Third Sunday Of Easter
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series VI, Cycle B
COMMENTARY ON THE LESSONS
Lesson 1: Acts 3:12-19 (C); Acts 3:13-15, 17-19 (RC)
Peter, having healed a man in the presence of witnesses, lets off some steam toward those people when they express amazement. Knowing Peter as we do, one can imagine that he was steamed at the beginning of his statement. "You're the ones who put Jesus to death, now you want the benefits which you see to derive from him." That's surely what Peter felt at first. But Peter was basically a good guy, a compassionate man. He realized that these people were simply a product of their culture, of their religious "beliefs," wrong as they were. So Peter relents, and informs the gathered people that indeed it was by the "name" of the very Jesus whom they had ordered crucified that healing, and much more, is possible. All is not lost. If they will repent (and let us not forget that to repent is a lot more than being sorry -- it means changing your ways) and turn to God, their sins (including the death of the one who loved them) will be forgiven.
This is certainly a welcome word to those of us who contribute to the ongoing suffering of the Lord in the people of our own time. Jesus did, after all, tell us that we meet him in the people around us, most especially needy people -- hungry, thirsty, imprisoned, lonely people. It does not mean we can continue doing some of the things we do. Ignorance is an excuse -- once -- but we know better now and cannot claim ignorance. The call from Peter is that we embrace Jesus as our Lord as the means by which we know the nature of God as love. The means by which we turn to him is not merely by some religious conviction, however. The woods are full of people with all the right beliefs who go right on living selfish lives. The call is to change, to make love our aim, to use this life constructively, and to make amends when we do slip and do wrong. If we set ourselves in this direction, God will empower us in the journey.
Lesson 1: Acts 4:5-12 (E)
(See Easter 4)
Lesson 2: 1 John 3:1-7 (C)
John uses the word "sin" here without defining it. We theologians have a fairly good idea what the word means, but our listeners may not. Oh, everyone thinks of sins as little naughty acts, I suppose. We have earlier in these discussions established that Sin is a condition, and sins are the specific acts (commission or omission) which result from the condition. John contends that "everyone who lives in union with Christ does not continue to sin," and he further holds that "whoever continues to sin has never seen him or known him."
We have a problem here. Forgive me, friends, but I know a lot of clergy. Some of my closest friends are clergy. I have to say that, myself foremost if you will, we are all still very much sinners, as are our congregants. One of my clergy acquaintances who shall remain nameless was recently arrested for drunken driving. He's really a very good minister. Few of us escape the temptations to covet recognition, to wish for prestigious appointments, to want to improve our housing or our salaries or our perks. If I sound cynical, I am sorry, as I am not at all a cynic. I prefer to call this realism, and ask the reader who has managed to avoid all of the above to forgive the description.
Back to John. It is the knowledge that God loves us as we are which leads us out of this difficulty at last. "Just as I am, without one plea ..." we sing. I have to believe that what changes in us when we receive Christ into our lives is the DIRECTION we move henceforth. That is, I may still sin, but now I know what I am doing. I begin to experience remorse for my wrongs. I begin to try sincerely to do better. I begin to dislike my own selfish tendencies, to see them -- too late at times, to be sure -- but enough to move slowly, painfully back toward God, toward goodness, toward purity.
I'm aware that there are some people for whom this all takes place at once. William James used the analogy of snow on a barn roof. It accumulates until the roof joists creak from the strain. Then one more microscopic flake of snow becomes that one bit of weight too much and the roof caves in. So in some people's lives, that one last event -- a tear, a loss, an epiphany -- brings about conversion. But this, too, has its built-in sin. Self-righteousness, judgmentalism. These are the potential pitfalls of the sudden convert.
I guess I'm saying that sinful tendencies beset us at every turn. And only a power greater than our own can guide us through to safety at the other end. That power is ours through Jesus Christ. We won't be sinless in this life, if by "sin" we mean self-centeredness. IF, by "Sin" we mean the intentional disregard for all that's good and right and pure, then Yes!
Lesson 2: 1 John 2:1-5 (RC)
Lesson 2: 1 John 1:1--2:2 (E)
(See Easter 2)
Gospel: Luke 24:36b-48 (C, E); Luke 24:35-48 (RC)
Three main emphases are to be found here. First, the reality of the resurrection is emphasized by Jesus' worldly presence as human. Eating fish in the presence of the others dramatizes this. Second, the passage underlines that Jesus found it necessary to die in order to succeed in his mission. Third, we see what we can very well call the founding of the Church. C. K. Barrett in a study of history as found in Luke wrote: "Luke does not believe in the existence of salvation or of Christians outside the Church, but this is because he knows that it is in the context of the Church that the saving word must be heard and believed, and because it does not occur to him that any sincere believer would wish to separate himself from those to whom he owed it."
I have a problem with the implied arrogance in that last, and yet I realize that the Church is the custodian of the saving word. In preaching on this passage, I would assume we had already placed great emphasis on the humanity of Jesus, and on the Cross. I would use this passage to consider the Church as custodian of the gospel word. To do this, we have to look at the Church on the one hand, by which I mean that grand institution which reaches across time and space, and on the other hand, the church, by which I mean that assortment of good and not so good folks who gather down at the corner most Sundays.
Robert McAfee Brown reported the words of one social worker who said the church was the biggest obstacle she had found in bringing about needed change (quote below). Saint Hereticus put it this way: "The power of hell is strongest where the odor of sanctity fills the air."
I attended worship in a church not near me. It was, by all odds, the most boring hour I have spent in months. Forgive me, but the pastor has a solemn responsibility to see that such doesn't happen. For one thing, a true preacher must learn to preach well. The one I heard pranced about like a trained bear. (He apparently had never learned that the easiest way to drive people nuts is to stroll while preaching. One professional speaker whom I admire said, "When speaking in public, pretend that your shoes are nailed to the floor. Stand still. And if you don't wear a robe, makes sure your suit is pressed.") The pastor yelled and almost exploded the public address system. Then, not only did we have to sing a song with about eight different words repeated over and over, but we had to sing it three times -- same verse.
Ah, but I found Christ in church. I learned the Bible in church. I was called to ministry through the church. I was blessed and empowered by the church. May I say it: I was saved by the church (unless I blow it at the end). Luke was right, then. For all its many shortcomings as it manifests itself in the real world, the Church is the means by which God is trying to save humanity.
SERMON SUGGESTIONS
Title: "Make Love Your Aim"
Text: Acts 3:12-19, 1 John 3:1a
Theme: Assuming that few if any of the individuals within the sound of Peter's voice were literally involved in Jesus' death, inasmuch as many years had now passed since that event, he must have been referring to what we might call corporate guilt. In other words, while they had not literally "delivered up" Jesus, yet the same values and emotions, the same characteristics of human nature which had been at work in the people involved in the crucifixion are working in human hearts today. The relevance for us is that it's no less true for us than for Peter's hearers. It's a mistake to assign responsibility for Jesus' death to the Jews or the Roman soldiers any more than to the rest of us who, had we been present, would almost surely have done much the same as those who were there.
Garrison Keillor of Lake Wobegon fame said this: "You can't live life without making mistakes. You can't live life without hurting other people. And they'll get mad at you and they'll be right. And you'll just have to ask them to forgive you." That pretty well says it. We do our best, but it isn't always good enough. In preaching on this passage, I would first revisit repentance, a decision to change, to turn in a new direction. Then I would describe the love of God. Here we need specific examples of love, since the word easily falls into the category of "glittering generality." We had an instance in our city recently (reported in more detail elsewhere) of a mother who was standing on a river bank, talking to a friend. Her son, a middle schooler, was playing with a friend in the river and suddenly screamed, then went under the surface. He couldn't swim. Neither could his mother. But without hesitation, she leaped in the water and drowned with her son.
Then I would talk about the fact that if we sin without regard for the welfare of others, without regard to God's will as we know it, we may very well be lost in our sins. But if we do as Keillor suggested, ask forgiveness and do our best, God will forgive us. It is that which keeps us in a close relationship with God.
1. We are to repent.
2. We are to accept God's love.
3. We are to act like forgiven people.
Title: "The Church's One Foundation"
Text: Luke 24:36b-48
Theme: Again, we have an opportunity to preach on the Church. First, instead of getting preachy, let's ask ourselves what word a congregation needs to hear. I once attended a church in Chicago, and the young pastor's sermon was a diatribe against the church members for their poor church attendance. I couldn't help wondering why he was scolding us for that -- we were there. Sometimes sermons on the church can sound a bit that way unless we remind ourselves that most of the people within the sound of our voices are good folks, trying to live a Christian life and usually quite loyal to the church.
Here are some things I think it is helpful to review. First, what is the role of the paid staff, and what is the role of the worshiping member in carrying out the daily life of the church? One must be careful not to appear to desire a soft life while others do the work. On the other hand, two points are worth emphasis: one, some things just can't be done by the pastor if he or she is to have a family life, a bit of healthy leisure, and is going to do all those things we are responsible to do. And two, there are many things our members can do better than we can. In my case, I hardly know a screwdriver from a monkey wrench, so it was pointless for me to attend a trustee meeting. I quickly learned that once a committee realizes the pastor isn't going to be at all the meetings, they quickly take responsibility and set the pastor free for other activities. (Don't tell anyone, but I think a minister is foolish to attend all those meetings unless we are specifically needed. I have an idea that we log twice as many meetings where we were not needed, just because we're afraid people will disapprove, as we do meetings where we are genuinely needed.)
It's important to remind us all that anyone who enters must be received in love. I have told of one former prostitute who tried to turn her life around by attending a church recommended by a friend, only to be shunned by some folks when they learned of her past. Or the minister who recently told a divorced woman in the congregation that she should resign from the women's society. For goodness sake, she needed that group more than ever.
And of course, we do well to hear that the Church is unique, precisely because God called the Church into being for the specific purpose of propagating the gospel to all the world. However, that gets done not only by good preaching (Paul did say: "It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe") and by strong worship, but also by Bible study, fellowship, and service to others.
1. The Church is all of us working together according to our abilities.
2. The Church is home to all who will come to receive God's love.
3. The Church is the setting where Christ's loving work is done.
ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS
One of the great heroes of World War II was Corrie ten Boom, a gallant Dutch woman who, relatively advanced in age, shielded many people from the Nazis until she was betrayed and placed in Ravensbruck concentration camp, along with her sister Betsie. Their terrible experiences are detailed in ten Boom's fine book, The Hiding Place. She tells about the death of Betsie at the hands of the guards. Finally, after a long incredible period of mistreatment and suffering, she survived and was released. She tells of the one power that enabled her to do all she did: her absolute faith in the power of Jesus Christ. One night she gave a speech in a church in Munich, sharing her experiences. When she finished, she was appalled to see a man who as a camp guard had humiliated her and Betsie. He had heard the speech and offered his hand, saying, "To think that, as you say, he has washed my sins away."
Corrie ten Boom said she felt a terrible anger toward the man, none of the charity about which she had just preached. "Vengeful thoughts boiled through me," she wrote. Yet as she stood there in that crisis moment of faith, she knew that Jesus Christ taught and promised only forgiveness. She inwardly prayed that somehow she could receive the power to forgive the man. But she felt no warmth, no sign of charity. She could not even raise her hand. With a prayer for the power to do what she was unable to do on her own, by sheer effort of will, she forced her hand into his. And then she wrote this:
"As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me. And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on His. He gives the love itself."
____________
Our hope is finally in the gift of love from a source beyond us. One poet caught the flavor of this:
There flickered once within my heart emotion I called "love."
I felt it for another and it seemed born from above.
But time eroded what I felt, my "self" got in the way.
My "needs" cried out "take care of me," and joy dimmed day by day.
I thought, "There must be more than this, I've spoiled what seemed so true
And now I'm where I was before, Oh God, what did I do?"
My selfishness has ruined what had blessed my life, until
I learned that something deep within will try, true love, to kill.
But love did something else in me, refused to die, I guess.
It said, "I am your only hope, I have the power to bless."
Love has a life that is its own, when given from above.
And taught me once it's born in you, your destiny is love.
So something else took place within the selfish part of me.
It captured my eternal soul, and now my soul is free.
I now know what I thought was "love" was blemished by my sin.
But God has filled me with real love, now new life can begin.
____________
A social worker said this: "I spend my week trying to change society. And do you know who furnishes the biggest obstacle to my work? The churches, and the ïgood solid church people.'
"Ever try to get a church board interested in a slum-clearance project? I did, last week. I found that half the members owned property in the slum, and would have no part of any project that might lower the income they were getting from it."
____________
Psalm Of The Day
Psalm 4 (C, RC) -- "Answer me when I call, O God...."
Psalm 98 (E) -- "O sing to the Lord a new song."
Prayer Of The Day
O God of love, thou who has shown us the way to joyous life through faithfulness and service, we rejoice in the knowledge of Jesus Christ as Savior and pray that we may be found faithful in giving that love to others, as he has shown us we are to do. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Lesson 1: Acts 3:12-19 (C); Acts 3:13-15, 17-19 (RC)
Peter, having healed a man in the presence of witnesses, lets off some steam toward those people when they express amazement. Knowing Peter as we do, one can imagine that he was steamed at the beginning of his statement. "You're the ones who put Jesus to death, now you want the benefits which you see to derive from him." That's surely what Peter felt at first. But Peter was basically a good guy, a compassionate man. He realized that these people were simply a product of their culture, of their religious "beliefs," wrong as they were. So Peter relents, and informs the gathered people that indeed it was by the "name" of the very Jesus whom they had ordered crucified that healing, and much more, is possible. All is not lost. If they will repent (and let us not forget that to repent is a lot more than being sorry -- it means changing your ways) and turn to God, their sins (including the death of the one who loved them) will be forgiven.
This is certainly a welcome word to those of us who contribute to the ongoing suffering of the Lord in the people of our own time. Jesus did, after all, tell us that we meet him in the people around us, most especially needy people -- hungry, thirsty, imprisoned, lonely people. It does not mean we can continue doing some of the things we do. Ignorance is an excuse -- once -- but we know better now and cannot claim ignorance. The call from Peter is that we embrace Jesus as our Lord as the means by which we know the nature of God as love. The means by which we turn to him is not merely by some religious conviction, however. The woods are full of people with all the right beliefs who go right on living selfish lives. The call is to change, to make love our aim, to use this life constructively, and to make amends when we do slip and do wrong. If we set ourselves in this direction, God will empower us in the journey.
Lesson 1: Acts 4:5-12 (E)
(See Easter 4)
Lesson 2: 1 John 3:1-7 (C)
John uses the word "sin" here without defining it. We theologians have a fairly good idea what the word means, but our listeners may not. Oh, everyone thinks of sins as little naughty acts, I suppose. We have earlier in these discussions established that Sin is a condition, and sins are the specific acts (commission or omission) which result from the condition. John contends that "everyone who lives in union with Christ does not continue to sin," and he further holds that "whoever continues to sin has never seen him or known him."
We have a problem here. Forgive me, friends, but I know a lot of clergy. Some of my closest friends are clergy. I have to say that, myself foremost if you will, we are all still very much sinners, as are our congregants. One of my clergy acquaintances who shall remain nameless was recently arrested for drunken driving. He's really a very good minister. Few of us escape the temptations to covet recognition, to wish for prestigious appointments, to want to improve our housing or our salaries or our perks. If I sound cynical, I am sorry, as I am not at all a cynic. I prefer to call this realism, and ask the reader who has managed to avoid all of the above to forgive the description.
Back to John. It is the knowledge that God loves us as we are which leads us out of this difficulty at last. "Just as I am, without one plea ..." we sing. I have to believe that what changes in us when we receive Christ into our lives is the DIRECTION we move henceforth. That is, I may still sin, but now I know what I am doing. I begin to experience remorse for my wrongs. I begin to try sincerely to do better. I begin to dislike my own selfish tendencies, to see them -- too late at times, to be sure -- but enough to move slowly, painfully back toward God, toward goodness, toward purity.
I'm aware that there are some people for whom this all takes place at once. William James used the analogy of snow on a barn roof. It accumulates until the roof joists creak from the strain. Then one more microscopic flake of snow becomes that one bit of weight too much and the roof caves in. So in some people's lives, that one last event -- a tear, a loss, an epiphany -- brings about conversion. But this, too, has its built-in sin. Self-righteousness, judgmentalism. These are the potential pitfalls of the sudden convert.
I guess I'm saying that sinful tendencies beset us at every turn. And only a power greater than our own can guide us through to safety at the other end. That power is ours through Jesus Christ. We won't be sinless in this life, if by "sin" we mean self-centeredness. IF, by "Sin" we mean the intentional disregard for all that's good and right and pure, then Yes!
Lesson 2: 1 John 2:1-5 (RC)
Lesson 2: 1 John 1:1--2:2 (E)
(See Easter 2)
Gospel: Luke 24:36b-48 (C, E); Luke 24:35-48 (RC)
Three main emphases are to be found here. First, the reality of the resurrection is emphasized by Jesus' worldly presence as human. Eating fish in the presence of the others dramatizes this. Second, the passage underlines that Jesus found it necessary to die in order to succeed in his mission. Third, we see what we can very well call the founding of the Church. C. K. Barrett in a study of history as found in Luke wrote: "Luke does not believe in the existence of salvation or of Christians outside the Church, but this is because he knows that it is in the context of the Church that the saving word must be heard and believed, and because it does not occur to him that any sincere believer would wish to separate himself from those to whom he owed it."
I have a problem with the implied arrogance in that last, and yet I realize that the Church is the custodian of the saving word. In preaching on this passage, I would assume we had already placed great emphasis on the humanity of Jesus, and on the Cross. I would use this passage to consider the Church as custodian of the gospel word. To do this, we have to look at the Church on the one hand, by which I mean that grand institution which reaches across time and space, and on the other hand, the church, by which I mean that assortment of good and not so good folks who gather down at the corner most Sundays.
Robert McAfee Brown reported the words of one social worker who said the church was the biggest obstacle she had found in bringing about needed change (quote below). Saint Hereticus put it this way: "The power of hell is strongest where the odor of sanctity fills the air."
I attended worship in a church not near me. It was, by all odds, the most boring hour I have spent in months. Forgive me, but the pastor has a solemn responsibility to see that such doesn't happen. For one thing, a true preacher must learn to preach well. The one I heard pranced about like a trained bear. (He apparently had never learned that the easiest way to drive people nuts is to stroll while preaching. One professional speaker whom I admire said, "When speaking in public, pretend that your shoes are nailed to the floor. Stand still. And if you don't wear a robe, makes sure your suit is pressed.") The pastor yelled and almost exploded the public address system. Then, not only did we have to sing a song with about eight different words repeated over and over, but we had to sing it three times -- same verse.
Ah, but I found Christ in church. I learned the Bible in church. I was called to ministry through the church. I was blessed and empowered by the church. May I say it: I was saved by the church (unless I blow it at the end). Luke was right, then. For all its many shortcomings as it manifests itself in the real world, the Church is the means by which God is trying to save humanity.
SERMON SUGGESTIONS
Title: "Make Love Your Aim"
Text: Acts 3:12-19, 1 John 3:1a
Theme: Assuming that few if any of the individuals within the sound of Peter's voice were literally involved in Jesus' death, inasmuch as many years had now passed since that event, he must have been referring to what we might call corporate guilt. In other words, while they had not literally "delivered up" Jesus, yet the same values and emotions, the same characteristics of human nature which had been at work in the people involved in the crucifixion are working in human hearts today. The relevance for us is that it's no less true for us than for Peter's hearers. It's a mistake to assign responsibility for Jesus' death to the Jews or the Roman soldiers any more than to the rest of us who, had we been present, would almost surely have done much the same as those who were there.
Garrison Keillor of Lake Wobegon fame said this: "You can't live life without making mistakes. You can't live life without hurting other people. And they'll get mad at you and they'll be right. And you'll just have to ask them to forgive you." That pretty well says it. We do our best, but it isn't always good enough. In preaching on this passage, I would first revisit repentance, a decision to change, to turn in a new direction. Then I would describe the love of God. Here we need specific examples of love, since the word easily falls into the category of "glittering generality." We had an instance in our city recently (reported in more detail elsewhere) of a mother who was standing on a river bank, talking to a friend. Her son, a middle schooler, was playing with a friend in the river and suddenly screamed, then went under the surface. He couldn't swim. Neither could his mother. But without hesitation, she leaped in the water and drowned with her son.
Then I would talk about the fact that if we sin without regard for the welfare of others, without regard to God's will as we know it, we may very well be lost in our sins. But if we do as Keillor suggested, ask forgiveness and do our best, God will forgive us. It is that which keeps us in a close relationship with God.
1. We are to repent.
2. We are to accept God's love.
3. We are to act like forgiven people.
Title: "The Church's One Foundation"
Text: Luke 24:36b-48
Theme: Again, we have an opportunity to preach on the Church. First, instead of getting preachy, let's ask ourselves what word a congregation needs to hear. I once attended a church in Chicago, and the young pastor's sermon was a diatribe against the church members for their poor church attendance. I couldn't help wondering why he was scolding us for that -- we were there. Sometimes sermons on the church can sound a bit that way unless we remind ourselves that most of the people within the sound of our voices are good folks, trying to live a Christian life and usually quite loyal to the church.
Here are some things I think it is helpful to review. First, what is the role of the paid staff, and what is the role of the worshiping member in carrying out the daily life of the church? One must be careful not to appear to desire a soft life while others do the work. On the other hand, two points are worth emphasis: one, some things just can't be done by the pastor if he or she is to have a family life, a bit of healthy leisure, and is going to do all those things we are responsible to do. And two, there are many things our members can do better than we can. In my case, I hardly know a screwdriver from a monkey wrench, so it was pointless for me to attend a trustee meeting. I quickly learned that once a committee realizes the pastor isn't going to be at all the meetings, they quickly take responsibility and set the pastor free for other activities. (Don't tell anyone, but I think a minister is foolish to attend all those meetings unless we are specifically needed. I have an idea that we log twice as many meetings where we were not needed, just because we're afraid people will disapprove, as we do meetings where we are genuinely needed.)
It's important to remind us all that anyone who enters must be received in love. I have told of one former prostitute who tried to turn her life around by attending a church recommended by a friend, only to be shunned by some folks when they learned of her past. Or the minister who recently told a divorced woman in the congregation that she should resign from the women's society. For goodness sake, she needed that group more than ever.
And of course, we do well to hear that the Church is unique, precisely because God called the Church into being for the specific purpose of propagating the gospel to all the world. However, that gets done not only by good preaching (Paul did say: "It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe") and by strong worship, but also by Bible study, fellowship, and service to others.
1. The Church is all of us working together according to our abilities.
2. The Church is home to all who will come to receive God's love.
3. The Church is the setting where Christ's loving work is done.
ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS
One of the great heroes of World War II was Corrie ten Boom, a gallant Dutch woman who, relatively advanced in age, shielded many people from the Nazis until she was betrayed and placed in Ravensbruck concentration camp, along with her sister Betsie. Their terrible experiences are detailed in ten Boom's fine book, The Hiding Place. She tells about the death of Betsie at the hands of the guards. Finally, after a long incredible period of mistreatment and suffering, she survived and was released. She tells of the one power that enabled her to do all she did: her absolute faith in the power of Jesus Christ. One night she gave a speech in a church in Munich, sharing her experiences. When she finished, she was appalled to see a man who as a camp guard had humiliated her and Betsie. He had heard the speech and offered his hand, saying, "To think that, as you say, he has washed my sins away."
Corrie ten Boom said she felt a terrible anger toward the man, none of the charity about which she had just preached. "Vengeful thoughts boiled through me," she wrote. Yet as she stood there in that crisis moment of faith, she knew that Jesus Christ taught and promised only forgiveness. She inwardly prayed that somehow she could receive the power to forgive the man. But she felt no warmth, no sign of charity. She could not even raise her hand. With a prayer for the power to do what she was unable to do on her own, by sheer effort of will, she forced her hand into his. And then she wrote this:
"As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me. And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on His. He gives the love itself."
____________
Our hope is finally in the gift of love from a source beyond us. One poet caught the flavor of this:
There flickered once within my heart emotion I called "love."
I felt it for another and it seemed born from above.
But time eroded what I felt, my "self" got in the way.
My "needs" cried out "take care of me," and joy dimmed day by day.
I thought, "There must be more than this, I've spoiled what seemed so true
And now I'm where I was before, Oh God, what did I do?"
My selfishness has ruined what had blessed my life, until
I learned that something deep within will try, true love, to kill.
But love did something else in me, refused to die, I guess.
It said, "I am your only hope, I have the power to bless."
Love has a life that is its own, when given from above.
And taught me once it's born in you, your destiny is love.
So something else took place within the selfish part of me.
It captured my eternal soul, and now my soul is free.
I now know what I thought was "love" was blemished by my sin.
But God has filled me with real love, now new life can begin.
____________
A social worker said this: "I spend my week trying to change society. And do you know who furnishes the biggest obstacle to my work? The churches, and the ïgood solid church people.'
"Ever try to get a church board interested in a slum-clearance project? I did, last week. I found that half the members owned property in the slum, and would have no part of any project that might lower the income they were getting from it."
____________
Psalm Of The Day
Psalm 4 (C, RC) -- "Answer me when I call, O God...."
Psalm 98 (E) -- "O sing to the Lord a new song."
Prayer Of The Day
O God of love, thou who has shown us the way to joyous life through faithfulness and service, we rejoice in the knowledge of Jesus Christ as Savior and pray that we may be found faithful in giving that love to others, as he has shown us we are to do. In Jesus' name, Amen.
