Still Learning Not To Wobble
Stories
Object:
Contents
What's Up This Week
Stories to Live By: "Tempted by Power" / "You've Got Mail"
Shining Moments: "Still Learning Not to Wobble" by Rosmarie Trapp
Good Stories: "Satan's Meeting"
Scrap Pile: "Caring for Body and Soul" by John Sumwalt
What's Up This Week
by John Sumwalt
Temptation in the Garden of Eden, disobedience, original sin, iniquity, confession, law, grace, death, and the devil in the wilderness -- pick your favorite theme; there's something for everyone in these lectionary texts for the first Sunday in Lent. I love good stories about the devil. You will find a couple of my favorites from previous Lent 1 editions of StoryShare by clicking on Cycle B and Cycle C, and there's another good devil story in this week's Good Stories section. You'll also enjoy a story of temptation and grace by Rosmarie Trapp (of the Sound of Music von Trapps) in her Shining Moments witness, "Still Learning Not to Wobble":
"That evening, as I tried to fall asleep, the Lord visited me in a bright golden light in my room... [T]he golden glow brought peace to my soul, and I found that I could stand upon the rock of my salvation. At first I was pretty wobbly, and it took years to be firm. It's been twenty years since that blessing, and I'm still learning not to wobble."
Stories to Live By
Tempted by Power
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." And Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! for it is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.' "
Matthew 4:8-10
In 1940 the order had gone out -- incurables and the insane were no longer to be a burden on the Reich. Three high officials descended on the Bethel Institution (a huge hospital for sufferers of epilepsy and the mentally ill). "Herr Pastor, the Fuehrer has decided that all these people must be gassed." Pastor von Bodelschwingh looked at them calmly. "You can put me into a concentration camp if you want, that is your affair. But as long as I am free, you do not touch one of my patients. I cannot change to fit the times or the wishes of the Fuehrer. I stand under orders from our Lord Jesus Christ."
You've Got Mail
And the Lord God commanded the man, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die."
Genesis 2:16-17
One day God was looking down at Earth and saw all of the rascally behavior that was going on, so he decided to send an angel to check it out. The angel returned and delivered this report: "Yes, it is bad on Earth -- 95% are misbehaving and 5% are not."
God thought for a moment and said, "Maybe I had better send down a second angel and get another opinion."
The second angel returned and reported, "Yes, it's true, the Earth is in decline. 95% are misbehaving and 5% are being good." God was not pleased. So God decided to e-mail the 5% of the people that were good to encourage them -- to give them a little something to help them keep going. Do you know what the e-mail said?
No? I didn't think so.
I didn't get one either.
Shining Moments
Still Learning Not to Wobble
by Rosmarie Trapp
Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding, whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not stay near you. Many are the torments of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord.
Psalm 32:9-10
Some people accept the Lord Jesus Christ and live with that for the rest of their lives. Others get inspired to proclaim him in public for the rest of their lives. That's the way it is in our family, and that's the way it is in the body of Christ, I think.
Anyway, after I had said my Sinner's Prayer with an evangelist on the radio in my bedroom one desperate night, I was having coffee in a bus station and found a scripture on the wall. Put there by some group for lost souls, it was Romans 10:9:
"If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."
That verse penetrated my terribly darkened mind, and my spirit leaped up and said, "Yes, that's what I want!" But guess what? I couldn't do it. There I sat, drinking coffee, and the word "Jesus" would not come out of my mouth for my neighbor to hear. It was stuck there, and I felt defeated again.
The spirit was trying to teach me what salvation is all about. He led me gently, slowly -- for I was a slow learner (and still am!) -- but he never let me go. In my struggle to get back home and start over again, these little penetrating lights got buried, and I forgot them as being the important truths they are.
The mercy of God led me to the Community of the Crucified One. This group was in its beginning stages in Homestead, Pennsylvania. Eddie Donovan had been called by God to start a Bible study in his own house, and soon many people came, for he is an excellent Bible teacher.
One of the nuns from Baltimore told my sister Agathe about him, and as I had been living with her there for three years, we both flew to Homestead to have him talk with her. Soon my mother and other sisters came to hear him, and my mother advised me to join his group. After another few years' struggle with rebellion, I submitted to the idea and drove to Homestead. It was May of 1978.
I was warmly welcomed, and was invited to stay as long as I felt I needed to. I decided to stay for two weeks. When I found out there was a trip to the Holy Land promised, I asked to go along. I was allowed to stay until October, and we had a glorious visit to the Holy Land.
As a result, Jesus came off the wall and out of pictures for me, and became a living person with history. That helped me decide to be part of the chapter of third order Franciscans.
There was much excitement when we returned to Homestead. I woke up every morning looking forward to what the day would bring. It was the beginning of our community, with many discussions and many decisions to be made. Everyone was included. Eddie was always talking in public and we were allowed to give our opinions. That was just up my alley, for I loved to be included in decision-making. When I was young, I had always envied my parents and siblings getting together to make decisions about the family singing group after Lorli and I, the little ones, had been put to bed.
Now I was part of another family -- the family of God, making decisions. It was great! But one day I was disrespectful to authority. I forget what I said, but Eddie suggested a personal retreat might be helpful. It was my first extended retreat: it lasted seven days, and it got me to read the Bible.
That evening, as I tried to fall asleep, the Lord visited me in a bright golden light in my room. It made me remember the Sinner's Prayer I had said in Syracuse, New York. That was a real blessing. Praise God for his memory. He had not forgotten, even though I had. Through all the years I had spent in Baltimore, when people asked me how I had been saved, I couldn't say, because I had forgotten that simple prayer in my room. God is faithful, because he knew how distraught I had become about whether I was truly saved or not. He knew I would run up to the altar at every altar call, but it never reassured me. Well, that night the golden glow brought peace to my soul, and I found that I could stand upon the rock of my salvation. At first I was pretty wobbly, and it took years to be firm. It's been twenty years since that blessing, and I'm still learning not to wobble.
Rosmarie Trapp is a member of the "Community of the Crucified One," 104 E. 11th Ave., Homestead, PA 15120. She lives in an apartment in one of their mission houses in Vermont, where she is involved in children's Bible classes, fundraisers, and prison ministry, sharing the message "Jesus loves you." Her family's story was told in the well-known movie The Sound of Music. This story appeared in Shining Moments: Visions of the Holy in Ordinary Lives (CSS Publishing, 2004).
Good Stories
Satan's Meeting
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread."
Matthew 4:1-3
Satan called a worldwide convention of demons. In his opening address he said, "We can't keep Christians from going to church. We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth. We can't even keep them from forming an intimate relationship with their Savior. Once they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken. So let them go to their churches, let them have their covered dish dinners -- but steal their time, so they don't have time to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ. This is what I want you to do," said the devil. "Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!"
"How shall we do this?" his demons shouted.
"Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds," he answered. "Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow. Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6-7 days each week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their families fragment, soon their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work! Overstimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice. Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive, to keep TVs, VCRs, CDs, and PCs going constantly in their homes, and see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays non-Christian music constantly. This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ.
"Fill the coffee tables with magazines and newspapers. Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day. Invade their driving moments with billboards. Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalogs, sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free products, services, and false hopes. Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines and TV so that the husbands will believe outward beauty is what's important and become dissatisfied with their wives. Keep the wives too tired to love their husbands at night. Give them headaches too! If they don't give their husbands the love they need, they will begin to look elsewhere. That will fragment their families quickly!
"Give them Santa Claus to distract them from teaching their children the real meaning of Christmas. Give them an Easter bunny so they won't talk about His resurrection and power over sin and death. Even in their recreation, let them be excessive... have them return from their recreation exhausted. Keep them too busy to go out in nature and reflect on God's creation. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, plays, concerts, and movies instead. Keep them busy, busy, busy! And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences. Crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Jesus. Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause. It will work! It will work!"
It was quite a plan! The demons went eagerly to their assignments, causing Christians everywhere to get more busy and more rushed, going here and there -- having little time for their God or their families; having no time to tell others about the power of Jesus to change lives. The question is... Has the devil been successful at his scheme? You be the judge!
(Author Unknown. Found on the web at: http://www.luquette.org/inspire/satans_meeting.htm)
Scrap Pile
Caring for Body and Soul
by John Sumwalt
I am planning a Lenten sermon series on "Caring for Body and Soul: Spiritual Dimensions of Healing," which will begin February 13. I am looking for help in finding music lyrics that speak to this theme, especially "soul music," but also classical, country, blues, jazz, opera, rock, rap, etc. I am also looking for stories, quotes, illustrations, and jokes. And I would be grateful for any old sermons on healing or soul that anyone has to share.
I am looking particularly at Thomas Moore's works on Soul, as well as a number of books on healing. Do any of you have any books or articles to recommend that will shed light on these upcoming lectionary texts? See the line-up of sermons below. Please write to me if you would like to receive a copy of any of these sermons.
Please send one of your old Lenten sermons to be published in the Scrap Pile. Send them at least two weeks ahead of the scheduled lectionary text.
John Sumwalt
Wauwatosa Avenue United Methodist Church
1529 Wauwatosa Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53213
jsumwalt@naspa.net
414-257-1228
Caring for Body and Soul: Spiritual Dimensions of Healing
Dr. Larry Dossey writes in his book Whatever Happened to Healers that "we, as a culture, have turned our collective back on healing. We should not kid ourselves: we are all in this together, jointly entranced by a physicalistic approach to health and illness, and dazzled by the promises of technology to right every conceivable misfire of the body. Against this backdrop, healers and healing have been shoved aside and very nearly forgotten, and we are paying the price. Ignoring the role of consciousness, soul, spirit, and meaning, we have birthed a malaise that permeates not just healers and healing, but the soul and the spirit of a culture."
February 13: Healing the Soul
Most of us don't live as if we believe we are eternal souls. Thomas Moore writes in Care of the Soul: "We have come to know soul only in its complaints, when it stirs, disturbed by neglect and abuse, and causes us to feel pain. What do you do when your soul is in pain, when as the psalmist says, '...my body wasted away through my groaning all day long?' " (Psalm 32)
February 20: Healing from Heaven
In his book Wounded Spirits, Leslie Weatherhead tells of a crippled woman who was dramatically healed one day while sitting alone on a stump at the top of a hill near her home. An inner voice called her to throw down her cane and walk up the hill, which she did with great difficulty. Then she "...felt a great sense of peace and a sense of another Presence... and suddenly realized she was healed and could walk like other people." She said later, "My healing was wonderful, but I do feel that my spiritual healing was more wonderful. She had been what Jesus calls, 'born from above.' " (John 3:7)
February 27: Healing Deep Wounds
When we have been hurt deeply or when we have hurt someone else deeply, we can come to believe that we are forever damaged goods, that there is no hope for us. Jesus met a woman by a well one day who believed this about herself. He was able to see right through her and help her to see what he saw, someone precious and beautiful. Is this kind of healing possible for everyone? Bring a bucket and see... (John 4:7)
March 6: No Alternative Healing
All healing is dangerous and can be very costly both to the healer and to the one being healed. All healing is from God, whether it comes through the hands of a skilled surgeon, a massage therapist, an energy healer, a psychic, an acupuncturist, a new age vitamin salesman, or a witch doctor in a primitive tribe. Jesus healed a man with spit and mud one day, and they drove him out of town. (John 9:6-7)
March 13: Healing Tears
Be thankful if you cry easily and often. There is no merit in holding back tears in public or anywhere else. "Big boys don't cry" is a lie that has brought many a man to an early grave, some women too. The physical, emotional, and spiritual release that comes through tears is a necessary part of healing. When he visited the grave of one of his dearest friends, "Jesus wept." (John 11:35)
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New Book
The third book in the vision series, Shining Moments: Visions of the Holy in Ordinary Lives (edited by John Sumwalt), is now available from CSS Publishing Company. (Click on the title for information about how to order.) Among the 60 contributing authors of these Chicken Soup for the Soul-like vignettes are Ralph Milton, Sandra Herrmann, Pamela J. Tinnin, Richard H. Gentzler Jr., David Michael Smith, Anne Sunday, Nancy Nichols, William Lee Rand, Gail Ingle, and Rosmarie Trapp, whose family story was told in the classic movie The Sound of Music. The stories follow the lectionary for Cycle A.
Other Books by John & Jo Sumwalt
Sharing Visions: Divine Revelations, Angels, and Holy Coincidences
Vision Stories: True Accounts of Visions, Angels, and Healing Miracles
Life Stories: A Study in Christian Decision Making
Lectionary Stories: Forty Tellable Tales for Cycle A
Lectionary Stories: Forty Tellable Tales for Cycle B
Lectionary Stories: Forty Tellable Tales for Cycle C
Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit: 62 Stories for Cycle B
You can order any of our books on the CSS website; they are also available from www.amazon.com and at many Christian bookstores. Or simply e-mail your order to orders@csspub.com or phone 1-800-241-4056. (If you live outside the U.S., phone 419-227-1818.)
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About the Editors
John E. Sumwalt is the pastor of Wauwatosa Avenue United Methodist Church in Milwaukee, and is the author of eight books for CSS. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary (UDTS), John received the Herbert Manning Jr. award for Parish Ministry from UDTS in 1997. John is known in the Milwaukee area for his one-minute radio spots which always include a brief story. He concludes each spot by saying, "I'm John Sumwalt with 'A Story to Live By' from Wauwatosa Avenue United Methodist Church."
John has done numerous storytelling events for civic, school, and church groups, as well as on radio and television. He has performed at a number of fundraisers for the homeless, the hungry, Habitat for Humanity, and women's shelters. Since the fall of 1999, when he began working on the Vision Stories series, he has led seminars and retreats around the themes "A Safe Place to Tell Visions," "Vision Stories in the Bible and Today," and coming this spring: "Soul Growth: Discovering Lost Spiritual Dimensions." To schedule a seminar or a retreat, write to jsumwalt@naspa.net or phone 414-257-1228.
Joanne Perry-Sumwalt is director of Christian Education at Wauwatosa Avenue United Methodist Church in Milwaukee. Jo is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, with a degree in English and writing. She has co-authored two books with John, Life Stories: A Study In Christian Decision Making and Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit: 62 Stories For Cycle B. Jo writes original curriculum for church classes. She also serves as the secretary of the Wisconsin chapter of the Christian Educators Fellowship (CEF), and is a member of the National CEF.
Jo and John have been married since 1975. They have two grown children, Kathryn and Orrin. They both love reading, movies, long walks with Chloe (their West Highland Terrier), and working on their old farmhouse in southwest Wisconsin.
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StoryShare, February 13, 2005, issue.
Copyright 2005 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., P.O. Box 4503, Lima, Ohio 45802-4503.
What's Up This Week
Stories to Live By: "Tempted by Power" / "You've Got Mail"
Shining Moments: "Still Learning Not to Wobble" by Rosmarie Trapp
Good Stories: "Satan's Meeting"
Scrap Pile: "Caring for Body and Soul" by John Sumwalt
What's Up This Week
by John Sumwalt
Temptation in the Garden of Eden, disobedience, original sin, iniquity, confession, law, grace, death, and the devil in the wilderness -- pick your favorite theme; there's something for everyone in these lectionary texts for the first Sunday in Lent. I love good stories about the devil. You will find a couple of my favorites from previous Lent 1 editions of StoryShare by clicking on Cycle B and Cycle C, and there's another good devil story in this week's Good Stories section. You'll also enjoy a story of temptation and grace by Rosmarie Trapp (of the Sound of Music von Trapps) in her Shining Moments witness, "Still Learning Not to Wobble":
"That evening, as I tried to fall asleep, the Lord visited me in a bright golden light in my room... [T]he golden glow brought peace to my soul, and I found that I could stand upon the rock of my salvation. At first I was pretty wobbly, and it took years to be firm. It's been twenty years since that blessing, and I'm still learning not to wobble."
Stories to Live By
Tempted by Power
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." And Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! for it is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.' "
Matthew 4:8-10
In 1940 the order had gone out -- incurables and the insane were no longer to be a burden on the Reich. Three high officials descended on the Bethel Institution (a huge hospital for sufferers of epilepsy and the mentally ill). "Herr Pastor, the Fuehrer has decided that all these people must be gassed." Pastor von Bodelschwingh looked at them calmly. "You can put me into a concentration camp if you want, that is your affair. But as long as I am free, you do not touch one of my patients. I cannot change to fit the times or the wishes of the Fuehrer. I stand under orders from our Lord Jesus Christ."
You've Got Mail
And the Lord God commanded the man, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die."
Genesis 2:16-17
One day God was looking down at Earth and saw all of the rascally behavior that was going on, so he decided to send an angel to check it out. The angel returned and delivered this report: "Yes, it is bad on Earth -- 95% are misbehaving and 5% are not."
God thought for a moment and said, "Maybe I had better send down a second angel and get another opinion."
The second angel returned and reported, "Yes, it's true, the Earth is in decline. 95% are misbehaving and 5% are being good." God was not pleased. So God decided to e-mail the 5% of the people that were good to encourage them -- to give them a little something to help them keep going. Do you know what the e-mail said?
No? I didn't think so.
I didn't get one either.
Shining Moments
Still Learning Not to Wobble
by Rosmarie Trapp
Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding, whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not stay near you. Many are the torments of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord.
Psalm 32:9-10
Some people accept the Lord Jesus Christ and live with that for the rest of their lives. Others get inspired to proclaim him in public for the rest of their lives. That's the way it is in our family, and that's the way it is in the body of Christ, I think.
Anyway, after I had said my Sinner's Prayer with an evangelist on the radio in my bedroom one desperate night, I was having coffee in a bus station and found a scripture on the wall. Put there by some group for lost souls, it was Romans 10:9:
"If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."
That verse penetrated my terribly darkened mind, and my spirit leaped up and said, "Yes, that's what I want!" But guess what? I couldn't do it. There I sat, drinking coffee, and the word "Jesus" would not come out of my mouth for my neighbor to hear. It was stuck there, and I felt defeated again.
The spirit was trying to teach me what salvation is all about. He led me gently, slowly -- for I was a slow learner (and still am!) -- but he never let me go. In my struggle to get back home and start over again, these little penetrating lights got buried, and I forgot them as being the important truths they are.
The mercy of God led me to the Community of the Crucified One. This group was in its beginning stages in Homestead, Pennsylvania. Eddie Donovan had been called by God to start a Bible study in his own house, and soon many people came, for he is an excellent Bible teacher.
One of the nuns from Baltimore told my sister Agathe about him, and as I had been living with her there for three years, we both flew to Homestead to have him talk with her. Soon my mother and other sisters came to hear him, and my mother advised me to join his group. After another few years' struggle with rebellion, I submitted to the idea and drove to Homestead. It was May of 1978.
I was warmly welcomed, and was invited to stay as long as I felt I needed to. I decided to stay for two weeks. When I found out there was a trip to the Holy Land promised, I asked to go along. I was allowed to stay until October, and we had a glorious visit to the Holy Land.
As a result, Jesus came off the wall and out of pictures for me, and became a living person with history. That helped me decide to be part of the chapter of third order Franciscans.
There was much excitement when we returned to Homestead. I woke up every morning looking forward to what the day would bring. It was the beginning of our community, with many discussions and many decisions to be made. Everyone was included. Eddie was always talking in public and we were allowed to give our opinions. That was just up my alley, for I loved to be included in decision-making. When I was young, I had always envied my parents and siblings getting together to make decisions about the family singing group after Lorli and I, the little ones, had been put to bed.
Now I was part of another family -- the family of God, making decisions. It was great! But one day I was disrespectful to authority. I forget what I said, but Eddie suggested a personal retreat might be helpful. It was my first extended retreat: it lasted seven days, and it got me to read the Bible.
That evening, as I tried to fall asleep, the Lord visited me in a bright golden light in my room. It made me remember the Sinner's Prayer I had said in Syracuse, New York. That was a real blessing. Praise God for his memory. He had not forgotten, even though I had. Through all the years I had spent in Baltimore, when people asked me how I had been saved, I couldn't say, because I had forgotten that simple prayer in my room. God is faithful, because he knew how distraught I had become about whether I was truly saved or not. He knew I would run up to the altar at every altar call, but it never reassured me. Well, that night the golden glow brought peace to my soul, and I found that I could stand upon the rock of my salvation. At first I was pretty wobbly, and it took years to be firm. It's been twenty years since that blessing, and I'm still learning not to wobble.
Rosmarie Trapp is a member of the "Community of the Crucified One," 104 E. 11th Ave., Homestead, PA 15120. She lives in an apartment in one of their mission houses in Vermont, where she is involved in children's Bible classes, fundraisers, and prison ministry, sharing the message "Jesus loves you." Her family's story was told in the well-known movie The Sound of Music. This story appeared in Shining Moments: Visions of the Holy in Ordinary Lives (CSS Publishing, 2004).
Good Stories
Satan's Meeting
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread."
Matthew 4:1-3
Satan called a worldwide convention of demons. In his opening address he said, "We can't keep Christians from going to church. We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth. We can't even keep them from forming an intimate relationship with their Savior. Once they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken. So let them go to their churches, let them have their covered dish dinners -- but steal their time, so they don't have time to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ. This is what I want you to do," said the devil. "Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!"
"How shall we do this?" his demons shouted.
"Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds," he answered. "Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow. Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6-7 days each week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their families fragment, soon their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work! Overstimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice. Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive, to keep TVs, VCRs, CDs, and PCs going constantly in their homes, and see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays non-Christian music constantly. This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ.
"Fill the coffee tables with magazines and newspapers. Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day. Invade their driving moments with billboards. Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalogs, sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free products, services, and false hopes. Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines and TV so that the husbands will believe outward beauty is what's important and become dissatisfied with their wives. Keep the wives too tired to love their husbands at night. Give them headaches too! If they don't give their husbands the love they need, they will begin to look elsewhere. That will fragment their families quickly!
"Give them Santa Claus to distract them from teaching their children the real meaning of Christmas. Give them an Easter bunny so they won't talk about His resurrection and power over sin and death. Even in their recreation, let them be excessive... have them return from their recreation exhausted. Keep them too busy to go out in nature and reflect on God's creation. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, plays, concerts, and movies instead. Keep them busy, busy, busy! And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences. Crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Jesus. Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause. It will work! It will work!"
It was quite a plan! The demons went eagerly to their assignments, causing Christians everywhere to get more busy and more rushed, going here and there -- having little time for their God or their families; having no time to tell others about the power of Jesus to change lives. The question is... Has the devil been successful at his scheme? You be the judge!
(Author Unknown. Found on the web at: http://www.luquette.org/inspire/satans_meeting.htm)
Scrap Pile
Caring for Body and Soul
by John Sumwalt
I am planning a Lenten sermon series on "Caring for Body and Soul: Spiritual Dimensions of Healing," which will begin February 13. I am looking for help in finding music lyrics that speak to this theme, especially "soul music," but also classical, country, blues, jazz, opera, rock, rap, etc. I am also looking for stories, quotes, illustrations, and jokes. And I would be grateful for any old sermons on healing or soul that anyone has to share.
I am looking particularly at Thomas Moore's works on Soul, as well as a number of books on healing. Do any of you have any books or articles to recommend that will shed light on these upcoming lectionary texts? See the line-up of sermons below. Please write to me if you would like to receive a copy of any of these sermons.
Please send one of your old Lenten sermons to be published in the Scrap Pile. Send them at least two weeks ahead of the scheduled lectionary text.
John Sumwalt
Wauwatosa Avenue United Methodist Church
1529 Wauwatosa Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53213
jsumwalt@naspa.net
414-257-1228
Caring for Body and Soul: Spiritual Dimensions of Healing
Dr. Larry Dossey writes in his book Whatever Happened to Healers that "we, as a culture, have turned our collective back on healing. We should not kid ourselves: we are all in this together, jointly entranced by a physicalistic approach to health and illness, and dazzled by the promises of technology to right every conceivable misfire of the body. Against this backdrop, healers and healing have been shoved aside and very nearly forgotten, and we are paying the price. Ignoring the role of consciousness, soul, spirit, and meaning, we have birthed a malaise that permeates not just healers and healing, but the soul and the spirit of a culture."
February 13: Healing the Soul
Most of us don't live as if we believe we are eternal souls. Thomas Moore writes in Care of the Soul: "We have come to know soul only in its complaints, when it stirs, disturbed by neglect and abuse, and causes us to feel pain. What do you do when your soul is in pain, when as the psalmist says, '...my body wasted away through my groaning all day long?' " (Psalm 32)
February 20: Healing from Heaven
In his book Wounded Spirits, Leslie Weatherhead tells of a crippled woman who was dramatically healed one day while sitting alone on a stump at the top of a hill near her home. An inner voice called her to throw down her cane and walk up the hill, which she did with great difficulty. Then she "...felt a great sense of peace and a sense of another Presence... and suddenly realized she was healed and could walk like other people." She said later, "My healing was wonderful, but I do feel that my spiritual healing was more wonderful. She had been what Jesus calls, 'born from above.' " (John 3:7)
February 27: Healing Deep Wounds
When we have been hurt deeply or when we have hurt someone else deeply, we can come to believe that we are forever damaged goods, that there is no hope for us. Jesus met a woman by a well one day who believed this about herself. He was able to see right through her and help her to see what he saw, someone precious and beautiful. Is this kind of healing possible for everyone? Bring a bucket and see... (John 4:7)
March 6: No Alternative Healing
All healing is dangerous and can be very costly both to the healer and to the one being healed. All healing is from God, whether it comes through the hands of a skilled surgeon, a massage therapist, an energy healer, a psychic, an acupuncturist, a new age vitamin salesman, or a witch doctor in a primitive tribe. Jesus healed a man with spit and mud one day, and they drove him out of town. (John 9:6-7)
March 13: Healing Tears
Be thankful if you cry easily and often. There is no merit in holding back tears in public or anywhere else. "Big boys don't cry" is a lie that has brought many a man to an early grave, some women too. The physical, emotional, and spiritual release that comes through tears is a necessary part of healing. When he visited the grave of one of his dearest friends, "Jesus wept." (John 11:35)
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How to Share Stories
You have good stories to share, probably more than you know: personal stories as well as stories from others that you have used over the years. If you have a story you like, whether fictional or "really happened," authored by you or a brief excerpt from a favorite book, send it to StoryShare for review. Simply click here share-a-story@csspub.com and e-mail the story to us.
How do I get a free sample of StoryShare?
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We invite you to forward this offer to all of your friends who are looking for good stories.
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New Book
The third book in the vision series, Shining Moments: Visions of the Holy in Ordinary Lives (edited by John Sumwalt), is now available from CSS Publishing Company. (Click on the title for information about how to order.) Among the 60 contributing authors of these Chicken Soup for the Soul-like vignettes are Ralph Milton, Sandra Herrmann, Pamela J. Tinnin, Richard H. Gentzler Jr., David Michael Smith, Anne Sunday, Nancy Nichols, William Lee Rand, Gail Ingle, and Rosmarie Trapp, whose family story was told in the classic movie The Sound of Music. The stories follow the lectionary for Cycle A.
Other Books by John & Jo Sumwalt
Sharing Visions: Divine Revelations, Angels, and Holy Coincidences
Vision Stories: True Accounts of Visions, Angels, and Healing Miracles
Life Stories: A Study in Christian Decision Making
Lectionary Stories: Forty Tellable Tales for Cycle A
Lectionary Stories: Forty Tellable Tales for Cycle B
Lectionary Stories: Forty Tellable Tales for Cycle C
Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit: 62 Stories for Cycle B
You can order any of our books on the CSS website; they are also available from www.amazon.com and at many Christian bookstores. Or simply e-mail your order to orders@csspub.com or phone 1-800-241-4056. (If you live outside the U.S., phone 419-227-1818.)
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About the Editors
John E. Sumwalt is the pastor of Wauwatosa Avenue United Methodist Church in Milwaukee, and is the author of eight books for CSS. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary (UDTS), John received the Herbert Manning Jr. award for Parish Ministry from UDTS in 1997. John is known in the Milwaukee area for his one-minute radio spots which always include a brief story. He concludes each spot by saying, "I'm John Sumwalt with 'A Story to Live By' from Wauwatosa Avenue United Methodist Church."
John has done numerous storytelling events for civic, school, and church groups, as well as on radio and television. He has performed at a number of fundraisers for the homeless, the hungry, Habitat for Humanity, and women's shelters. Since the fall of 1999, when he began working on the Vision Stories series, he has led seminars and retreats around the themes "A Safe Place to Tell Visions," "Vision Stories in the Bible and Today," and coming this spring: "Soul Growth: Discovering Lost Spiritual Dimensions." To schedule a seminar or a retreat, write to jsumwalt@naspa.net or phone 414-257-1228.
Joanne Perry-Sumwalt is director of Christian Education at Wauwatosa Avenue United Methodist Church in Milwaukee. Jo is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, with a degree in English and writing. She has co-authored two books with John, Life Stories: A Study In Christian Decision Making and Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit: 62 Stories For Cycle B. Jo writes original curriculum for church classes. She also serves as the secretary of the Wisconsin chapter of the Christian Educators Fellowship (CEF), and is a member of the National CEF.
Jo and John have been married since 1975. They have two grown children, Kathryn and Orrin. They both love reading, movies, long walks with Chloe (their West Highland Terrier), and working on their old farmhouse in southwest Wisconsin.
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StoryShare, February 13, 2005, issue.
Copyright 2005 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., P.O. Box 4503, Lima, Ohio 45802-4503.
