do what is right, it seems to me that God gently guides me.
3. Pray then. Then be ready to celebrate when plans are changed, because you can be pretty sure God is busily rearranging your day for the better. My current witness on this point is that a few weeks ago, I had made arrangements to accompany several friends on a week long vacation to Cancun, Mexico, in a lavish resort. The day before I was to leave, my doctor called to report the results of some tests: I had cancer, and surgery was necessary as soon as possible. It was done, "they got it all," and I had a marvelous sense of God's love and power throughout the experience.
Title: "God And History"
Text: Revelation 21:10, 22--22:5
Theme: Either we can believe this or we can't. But I believe that history is heading somewhere purposeful and benevolent. I also know as you do, that there are a great many bumps in the road of history. As I write, we are currently bombing Kosovo. That issue will no doubt be long settled by the time you read this, but I hope and pray there is some divine use to be made of all of this. I'm in over my head at this point, but I believe that somewhere in the confusing and often chaotic process of history is a movement toward freedom, toward justice, toward equality, toward the triumph of love. I am convinced that whatever truth my little mind is permitted to possess, it is enough to know that I am upon this earth to foster those four values. Beyond that, I am to live by faith and be glad I have seen a vision of the eternal future through the life of Jesus.
Title: "Let There Be Peace"
Text: John 14:23-29
Theme: Jesus promised peace to those who accept the Holy Spirit (and using that phrase means the same to me as "accepting Christ" and "having faith in God.") How do we define peace? It certainly is not the absence of stress and worry. Those are not only normal human responses to the various threats, demands, and opportunities of life, they are desirable within limits. One psychologist said that most worthwhile accomplishments are done by people who are troubled by the problem of anxiety. Many of us clergy only get rolling on sermon preparation when we feel that knot in the pit of the stomach which warns that time is running out. I, for one, work best under pressure and I wouldn't be surprised if you do too.
Peace is surely something which arms us for life, rather than protecting us from life. Stop and think, when do we feel most peaceful?
1. Peace comes from a job well done. When Sunday's sermon is over and you did your best, when whatever tasks may follow are done, and you finally make your way home on Sunday, put your feet up, pour a cup of decaf (or whatever) and contemplate the day's end, that's peaceful. Whatever one's responsibility in life, to work hard, endure the stress and strains of the day, and know you have done all you could, that's a peaceful feeling.
2. Peace comes from doing something generous. A kind act to help someone. A sincere compliment to a hard working friend or colleague. An unnecessary risk taken for a friend or even for someone you don't know. I watched a young man carry an elderly lady's heavy packages in an airport some time ago. It was obvious she was exhausted from the rigors of travel. He went out of his way, engaged her in lively conversation, saw her safely to her gate, then walked away with a happy smile which could easily be defined as peaceful.
3. Peace comes from trusting someone, and knowing that person trusts you. A marriage in which this is true; a friendship; a working relationship -- to know we can rest at night sure that we are not alone in this world, no matter what happens, because we have someone to turn to, someone we can forever trust -- that helps bring peace.
4. Peace comes from a forgiving heart. To love the people in our lives, never holding a grudge, always ready to give others the benefit of the doubt, ready to set someone free who has offended us and now feels guilty -- a forgiving heart sets us free from the nagging effect of hard feelings toward another soul. And Jesus informed us that it is when we are able to forgive others that we, in turn, can be forgiven. Ah, to hold no hard feelings toward anyone, to know ourselves forgiven for our failures, that brings peace.
5. Peace comes from God's presence, known and welcomed. Prayer, meditation, blessed assurance. Not setting us free from the exigencies of life, for those are necessary and the means by which we grow, but arming us, empowering us, guiding us, so we can know with inner certainty that all will one day be well. That brings peace.
ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS
"Imagine this kitchen scene, circa 2047: it's time to make dinner. But the fridge and oven are now obsolete. Instead, you go to a device resembling a microwave oven -- we'll call it the Assembly-O-Tron. It has tubes running out the back that feed into a public plumbing system run by the DRM, the city's department of raw materials. There's a key pad programmed with the family favorites. You hit F3 for sirloin, fries, and a salad. The Assembly-O-Tron sucks at the DRM line for a dime's worth of elemental gunk. Then, billions of microscopic robot assemblers pull and tug at the individual atoms the DRM has provided: carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, and oxygen, maybe a few metals. In seconds, the assemblers have rearranged the elements precisely to yield the proteins and carbohydrates and whatever else makes up a good sirloin fifty years from now. Captain Kirk, it's chow time! After dinner the garbage and fine china can be dumped back in the 'Tron-For-Disassembly.' As long as the DRM isn't off line, cooking and cleanup are forever consigned to antiquity. Now, that's progress."
-- This hypothetical situation introduced an article in Newsweek magazine predicting the future nature of reality. It's called "nanotechnology," the study of "the really teeny-tiny -- there are billions of nanometers in a meter. That infinitesimal scale is where the real action of the universe is." (Winter special edition called "A New Millennium.")
____________
An interesting indication of the size of the universe was recently reported by astronomers based on images taken by the Hubble telescope. It seems a galaxy "near" the Milky Way is rushing on a collision course with that galaxy. It is rushing toward the Milky Way at 300,000 miles per hour. However, we are told not to worry, the collision won't take place for five billion years. They did add this sobering note: "By then it is expected that the sun will be a burned out husk and the earth, if it still exists, will be a lifeless chunk of frozen rock."
____________
Harry Emerson Fosdick once observed that "I have personal friends who prayed and now they are in the heart of Africa, living sacrificial missionary lives. If they wanted easy lives, they prayed a few times too often."
A cartoon showed a little boy kneeling, praying, saying in exasperation, "Aunt Stella isn't married yet. Uncle Hubert hasn't got a job. Daddy's hair is still falling out. I'm tired of saying prayers for this family without getting results."
"Laughter and prayer are the two noblest habits of mankind."
-- Christopher Morley in The Haunted Book Shop
____________
According to Paul Tillich, we are all beset by the problem of anxiety. It takes three forms for us all. First, there is anxiety about death. Second, we are anxious about condemnation, the feeling that somehow, somewhere, we will all have to answer for the kind of person we have been, the kind of life we have lived. Third, we are anxious about meaninglessness. Deep down, he contended, everyone has the desire to make one's life count for something significant.
____________
Phillips Brooks once gave this advice to those who pray: "Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger people. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers; pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be a miracle. Every day you shall wonder at yourself, at the richness of life which has come in you by the grace of God."
____________
One of the men who recently completed a climb to Mount Everest was asked, in an interview, what it felt like to reach such a high summit. He said his first reaction upon his return was exaltation at what he had accomplished. But he said this was soon followed by depression. After all his preparation, all the adrenalin rush of the struggle, now it was over. He had already climbed his mountain. That's often how life is: it is in facing the strenuous, demanding obstacles which lie before us that we find life's greatest sense of meaning.
____________
Dr. Lecomte du Nuoy, one-time head of the Bio-physics Department of the Pasteur Institute, in his book Human Destiny wrote: "Without anxiety, suffering and fear, man does not really humanize himself nor liberate his spiritual aspirations. It is because of this that pain is fruitful."
____________
Psalm Of The Day
Psalm 67 -- "May God be gracious to us and bless us."
Prayer Of The Day
We do not ask for peace for ourselves this day, O God. We leave that to your wisdom. We do, though, pray for peace for those who suffer this day. Especially we pray for refugees who number so many at present. We pray for homeless people, those who have lost hope, who do not know love or warmth of soul. Bless them, O God. Give them peace, we pray. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Lesson 1: Acts 16:9-15 (C)
This has always been one of my favorite passages. It tells of Paul's decision to change his plans because of what he called a vision. It has never bothered me that some people believe in direct visions from God while other people assume that Paul either had a dream or some other emotional sensation. What's important is that Paul felt that God had called him to change his plans from his original intention of going east to Asia. Had we begun with verse 6, we would have seen that Paul was dissuaded three times from his plans before having this vision. What a priceless word to speak to people today who are facing disappointment of one kind or another. Paul must have been terribly discouraged over the repeated disruption of his plans. For all we know, that vision may have been associated with the weary exhaustion which can result from failing efforts made over and over. Anyway, here we are reminded that God can intercede when we are headed in wrong directions. Remember, if Paul had succeeded in his earlier plans, Christianity might very well have been a religion of the far east rather than the driving force for western civilization.
Lesson 1: Acts 15:1-2, 22-29 (RC)
Judas and Silas are chosen to accompany Paul and Barnabas (interesting to note that Barnabas is named before Paul here) to meet with some Gentiles who have wrongly been instructed that they must be circumcised, which no doubt implied full accordance with Jewish law. Paul and his friends wrote a letter explaining that this was simply not the case, it was incorrect instruction. The only prohibitions were certain food limitations and commitment to sexual morality. I would probably use this to preach on that very last portion -- the fact that there is a lot of freedom in this Christian faith. But sexual morality is one of the necessary requirements of a true Christian.
Lesson 1: Acts 14:8-18 (E)
What a warning this is against the deification of religious leaders. We have seen several instances of this excess. In truth, it can easily happen in small ways within our own congregations. Highly talented and very dedicated preachers sometimes, usually without realizing it, attract a following of devoted admirers who easily attribute more merit and less human frailty to these clergy than is deserved. This could be a worthy passage for someone preaching to a gathering of clergy. Stay alert. It may be pleasing in the short run to receive the adulation (and material gifts?) which may come from this. But in the long run, it is sinful and can cause great damage. I myself can name three extraordinarily talented men who got carried away with such adulation from members of the opposite sex and paid a heavy price. I also once overheard a little bit of boasting by two pastors of wealthy churches, one remarking on the fine automobile he received for Christmas from a study group, and the other topping that with the information that he was a member of a fine country club in which all his dues and all his many expenses are paid by worshipful members of the congregation. Little wonder the Church these days is besieged by instances of the abuse of clergy office.
Lesson 2: Revelation 21:10, 22--22:5 (C); Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23 (RC); Revelation 21:22--22:5 (E)
Here is another instance of figurative language filled with glowing images depicting the someday-arriving City Of God in which all those who have been faithful will be included, and the economic structures of society will be healed and ennobled as well. A sermon on this passage might offer the hope that creation is heading somewhere. We don't know where. We have no idea at all of the time frame of creation but we know that God is engaged in purposeful activity and that any of us who choose are included in that purpose. Today's troubles may seem of paramount importance in our lives, but were we able to see things from God's perspective, we would realize that all of this will fit together into a perfect and glorious pattern of divine harmony.
Gospel: John 14:23-29 (C, RC, E)
Three important sermon themes are contained in this passage. First, Jesus makes it clear that obedience to God's will as conveyed in the teaching of Jesus is important if we are to be included in God's favor. Those who disobey will have some problems. This could be seen as somewhat in opposition to Paul's contention that salvation comes by faith alone. This passage here must be seen in the context of the entire teaching of Jesus which includes the promise that we can be forgiven for our disobedience, that God will always accept us even though we may go for a significant length of time before we truly accept Jesus.
The second theme is the promise of the Holy Spirit who will teach us everything. That too raises some interesting questions. If two sincere people of devout beliefs have quite different interpretations of the Bible and of the teachings of Jesus, how do we decide who is right? I taught a Bible class just a few weeks ago in which I invited people to struggle with the question as to just what we mean when we speak of Jesus as divine. One member, a gentleman who seems to have no unanswered questions whatsoever, assured me that Jesus had said, "I and the Father are one." That settled it for him. Though we then referred to the fact that the number of words attributed to Jesus in the New Testament are less than what two of us might speak over lunch, whereas his ministry lasted as long as three years (so some must be later summaries of Jesus' teaching), my friend was undismayed. I let it go at that since no one has ever won a religious argument. But it does present a dilemma when genuinely sincere people cannot agree. If we each pray to the Holy Spirit, perhaps there are different truths for different people according to many factors in our lives. Care to sort that one out?
Third, Jesus promised to give us peace, but not as the world does. What did he mean? How does the world give peace? Drugs and alcohol? Material wealth? No. We know too many people who have all those things, and miserable lives besides. Peace as Jesus defined it was the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is the inner assurance that one is loved, that one can never be beyond God's caring oversight no matter what happens. It is the knowledge that one is loved and valued and is to be an important part of God's ultimate plan. Trouble may come. There will be suffering. Battles remain to be won. But the final outcome, guaranteed if one accepts this Spirit (of Jesus), is victory.
SERMON SUGGESTIONS
Title: "God's Better Way"
Text: Acts 16:6-10
Theme: Notice, I have taken the liberty of starting with verse 6. The full power of this story requires us to report that Paul had been frustrated and the call to Macedonia required Paul to change his plans. While we are talking about using the Lectionary here, we needn't be slavish if we feel guided to do a little bit of creative rearrangement.
1. Life is Plan "B." That's my wife's favorite expression. We clergy surely know all about that, considering how often we get late night or early morning calls which rearrange our day's plans. Scott Peck wrote that one of his favorites adages goes like this: "Life is what happens to you when you had other plans."
2. God may have a different idea for you. J. W. Stephenson told, in his marvelous though sadly out of print little book God In My Unbelief, about the Scottish pastor who was learning the hard way in a small parish how God works. He wrote this: "There was laughter in it too, as when I prayed that I might be used in the service of Christ's compassion, and a steady succession of needy folks came to my door at inconvenient hours, just as I had planned on giving myself to the Lord's work ..." So it is. When we pray, often our plans are changed, sometimes in highly inconvenient ways. And yet, could we only know, these changes are always blessings. But this is usually true only when we are praying. I must admit there is a point of confusion on my part here. I have had unwelcome plan changes in my life back when I did not pray, which were grand blessings I now know. Yet, it seems that it is when I am praying that these things happen most frequently. What I do know is this: If I am consciously trying to do what is right, it seems to me that God gently guides me.
3. Pray then. Then be ready to celebrate when plans are changed, because you can be pretty sure God is busily rearranging your day for the better. My current witness on this point is that a few weeks ago, I had made arrangements to accompany several friends on a week long vacation to Cancun, Mexico, in a lavish resort. The day before I was to leave, my doctor called to report the results of some tests: I had cancer, and surgery was necessary as soon as possible. It was done, "they got it all," and I had a marvelous sense of God's love and power throughout the experience.
Title: "God And History"
Text: Revelation 21:10, 22--22:5
Theme: Either we can believe this or we can't. But I believe that history is heading somewhere purposeful and benevolent. I also know as you do, that there are a great many bumps in the road of history. As I write, we are currently bombing Kosovo. That issue will no doubt be long settled by the time you read this, but I hope and pray there is some divine use to be made of all of this. I'm in over my head at this point, but I believe that somewhere in the confusing and often chaotic process of history is a movement toward freedom, toward justice, toward equality, toward the triumph of love. I am convinced that whatever truth my little mind is permitted to possess, it is enough to know that I am upon this earth to foster those four values. Beyond that, I am to live by faith and be glad I have seen a vision of the eternal future through the life of Jesus.
Title: "Let There Be Peace"
Text: John 14:23-29
Theme: Jesus promised peace to those who accept the Holy Spirit (and using that phrase means the same to me as "accepting Christ" and "having faith in God.") How do we define peace? It certainly is not the absence of stress and worry. Those are not only normal human responses to the various threats, demands, and opportunities of life, they are desirable within limits. One psychologist said that most worthwhile accomplishments are done by people who are troubled by the problem of anxiety. Many of us clergy only get rolling on sermon preparation when we feel that knot in the pit of the stomach which warns that time is running out. I, for one, work best under pressure and I wouldn't be surprised if you do too.
Peace is surely something which arms us for life, rather than protecting us from life. Stop and think, when do we feel most peaceful?
1. Peace comes from a job well done. When Sunday's sermon is over and you did your best, when whatever tasks may follow are done, and you finally make your way home on Sunday, put your feet up, pour a cup of decaf (or whatever) and contemplate the day's end, that's peaceful. Whatever one's responsibility in life, to work hard, endure the stress and strains of the day, and know you have done all you could, that's a peaceful feeling.
2. Peace comes from doing something generous. A kind act to help someone. A sincere compliment to a hard working friend or colleague. An unnecessary risk taken for a friend or even for someone you don't know. I watched a young man carry an elderly lady's heavy packages in an airport some time ago. It was obvious she was exhausted from the rigors of travel. He went out of his way, engaged her in lively conversation, saw her safely to her gate, then walked away with a happy smile which could easily be defined as peaceful.
3. Peace comes from trusting someone, and knowing that person trusts you. A marriage in which this is true; a friendship; a working relationship -- to know we can rest at night sure that we are not alone in this world, no matter what happens, because we have someone to turn to, someone we can forever trust -- that helps bring peace.
4. Peace comes from a forgiving heart. To love the people in our lives, never holding a grudge, always ready to give others the benefit of the doubt, ready to set someone free who has offended us and now feels guilty -- a forgiving heart sets us free from the nagging effect of hard feelings toward another soul. And Jesus informed us that it is when we are able to forgive others that we, in turn, can be forgiven. Ah, to hold no hard feelings toward anyone, to know ourselves forgiven for our failures, that brings peace.
5. Peace comes from God's presence, known and welcomed. Prayer, meditation, blessed assurance. Not setting us free from the exigencies of life, for those are necessary and the means by which we grow, but arming us, empowering us, guiding us, so we can know with inner certainty that all will one day be well. That brings peace.
ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS
"Imagine this kitchen scene, circa 2047: it's time to make dinner. But the fridge and oven are now obsolete. Instead, you go to a device resembling a microwave oven -- we'll call it the Assembly-O-Tron. It has tubes running out the back that feed into a public plumbing system run by the DRM, the city's department of raw materials. There's a key pad programmed with the family favorites. You hit F3 for sirloin, fries, and a salad. The Assembly-O-Tron sucks at the DRM line for a dime's worth of elemental gunk. Then, billions of microscopic robot assemblers pull and tug at the individual atoms the DRM has provided: carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, and oxygen, maybe a few metals. In seconds, the assemblers have rearranged the elements precisely to yield the proteins and carbohydrates and whatever else makes up a good sirloin fifty years from now. Captain Kirk, it's chow time! After dinner the garbage and fine china can be dumped back in the 'Tron-For-Disassembly.' As long as the DRM isn't off line, cooking and cleanup are forever consigned to antiquity. Now, that's progress."
-- This hypothetical situation introduced an article in Newsweek magazine predicting the future nature of reality. It's called "nanotechnology," the study of "the really teeny-tiny -- there are billions of nanometers in a meter. That infinitesimal scale is where the real action of the universe is." (Winter special edition called "A New Millennium.")
____________
An interesting indication of the size of the universe was recently reported by astronomers based on images taken by the Hubble telescope. It seems a galaxy "near" the Milky Way is rushing on a collision course with that galaxy. It is rushing toward the Milky Way at 300,000 miles per hour. However, we are told not to worry, the collision won't take place for five billion years. They did add this sobering note: "By then it is expected that the sun will be a burned out husk and the earth, if it still exists, will be a lifeless chunk of frozen rock."
____________
Harry Emerson Fosdick once observed that "I have personal friends who prayed and now they are in the heart of Africa, living sacrificial missionary lives. If they wanted easy lives, they prayed a few times too often."
A cartoon showed a little boy kneeling, praying, saying in exasperation, "Aunt Stella isn't married yet. Uncle Hubert hasn't got a job. Daddy's hair is still falling out. I'm tired of saying prayers for this family without getting results."
"Laughter and prayer are the two noblest habits of mankind."
-- Christopher Morley in The Haunted Book Shop
____________
According to Paul Tillich, we are all beset by the problem of anxiety. It takes three forms for us all. First, there is anxiety about death. Second, we are anxious about condemnation, the feeling that somehow, somewhere, we will all have to answer for the kind of person we have been, the kind of life we have lived. Third, we are anxious about meaninglessness. Deep down, he contended, everyone has the desire to make one's life count for something significant.
____________
Phillips Brooks once gave this advice to those who pray: "Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger people. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers; pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be a miracle. Every day you shall wonder at yourself, at the richness of life which has come in you by the grace of God."
____________
One of the men who recently completed a climb to Mount Everest was asked, in an interview, what it felt like to reach such a high summit. He said his first reaction upon his return was exaltation at what he had accomplished. But he said this was soon followed by depression. After all his preparation, all the adrenalin rush of the struggle, now it was over. He had already climbed his mountain. That's often how life is: it is in facing the strenuous, demanding obstacles which lie before us that we find life's greatest sense of meaning.
____________
Dr. Lecomte du Nuoy, one-time head of the Bio-physics Department of the Pasteur Institute, in his book Human Destiny wrote: "Without anxiety, suffering and fear, man does not really humanize himself nor liberate his spiritual aspirations. It is because of this that pain is fruitful."
____________
Psalm Of The Day
Psalm 67 -- "May God be gracious to us and bless us."
Prayer Of The Day
We do not ask for peace for ourselves this day, O God. We leave that to your wisdom. We do, though, pray for peace for those who suffer this day. Especially we pray for refugees who number so many at present. We pray for homeless people, those who have lost hope, who do not know love or warmth of soul. Bless them, O God. Give them peace, we pray. In Jesus' name. Amen.
