Thursday, September 6, 2007
18 Angie's Letter
Letter from Miami Beach Community Church member Commander Angie Keith of the U.S. Navy, stationed in Afghanistan.
17 Be Careful What You Get
"Be Careful What You Get!"
Strange that in the last two weeks, just before we tackle today's
Scripture together, the stock market should take the biggest tumble in a
very long time - the text: "Sell the things you have and give that
money to those who need it. This is the only way that you can keep
your riches from being lost."
And in addition to giving thought to what we may lose, we must
also have some concern about what we gain - what we get.. That's why
the title of this sermon is BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU GET!
Let me illustrate as is my custom. I'll never forget going to pick
out my new puppy after my beloved Rocky died. The new puppy, a toy
poodle was a gift even though she cost $300 a pound. I had done my
homework and this puppy store had another Rocky - an apricot , male
poodle. I found him immediately or rather, he found me - he reached his
little snout through the bars of the cage and grabbed my shirt. I opened
the cage and took him out and took him to the cashier. "I am so happy
you had this apricot male" I said to the cashier. "We do have one, the
cashier said, but that little bundle of love you have in your arms is a
female!" But the little puppy had picked me and she was mine. We
had already bonded. Nevertheless, she was trembling, so when we got to
the car, I opened my shirt and put her next to my heart and held her there,
hoping that its steady rhythm would soothe her. It did, but have you have
tried to drive a stick shift car with one hand? It wasn't easy, but I did it.
And it was worth it. Princess has been close to my heart ever since!
And she was free!
Now let's say that YOU are given a cuddly new puppy, with a
slurpy tongue and a happy gleam in his eye. He's free, right? No. You
know better - but how much better do you know? Over the lifetime of
the dog, how much will you spend on him? - food, tags, shots, vet visits,
boarding etc - $5000? $10,000, $15,000? Well that's a little over the
average - $14,000 is what your new best friend will cost you.
My "free" puppy is worth a lot more than whatever she costs me
over the years. She is unique. When she wants a treat, hops up on the
piano bench and plays a tune on the grand piano. Little dog. Big piano. It
is really a sight - and a sound. If the performance is a little pallid, I say,
"Play some more!" Then she really hits the ivories. And she really
moves her butt - literally! Then I say, "That was good!" at which time
I get up and give her a treat. I think I've already spent a good share of her
lifetime cost on treats!
So for the really great things we are given, we should not count
the cost - only the glory and wonder of what we have been given. When
God gives a child to a couple, it is an unspeakably wonderful gift. But if
they were to count the cost ahead, they might be tempted not to accept
the gift. Fortunately they never do count the cost. (I had to buy some
diapers awhile ago to assist a needy family. I was aghast at how much
they cost - and formula the same! Then there are the sleepless nights to
count and the worrisome days, braces for the teeth, clothes and school
supplies, college tuition, repairs to the fenders of the family car, heartaches
and disappointments, all of which disappear with one crooked smile from
the baby - one "mama" or one "dada." We are wonderfully weird
people. God has made us so. God loves us!
This, of course, is the God who gives us the Kingdom of Heaven.
Maybe if we counted the cost, we would never accept the gift, but we
don't do that. Once in the Kingdom we have some moments that take our
breath away, and the cost becomes negligible.
Daily we rejoice in breath-taking moments. For life in the
Kingdom of God is measured by those, not by the number of breaths we
take.
Our task, is to live in God's Kingdom which is around us and
within us rather than in the secular world that promises everything and
gives very little. Do we focus on our ways or God's ways. Is it "I did it
MY way" or is it "I did it GOD'S way?
Our ways - which is very "get" centered have brought us to a
paradoxical reality: We get more but enjoy less. We spend more, but
have less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences
but less time. We have more degrees but less common sense, more
knowledge but less good judgment, more experts but fewer solutions.
We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too much, and
laugh too little, rest too little. We watch TV to often and pray too seldom.
We have multiplied our possessions but reduced our values. We
talk too much, listen too seldom, love too seldom and hate too often.
We've gone to the moon, but have trouble crossing the street to
meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space, but not inner space.
We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We've cleaned the air
(a little) and polluted the soul - (a lot!).
We learned to rush - oh how we've learned to rush, but not to
wait.
These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small
character. These are the days of two incomes and one divorce, fancier
houses and broken homes. Somewhere we got off the track.
The good old fashioned values of our faith are foreign to us, strange
to us - like they're from another world - they are from God's world, but to
have those values we have to pay the price - absorb the cost of the discipline
and perseverance necessary to have them and keep them. Only entering
into God's world will deliver them to you.
You are here specifically because you WANT to get into God's
world - and each week you catch a thought, snare a concept, digest a
theory, nourish a hope that keeps you on the Pilgrim's Way.
The Pilgrim's Way is Christ's Way - you are Christ's people -
People of The Way as the early Christians were called. As such you will
look different, sound different and be different.
You will be one who has the courage to believe and practice the
belief that the teachings of Christ are THE most practical teachings that
the world has ever known that the road to true fulfillment is to keep true to
those teachings.
Today we are to learn: Give up materialistic ways, share your
wealth and be constantly on guard for the return of Christ.
Christ may well return in a cataclysmic event in the future, but it is
far more important for US to focus on the fact that he promised to come
to us - to be with us whenever we call upon him. Sometimes he comes
unannounced and we see Him as I did last Saturday at our Luncheon for
the Homeless. Yes, I got a glimpse of him. About 150 homeless were fed
and clothed and given toiletries and medications - and haircuts. Picture
this all taking place in our parking plaza - tables set for 150, tables set to
display clothes - and volunteers - almost as many as the number of
homeless - all milling about together. What caught my eye was the
volunteers - persons just like yourselves - giving "haircuts" - eight stations
of non-barbers barbering by giving their customers a choice of clipper
settings - 1/4 inch, 1/2 whatever - and then proceeding to give them
some relief from the long strands of hair that are so excruciating to have in
such hot weather. I know that some people walking by would say, "I
wouldn't do that for a million dollars." The self styled barbers would
each reply, "Neither would I." I could see Jesus there in that
tableau. I knew that God was blessing those "barbers" even as they
worked. It took my breath away. Again, Life is not measured by the
number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath
away. Those young people, mostly FIU University Nursing students,
had a variety of things they could have been doing, they chose to be here
where God had need of them. They did it to serve the purposes of God's
Kingdom, following the commands of Jesus to meet the needs of "the
least of these." They were laying up treasures in heaven by being charitable
with the poor. The next opportunity for you, other than every day
opportunities eis October 6th when we have another luncheon for the
Homeles and after that our Halloween Party for the children of the area
on the evening of October 31st.
Noted Christian writer, C.S. Lewis said "Charity - giving to
the poor - is an essential part of Christian morality...I do not believe
one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe
rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our
expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc, is up to the
standard common among those with the same income as our own,
we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all
pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought
to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our
charitable expenditure excludes them.
The volunteers who spent a charitable Saturday morning with the
homeless left with a special knowledge - "This is what I am here for."
"This is what life is all about" They made a connection - a Love connection
- Jesus was here - they saw Him. God was here - they felt Him.
We have the power to see God every day - to enter the Kingdom
on a regular basis - not only by what you do, but by what we don't do.
There are some things you learn as you get older and wiser.
Paramount among them is - Don't give anybody a piece of your mind!
We, as persons of God's Kingdom, don't have that privilege. We're not
given it, because doing so creates conflict not comfort. People who lash
out at you do so because they're hurting. Your job is to find and help the
hurt. Your job is not to give someone a piece of your mind, but rather,
Your job is to give others a piece of your heart. I close with this
illustration.
Mike Buetelle, an eighth grader wanted to give more than a piece
of his mind to the eighth grade bully who had punched him in the stomach.
He planned to ambush him by the bike racks the next day. But he made
the big mistake of telling his grandmother what he was going to do. And
though it took her an hour to say it, this is what she said. "Good deeds
bring about good results. Bad deeds bring about bad results.
So, he followed her advice. He didn't do anything to the bully.
Several decades later, he picked up his grandmother at the assisted living
facility where she was living. "We drove to a nearby simple little
family-owned restaurant. I ordered pot roast for Nana and a
hamburger for myself. The good arrived and as I dug in, I noticed
that Nana wasn't eating. She was just staring at the food on her
plate. Moving my plate aside, I took Nana's plate, placed it in
front of me, and cut her meat into small pieces. I then placed the
plate back in front of her. As she very weakly, and with great
difficulty, forked the meat into her mouth, I was struck with a
memory that brought instant tears to my eyes. Forty years
previously, as a little boy sitting at the table, Nana had always
taken the meat on my plate and cut it into small pieces so I could
eat it.
It had taken forty years, but the good deed had been repaid.
Nana was right. We reap exactly what we sow. Every good deed
you do will someday come back to you.
Mike learned the lesson God wants us to learn today - to live by
God's principles because they really work.
Oh, Mike wanted you to know what happened to the eighth grade
bully. He ran into the ninth grade bully. God's mills of justice don't
always grind so slowly it seems.
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU GET - it may indeed be costly,
but it also may be the best thing that every happened to you.
Sermon Notes(Not edited nor proofed)The Rev. Dr. Garth R. Thompson Pastor, M.B. Community ChurchA sermon is a simple truth told by someone whobelieves it to people he knows and loves (Phillips Brooks)August 12, 2007 10:30 a, m. Luke 12:32-40
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our heartsbe acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.
Strange that in the last two weeks, just before we tackle today's
Scripture together, the stock market should take the biggest tumble in a
very long time - the text: "Sell the things you have and give that
money to those who need it. This is the only way that you can keep
your riches from being lost."
And in addition to giving thought to what we may lose, we must
also have some concern about what we gain - what we get.. That's why
the title of this sermon is BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU GET!
Let me illustrate as is my custom. I'll never forget going to pick
out my new puppy after my beloved Rocky died. The new puppy, a toy
poodle was a gift even though she cost $300 a pound. I had done my
homework and this puppy store had another Rocky - an apricot , male
poodle. I found him immediately or rather, he found me - he reached his
little snout through the bars of the cage and grabbed my shirt. I opened
the cage and took him out and took him to the cashier. "I am so happy
you had this apricot male" I said to the cashier. "We do have one, the
cashier said, but that little bundle of love you have in your arms is a
female!" But the little puppy had picked me and she was mine. We
had already bonded. Nevertheless, she was trembling, so when we got to
the car, I opened my shirt and put her next to my heart and held her there,
hoping that its steady rhythm would soothe her. It did, but have you have
tried to drive a stick shift car with one hand? It wasn't easy, but I did it.
And it was worth it. Princess has been close to my heart ever since!
And she was free!
Now let's say that YOU are given a cuddly new puppy, with a
slurpy tongue and a happy gleam in his eye. He's free, right? No. You
know better - but how much better do you know? Over the lifetime of
the dog, how much will you spend on him? - food, tags, shots, vet visits,
boarding etc - $5000? $10,000, $15,000? Well that's a little over the
average - $14,000 is what your new best friend will cost you.
My "free" puppy is worth a lot more than whatever she costs me
over the years. She is unique. When she wants a treat, hops up on the
piano bench and plays a tune on the grand piano. Little dog. Big piano. It
is really a sight - and a sound. If the performance is a little pallid, I say,
"Play some more!" Then she really hits the ivories. And she really
moves her butt - literally! Then I say, "That was good!" at which time
I get up and give her a treat. I think I've already spent a good share of her
lifetime cost on treats!
So for the really great things we are given, we should not count
the cost - only the glory and wonder of what we have been given. When
God gives a child to a couple, it is an unspeakably wonderful gift. But if
they were to count the cost ahead, they might be tempted not to accept
the gift. Fortunately they never do count the cost. (I had to buy some
diapers awhile ago to assist a needy family. I was aghast at how much
they cost - and formula the same! Then there are the sleepless nights to
count and the worrisome days, braces for the teeth, clothes and school
supplies, college tuition, repairs to the fenders of the family car, heartaches
and disappointments, all of which disappear with one crooked smile from
the baby - one "mama" or one "dada." We are wonderfully weird
people. God has made us so. God loves us!
This, of course, is the God who gives us the Kingdom of Heaven.
Maybe if we counted the cost, we would never accept the gift, but we
don't do that. Once in the Kingdom we have some moments that take our
breath away, and the cost becomes negligible.
Daily we rejoice in breath-taking moments. For life in the
Kingdom of God is measured by those, not by the number of breaths we
take.
Our task, is to live in God's Kingdom which is around us and
within us rather than in the secular world that promises everything and
gives very little. Do we focus on our ways or God's ways. Is it "I did it
MY way" or is it "I did it GOD'S way?
Our ways - which is very "get" centered have brought us to a
paradoxical reality: We get more but enjoy less. We spend more, but
have less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences
but less time. We have more degrees but less common sense, more
knowledge but less good judgment, more experts but fewer solutions.
We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too much, and
laugh too little, rest too little. We watch TV to often and pray too seldom.
We have multiplied our possessions but reduced our values. We
talk too much, listen too seldom, love too seldom and hate too often.
We've gone to the moon, but have trouble crossing the street to
meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space, but not inner space.
We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We've cleaned the air
(a little) and polluted the soul - (a lot!).
We learned to rush - oh how we've learned to rush, but not to
wait.
These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small
character. These are the days of two incomes and one divorce, fancier
houses and broken homes. Somewhere we got off the track.
The good old fashioned values of our faith are foreign to us, strange
to us - like they're from another world - they are from God's world, but to
have those values we have to pay the price - absorb the cost of the discipline
and perseverance necessary to have them and keep them. Only entering
into God's world will deliver them to you.
You are here specifically because you WANT to get into God's
world - and each week you catch a thought, snare a concept, digest a
theory, nourish a hope that keeps you on the Pilgrim's Way.
The Pilgrim's Way is Christ's Way - you are Christ's people -
People of The Way as the early Christians were called. As such you will
look different, sound different and be different.
You will be one who has the courage to believe and practice the
belief that the teachings of Christ are THE most practical teachings that
the world has ever known that the road to true fulfillment is to keep true to
those teachings.
Today we are to learn: Give up materialistic ways, share your
wealth and be constantly on guard for the return of Christ.
Christ may well return in a cataclysmic event in the future, but it is
far more important for US to focus on the fact that he promised to come
to us - to be with us whenever we call upon him. Sometimes he comes
unannounced and we see Him as I did last Saturday at our Luncheon for
the Homeless. Yes, I got a glimpse of him. About 150 homeless were fed
and clothed and given toiletries and medications - and haircuts. Picture
this all taking place in our parking plaza - tables set for 150, tables set to
display clothes - and volunteers - almost as many as the number of
homeless - all milling about together. What caught my eye was the
volunteers - persons just like yourselves - giving "haircuts" - eight stations
of non-barbers barbering by giving their customers a choice of clipper
settings - 1/4 inch, 1/2 whatever - and then proceeding to give them
some relief from the long strands of hair that are so excruciating to have in
such hot weather. I know that some people walking by would say, "I
wouldn't do that for a million dollars." The self styled barbers would
each reply, "Neither would I." I could see Jesus there in that
tableau. I knew that God was blessing those "barbers" even as they
worked. It took my breath away. Again, Life is not measured by the
number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath
away. Those young people, mostly FIU University Nursing students,
had a variety of things they could have been doing, they chose to be here
where God had need of them. They did it to serve the purposes of God's
Kingdom, following the commands of Jesus to meet the needs of "the
least of these." They were laying up treasures in heaven by being charitable
with the poor. The next opportunity for you, other than every day
opportunities eis October 6th when we have another luncheon for the
Homeles and after that our Halloween Party for the children of the area
on the evening of October 31st.
Noted Christian writer, C.S. Lewis said "Charity - giving to
the poor - is an essential part of Christian morality...I do not believe
one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe
rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our
expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc, is up to the
standard common among those with the same income as our own,
we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all
pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought
to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our
charitable expenditure excludes them.
The volunteers who spent a charitable Saturday morning with the
homeless left with a special knowledge - "This is what I am here for."
"This is what life is all about" They made a connection - a Love connection
- Jesus was here - they saw Him. God was here - they felt Him.
We have the power to see God every day - to enter the Kingdom
on a regular basis - not only by what you do, but by what we don't do.
There are some things you learn as you get older and wiser.
Paramount among them is - Don't give anybody a piece of your mind!
We, as persons of God's Kingdom, don't have that privilege. We're not
given it, because doing so creates conflict not comfort. People who lash
out at you do so because they're hurting. Your job is to find and help the
hurt. Your job is not to give someone a piece of your mind, but rather,
Your job is to give others a piece of your heart. I close with this
illustration.
Mike Buetelle, an eighth grader wanted to give more than a piece
of his mind to the eighth grade bully who had punched him in the stomach.
He planned to ambush him by the bike racks the next day. But he made
the big mistake of telling his grandmother what he was going to do. And
though it took her an hour to say it, this is what she said. "Good deeds
bring about good results. Bad deeds bring about bad results.
So, he followed her advice. He didn't do anything to the bully.
Several decades later, he picked up his grandmother at the assisted living
facility where she was living. "We drove to a nearby simple little
family-owned restaurant. I ordered pot roast for Nana and a
hamburger for myself. The good arrived and as I dug in, I noticed
that Nana wasn't eating. She was just staring at the food on her
plate. Moving my plate aside, I took Nana's plate, placed it in
front of me, and cut her meat into small pieces. I then placed the
plate back in front of her. As she very weakly, and with great
difficulty, forked the meat into her mouth, I was struck with a
memory that brought instant tears to my eyes. Forty years
previously, as a little boy sitting at the table, Nana had always
taken the meat on my plate and cut it into small pieces so I could
eat it.
It had taken forty years, but the good deed had been repaid.
Nana was right. We reap exactly what we sow. Every good deed
you do will someday come back to you.
Mike learned the lesson God wants us to learn today - to live by
God's principles because they really work.
Oh, Mike wanted you to know what happened to the eighth grade
bully. He ran into the ninth grade bully. God's mills of justice don't
always grind so slowly it seems.
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU GET - it may indeed be costly,
but it also may be the best thing that every happened to you.
Sermon Notes(Not edited nor proofed)The Rev. Dr. Garth R. Thompson Pastor, M.B. Community ChurchA sermon is a simple truth told by someone whobelieves it to people he knows and loves (Phillips Brooks)August 12, 2007 10:30 a, m. Luke 12:32-40
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our heartsbe acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.
Saturday, September 1, 2007
15 Aim For Heaven
Musical selection - Aim For Heaven (Frederick Silver), performed by Lissanne Lyons
14 Wise Up, O Men of God
"Wise Up, O Men of God!"
We get so soon old, so late, smart! I had naively assumed for
years that money in one's pension plan was always there for you - a pot of
money - all your own - just sitting there waiting for you to get old and
decrepit. What I learned in later years is that it could be gone in a flash -
that everything you had looked forward to as something you could lean
on, take comfort it and enjoy in your old age could disappear - even as
we had hints of it this week with the stock market plummeting further than
it had for many years.
So instead of singing "Rise Up, O Men of God" we should sing
'WISE up, O Men of God" - and women too! We get so soon old
and so late smart.
I couldn't be very wise because a friend got me good the other
night. I heard something on the T.V. program that he was watching about
how much money the average person needed to retire successfully and
comfortably. "How much did they say?" I asked. "Eight and a half
million!" he said. I almost had a heart attack. I could have BEEN the
foolish man that gathered the crops into the barns only to die that very
night.
The purpose of this parable by Jesus is not to tell us that we
should not have anything, but rather to share the something that we have.
Yet everything in our culture gears us up for getting more and more - even
the church does it.
I read this week about a young man, a youth minister who was
serving a conservative Christian church. It was o.k. with them when he
involved the youth in anti abortion protests, antidrug rallies and picketing
to protest unfair labor practices, but he was unceremoniously fired simply
because he made a videotape containing a collection of T.V. commercials.
Then, at the youth meeting on Sunday evening, he showed the tape and
led the youth in a discussion of these TV advertisements, discussing the
ways in which television tries to lure us into the acquisition, hoarding and
grabbing of things that TV tells us will make our lives better. They discussed
what this sort of getting and buying does to our family and to our souls.
(Good old Jesus would have LOVED it!) The church leaders didn't! To
them, having a lot of "stuff" meant you were on the right spiritual track - it
was proof of it. Jesus said "One's life does not consist in the abundance
of possessions." Luke 12:15.
Much as I appreciate and practice the underlying law of attraction
that is part of "The Secret", I am made spiritually uncomfortable on the
acquisitive nature of advice in the book. Only if we take what we are
given and use it to help others, will God bless us. Otherwise our lives may
be required of us - our families maybe taken away from us.
A minister involved in a discussion on Christianity and
homosexuality listened to several people who equated homosexuality with
the destruction of the American family. When he could stand it no more,
he rose to his feet and he said, "I've never had a family destroyed by
a homosexual. I suppose it could happen. But I've seen dozens of
marriages ruined and families devastated by nothing more than
simple greed - working too many hours, buying too much, getting
too deep in debt. If you want so save the American family, do
something about our greed! WISE UP O MEN OF GOD - and
women too!
In our Scripture today, Jesus is asked to decide how a father's
things should be divided - one wanted it all - the other wanted Jesus to
make his brother give him the half he "deserved."
"Deserved" is a loaded term. As one who has been the
administrator of a few estates, I have often been amazed that family members
who have not been around to care for the individual or to help the family
member who IS caring for the individual is front and center when its "will
time."
Jesus told the young man: "Be careful and guard against all
kinds of greed. People do not get life from the many things they
own."
Maybe it's just me, but I have learned that you can have wonderful
beautiful things as in cars and houses and furnishings, but if you have no
one to share them with, they are very little unto themselves.
That's why God wants us to share - not to fulfill some arbitrary
God-rule that he creates, but because in sharing we will have, and not just
with the typical spouse or significant other.
Some people have no one in their lives because they're waiting for
a love interest to walk into it. Love interests tend to walk into our lives
when are lives are filled with interesting and fun people with whom we
share our homes and cars and company - when we have a "family" around
us.
I redefined "family" when I was in seminary. Previously, a "family"
was a mom, a dad, and a kid and a half - at a minimum! But in the
suburban church I served while in seminary, I became friends with a high
school principal. He w as unmarried, and lived with his two sisters. I
noticed that after dinner - every night - they would carefully set the table
for the breakfast they would have together - enjoy together - it was family
time - sacred time. Yes, they were related to each other, but they would
have been just as much a family had they not been. We are to make
everyone "family."
The Pilati family took me in as part of their family when I was in
seminary. I got to know Saul Pilati because he taught at the high school
where a lot of my church kids went to school. He saw me as alone and
in need of a family, but my fellow seminarians were a family, my church
people were a family. Yes, technically I was a "family of one" (Yes, there
is such a thing) but in reality, we're all family - and particularly we are one
in our family of Christ. I've shared with you many times how on getting
ill in the Holy Land I headed for a hospice run by Italian nuns. I headed
for "Family" - we didn't even speak each other's language - except the
language of love and the dialect of compassion and concern.
What God wants you to know is this: The things that you have -
they are to be used for God. Have a car. Give a ride to someone that
doesn't have one. Have a home? Invite someone over. Have a little
extra cash, send some money to a struggling student. People who remained
anonymous did that for me when I was a pre-ministerial student in college.
I knew that it had to be people from the Baptist Church where I attended.
They weren't the wealthy people - they were the Methodists in the church
up on the hill! But these people WERE wealthy in the ways that mattered
-
In next week's sermon Jesus tells us to be like servants who are
waiting for their master to come home from a wedding party. The master
comes and knocks, and the servants immediately open the door for him.
When their master sees that they are ready and waiting for him, it will be a
great day for those servants. I can tell you without a doubt, the master will
get himself ready to serve a meal and tell the servants to sit down. Then he
will serve them. Those servants might have to wait until midnight or later
for their master. But they will be glad they did when he comes in and finds
them still waiting.
Be ready, he says, "BE FULLY DRESSED AND HAVE
YOUR LIGHTS SHINING"
Helen Keller who triumphed over being deaf, without speech
and blind, said, "I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it
is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were
great and noble. The world is moved along, not only by the mighty
shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes
of each honest worker."
So, here we are, shining together. May God bless us as we
come to this Sacred Table.
Come, not because you must but because you
may.......communion liturgy continues.
Communion Meditation Notes(Not edited nor proofed)The Rev. Dr. Garth R. Thompson Pastor, M.B. Community ChurchA sermon (or meditation) is a simple truth told by someone whobelieves it to people he knows and loves (Phillips Brooks)August 5, 2007 10:30 a, m.
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our heartsbe acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.
We get so soon old, so late, smart! I had naively assumed for
years that money in one's pension plan was always there for you - a pot of
money - all your own - just sitting there waiting for you to get old and
decrepit. What I learned in later years is that it could be gone in a flash -
that everything you had looked forward to as something you could lean
on, take comfort it and enjoy in your old age could disappear - even as
we had hints of it this week with the stock market plummeting further than
it had for many years.
So instead of singing "Rise Up, O Men of God" we should sing
'WISE up, O Men of God" - and women too! We get so soon old
and so late smart.
I couldn't be very wise because a friend got me good the other
night. I heard something on the T.V. program that he was watching about
how much money the average person needed to retire successfully and
comfortably. "How much did they say?" I asked. "Eight and a half
million!" he said. I almost had a heart attack. I could have BEEN the
foolish man that gathered the crops into the barns only to die that very
night.
The purpose of this parable by Jesus is not to tell us that we
should not have anything, but rather to share the something that we have.
Yet everything in our culture gears us up for getting more and more - even
the church does it.
I read this week about a young man, a youth minister who was
serving a conservative Christian church. It was o.k. with them when he
involved the youth in anti abortion protests, antidrug rallies and picketing
to protest unfair labor practices, but he was unceremoniously fired simply
because he made a videotape containing a collection of T.V. commercials.
Then, at the youth meeting on Sunday evening, he showed the tape and
led the youth in a discussion of these TV advertisements, discussing the
ways in which television tries to lure us into the acquisition, hoarding and
grabbing of things that TV tells us will make our lives better. They discussed
what this sort of getting and buying does to our family and to our souls.
(Good old Jesus would have LOVED it!) The church leaders didn't! To
them, having a lot of "stuff" meant you were on the right spiritual track - it
was proof of it. Jesus said "One's life does not consist in the abundance
of possessions." Luke 12:15.
Much as I appreciate and practice the underlying law of attraction
that is part of "The Secret", I am made spiritually uncomfortable on the
acquisitive nature of advice in the book. Only if we take what we are
given and use it to help others, will God bless us. Otherwise our lives may
be required of us - our families maybe taken away from us.
A minister involved in a discussion on Christianity and
homosexuality listened to several people who equated homosexuality with
the destruction of the American family. When he could stand it no more,
he rose to his feet and he said, "I've never had a family destroyed by
a homosexual. I suppose it could happen. But I've seen dozens of
marriages ruined and families devastated by nothing more than
simple greed - working too many hours, buying too much, getting
too deep in debt. If you want so save the American family, do
something about our greed! WISE UP O MEN OF GOD - and
women too!
In our Scripture today, Jesus is asked to decide how a father's
things should be divided - one wanted it all - the other wanted Jesus to
make his brother give him the half he "deserved."
"Deserved" is a loaded term. As one who has been the
administrator of a few estates, I have often been amazed that family members
who have not been around to care for the individual or to help the family
member who IS caring for the individual is front and center when its "will
time."
Jesus told the young man: "Be careful and guard against all
kinds of greed. People do not get life from the many things they
own."
Maybe it's just me, but I have learned that you can have wonderful
beautiful things as in cars and houses and furnishings, but if you have no
one to share them with, they are very little unto themselves.
That's why God wants us to share - not to fulfill some arbitrary
God-rule that he creates, but because in sharing we will have, and not just
with the typical spouse or significant other.
Some people have no one in their lives because they're waiting for
a love interest to walk into it. Love interests tend to walk into our lives
when are lives are filled with interesting and fun people with whom we
share our homes and cars and company - when we have a "family" around
us.
I redefined "family" when I was in seminary. Previously, a "family"
was a mom, a dad, and a kid and a half - at a minimum! But in the
suburban church I served while in seminary, I became friends with a high
school principal. He w as unmarried, and lived with his two sisters. I
noticed that after dinner - every night - they would carefully set the table
for the breakfast they would have together - enjoy together - it was family
time - sacred time. Yes, they were related to each other, but they would
have been just as much a family had they not been. We are to make
everyone "family."
The Pilati family took me in as part of their family when I was in
seminary. I got to know Saul Pilati because he taught at the high school
where a lot of my church kids went to school. He saw me as alone and
in need of a family, but my fellow seminarians were a family, my church
people were a family. Yes, technically I was a "family of one" (Yes, there
is such a thing) but in reality, we're all family - and particularly we are one
in our family of Christ. I've shared with you many times how on getting
ill in the Holy Land I headed for a hospice run by Italian nuns. I headed
for "Family" - we didn't even speak each other's language - except the
language of love and the dialect of compassion and concern.
What God wants you to know is this: The things that you have -
they are to be used for God. Have a car. Give a ride to someone that
doesn't have one. Have a home? Invite someone over. Have a little
extra cash, send some money to a struggling student. People who remained
anonymous did that for me when I was a pre-ministerial student in college.
I knew that it had to be people from the Baptist Church where I attended.
They weren't the wealthy people - they were the Methodists in the church
up on the hill! But these people WERE wealthy in the ways that mattered
-
In next week's sermon Jesus tells us to be like servants who are
waiting for their master to come home from a wedding party. The master
comes and knocks, and the servants immediately open the door for him.
When their master sees that they are ready and waiting for him, it will be a
great day for those servants. I can tell you without a doubt, the master will
get himself ready to serve a meal and tell the servants to sit down. Then he
will serve them. Those servants might have to wait until midnight or later
for their master. But they will be glad they did when he comes in and finds
them still waiting.
Be ready, he says, "BE FULLY DRESSED AND HAVE
YOUR LIGHTS SHINING"
Helen Keller who triumphed over being deaf, without speech
and blind, said, "I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it
is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were
great and noble. The world is moved along, not only by the mighty
shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes
of each honest worker."
So, here we are, shining together. May God bless us as we
come to this Sacred Table.
Come, not because you must but because you
may.......communion liturgy continues.
Communion Meditation Notes(Not edited nor proofed)The Rev. Dr. Garth R. Thompson Pastor, M.B. Community ChurchA sermon (or meditation) is a simple truth told by someone whobelieves it to people he knows and loves (Phillips Brooks)August 5, 2007 10:30 a, m.
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our heartsbe acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.
Picking Potatoes
"PICKING POTATOES!"
For three decades I came to the church six days a week. Now I
am here five days a week - which means that tomorrow I will be getting
caught up on work that needs to be done at home - also on Friday. An
every Monday and Friday task I have is putting on my rubber gloves,
getting on my bicycle and pedaling around to the landscaping on the outside
of the wall on the south side of my property - 240 feet of exposure into
which passersby on Stirling Road throw their fast food containers, beer
bottles, pop bottles, flyers, and store receipts and empty cigarette
packages, and some unmentionables as they walk or drive by. It sounds
like an unpleasant task that is mine, but as I feel the wind in my face as
I ride the bike, and as I bask in the satisfaction, of how nice my landscaping
looks freed of debris, I am glad that I am the persistent type. I vowed that
I would keep the outside of my property looking as good as the inside.
My persistence reminded me of John Trotti - longtime librarian at
Union Seminary, who as a Boy Scout was taught to leave a property
better than he found it - so he and his troop, whenever they went camping
would not only leave their campsite clean, but would go around picking
up other people's trash before they left.
He carried this practice into his adult life. He and his wife Joan,
when their children were young would pick up refuse as they took their
children in strollers for outings, and finding that the City would pay.08
cents a pound for aluminum cans they kept them separate, got paid for
them and donated the money for years to a Center for the Adult Mentally
Disabled. One day an interested observer asked the seminary professor
why he was collecting cans. On hearing the explanation he asked the
professor "Do you have to prove you're mentally disabled to get
the .08 cents a pound!"
Persistence is highly praised by Jesus - in general - and specifically
in how you pray. I'm concerned that you not only pray persistently but
that you live persistantly - in relationship to your Christian commitment -
because you'll feel much better about yourself if you do, and as usual, I
have an illustration for you:
At thirty, Russell Jeung, was restless. Despite the fact that he had
a B.A. from Stanford and was in grad school at the University of California,
he was not at ease - and it was all due to his desire to be persistent about
following the Way of Jesus. The "Way", in his native language - Chinese -
was "dao" meaning knowing the right path and taking it - the Chinese
character combines the symbol for head and foot - not only thinking about
doing something but actually moving to do it.
He knew his good fortune should be used to help others - but he
was only studying about it. He had just begun a study of refugee children
who join gangs. He was ill at ease because he knew that just studying
about it wasn't enough - he had to do something about it.
One spring day, he visited the Fruitvale district in the city of
Oakland, specifically the Oak Park apartments, a 53 unit complex where
the tenants were refugees from war-torn Cambodia. The kids there
were dropping out of school and joining gangs. There he met a man from
the suburbs, Dan Schmitz who had moved there to help. "What is it
like to live here?", Russell asked. "Actually, I love it. It's a
wonderful community, wonderful friends. I feel like I meet God
here every day." Russell said he then pictured himself sitting at his
computer in his cozy apartment writing about Oak Park? Did he meet
God there? He didn't! So when Dan invited him to move to Oak Park
and to help, he took him up on the offer. Soon he met and married a
volunteer at the project. Altogether, he's been there 15 years. He hasn't
left it yet, but it's a lot better than when he found it. The "dao" was right
there where he was "head and foot" involved. He says he has learned in
being there that "the way, the truth and the life of God aren't found
in big accomplishments and shiny resumes, but in the small things,
the little miracles. They're right in front of me, in my friends, my
neighbors, my community." He too, met God there everyday.
How persistent ARE you in the practice of your Christian faith in
the daily experience? Persistant enough to remove the restlessness? As
the poet, Mary Oliver asks, "What is it you plan to do with your one
wild and precious life?" Good question!
For a good answer, let's begin with the beginning of the day when
I recommend you emulate the dedication the prophet Isaiah. His
dedication grew out of an experience he had when he went into the temple
to pray one day. He saw God sitting on a very high and wonderful throne,
his long robe filling the temple. Seraphic angels stood around him, praising
God so loudly that the frame around the door of the temple began to
shake and the temple was filled with smoke. Isaiah was terrified. He said
to himself: "Oh, no! I will be destroyed. I am not pure enough to
speak to God, and I live among people who are not pure enough o
speak to him. Then an angel flew to him with a hot coal in his hand,
touching his mouth with it. Then the angel said, "When this hot coal
touched your lips, your guilt was taken away and your sins were erased."
Then he heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Who can I send?
Who will go for us? And Isaiah said, "Here am I. Send me!"
From when your day begins to when it ends, God asks you to
remember that you are His servant meant to leave the world better than
you found it. When you return to your home and are ready to retire for
the night, you are to ask yourself - "Is the world a better place for my
having been in it today? Have I used both head and foot - have I
both thought and acted for God today? He sent me. Did I go?
And if I went, what did I do when I got there?"
Anne Bauer of Helena Montana went to the hospital to visit her
mother who had fallen and broken her leg. She was particularly sensitive
on behalf of her mother right then because she had lost her husband just a
few months before this added burden of injury. Yet the nurse treated her
as if she was a bed number, not a person - grabbing her wrist like it was
the last item in a sale bin, flopping the blood-pressure cuff around her arm,
pumping it up quickly, then marching out of the room. When she returned
she announced from the doorway "Vital checks" - charging over to the
bedside. Something deep inside herself nudged Anne to say, "Thank
you Sarah, for taking such good care of my mom." "It's so nice to
hear that," the nurse replied. "The last few nights have been rough.
All the beds are full and some of the nurses are out sick." She
paused and adjusted the patient's pillows and said to her, "See you in a
couple of hours, Ruth Ann" and left.
Anne said "I'd been angry with Sarah for seeming to forget
my mom was a person. I quietly thanked God for reminding me
that Sarah was a person too." She had forgotten that. Perhaps you
forget that those around you are persons who have their own stories, their
own difficulties and dilemmas to think about. It's not all about you!
It's not all about us - what we're facing each day. It's also and
about all the people around us. what they're experiencing...the encouraging
words THEY need - the lift they need to THEIR spirits to be able to
continue on. They are our mission field - our place to answer God's
call - our place to meet God every day!
Sometimes we get in our own way. I read a beautiful story in
Guideposts about a girl name Beatriz who had a little problem - her sister,
Leticia asked her to be her matron of honor at her wedding. The problem
was, Beatriz hadn't 'spoken to their Mom for five years. Her husband
had lost his mother a few months before and had been encouraging her to
heal the rift, but she hadn't. . "Why should I be the one to give in?
She's the one who doesn't know how to treat me." The self
righteousness felt good, but within herself she knew it was wrong. God's
commandment tells us to honor our parents. Jesus teaches us to forgive -
not grudgingly and not with any conditions, just forgive. She realized that
if she didn't do something, she would be ruining her sister's wedding.
"Okay, Lord" she thought, "I'm going to need your help with this
one." A few days later she stopped at a florist - shivering as she held the
cooler door open - trying to decide which color bouquet to get. Not
being able to decide she grabbed them all - eight dozen roses, and took
them to the counter...loaded them in the car - and pulled into her mother's
driveway, making the sign of the cross. "I know I need to do this,
Lord. Give me the right words." I looked through the windshield
and saw my mom standing in the garage. Were those tears in her
eyes? I gathered the flowers, the cellophane quivering in my
shaking hands and stepped out onto the driveway. Mom WAS
crying. I could hardly believe it. My stoic, stubborn mom. Had our
separation hurt her too? It didn't fit with my picture of her. And
yet, here she was - this crying, vulnerable woman. I rushed to the
garage, set the flowers on the washing machine and took her in my
arms."
Doing things God's way is always good for us, though for some
devilish reason (pun intended) we think God's way will be impractical and
get us taken advantage of us. Let us decide, once and for all, that God
knows what He's doing!
Frank Sinatra sang, "I Did It My Way." We are called to sing,
"I Did It God's Way." We will have to be consistent in that - persistant
in that.
I remember getting a real lesson in real persistence when I got a
job PICKING POTATOES the title of our sermon today. We had been
potato farmers, but we weren't farming any more - the neighbors were -
and when it came time to harvest their crop - it gave several of us - including
my mother - the chance to make some extra money. Being a teenager, I
looked forward to the money I would make - so much per bushel - I
figured I could pick at least a hundred bushel in a day. Naturally my tiny
little mother would be far behind me. But she had one quality that I was
severely lacking - PERSISTENCE - that quality that God wants us to
have. She had had years as a potato farmer's wife - she had picked more
potatoes than I would ever see - she had taken care of nine children with
no modern conveniences - she had learned how to work through pain and
discomfort and to put the needs of the family above her own. God doesn't
want us just to "go through" our difficulties, He wants us to "GROW
Through" our difficulties. That's what my mother had done. She had
grown. She was tough. She had learned persistance. I hadn't.
I don't remember how many - or rather how FEW, were the
bushels I picked, but I remember that my mother was the one who picked
over a hundred bushels in one day, not me! PICKING POTATOES - a
life lesson I will never forget.
I have learned some PERSISTENCE. I know how to keep
keeping on. If there's a problem at the church, I will keep after it until it is
solved. Then the staff will say, "That's why he's the boss." (I LOVE
to hear that!)
I trust that you too, will , FOR GOD'S SAKE, be the persistent
people - from early morning to late evening, from today through all time
and eternity - so that your life may be filled with the glorious realization
that you have earned a very special place in the Heart of God - a very
special place in His Kingdom - BEYOND THE SUNSET. Amen.
Sermon Notes(Not edited nor proofed)The Rev. Dr. Garth R. Thompson Pastor, M.B. Community ChurchA sermon is a simple truth told by someone whobelieves it to people he knows and loves (Phillips Brooks)July 29, 2007 10:30 a, m. Luke 11:1-13
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our heartsbe acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.
For three decades I came to the church six days a week. Now I
am here five days a week - which means that tomorrow I will be getting
caught up on work that needs to be done at home - also on Friday. An
every Monday and Friday task I have is putting on my rubber gloves,
getting on my bicycle and pedaling around to the landscaping on the outside
of the wall on the south side of my property - 240 feet of exposure into
which passersby on Stirling Road throw their fast food containers, beer
bottles, pop bottles, flyers, and store receipts and empty cigarette
packages, and some unmentionables as they walk or drive by. It sounds
like an unpleasant task that is mine, but as I feel the wind in my face as
I ride the bike, and as I bask in the satisfaction, of how nice my landscaping
looks freed of debris, I am glad that I am the persistent type. I vowed that
I would keep the outside of my property looking as good as the inside.
My persistence reminded me of John Trotti - longtime librarian at
Union Seminary, who as a Boy Scout was taught to leave a property
better than he found it - so he and his troop, whenever they went camping
would not only leave their campsite clean, but would go around picking
up other people's trash before they left.
He carried this practice into his adult life. He and his wife Joan,
when their children were young would pick up refuse as they took their
children in strollers for outings, and finding that the City would pay.08
cents a pound for aluminum cans they kept them separate, got paid for
them and donated the money for years to a Center for the Adult Mentally
Disabled. One day an interested observer asked the seminary professor
why he was collecting cans. On hearing the explanation he asked the
professor "Do you have to prove you're mentally disabled to get
the .08 cents a pound!"
Persistence is highly praised by Jesus - in general - and specifically
in how you pray. I'm concerned that you not only pray persistently but
that you live persistantly - in relationship to your Christian commitment -
because you'll feel much better about yourself if you do, and as usual, I
have an illustration for you:
At thirty, Russell Jeung, was restless. Despite the fact that he had
a B.A. from Stanford and was in grad school at the University of California,
he was not at ease - and it was all due to his desire to be persistent about
following the Way of Jesus. The "Way", in his native language - Chinese -
was "dao" meaning knowing the right path and taking it - the Chinese
character combines the symbol for head and foot - not only thinking about
doing something but actually moving to do it.
He knew his good fortune should be used to help others - but he
was only studying about it. He had just begun a study of refugee children
who join gangs. He was ill at ease because he knew that just studying
about it wasn't enough - he had to do something about it.
One spring day, he visited the Fruitvale district in the city of
Oakland, specifically the Oak Park apartments, a 53 unit complex where
the tenants were refugees from war-torn Cambodia. The kids there
were dropping out of school and joining gangs. There he met a man from
the suburbs, Dan Schmitz who had moved there to help. "What is it
like to live here?", Russell asked. "Actually, I love it. It's a
wonderful community, wonderful friends. I feel like I meet God
here every day." Russell said he then pictured himself sitting at his
computer in his cozy apartment writing about Oak Park? Did he meet
God there? He didn't! So when Dan invited him to move to Oak Park
and to help, he took him up on the offer. Soon he met and married a
volunteer at the project. Altogether, he's been there 15 years. He hasn't
left it yet, but it's a lot better than when he found it. The "dao" was right
there where he was "head and foot" involved. He says he has learned in
being there that "the way, the truth and the life of God aren't found
in big accomplishments and shiny resumes, but in the small things,
the little miracles. They're right in front of me, in my friends, my
neighbors, my community." He too, met God there everyday.
How persistent ARE you in the practice of your Christian faith in
the daily experience? Persistant enough to remove the restlessness? As
the poet, Mary Oliver asks, "What is it you plan to do with your one
wild and precious life?" Good question!
For a good answer, let's begin with the beginning of the day when
I recommend you emulate the dedication the prophet Isaiah. His
dedication grew out of an experience he had when he went into the temple
to pray one day. He saw God sitting on a very high and wonderful throne,
his long robe filling the temple. Seraphic angels stood around him, praising
God so loudly that the frame around the door of the temple began to
shake and the temple was filled with smoke. Isaiah was terrified. He said
to himself: "Oh, no! I will be destroyed. I am not pure enough to
speak to God, and I live among people who are not pure enough o
speak to him. Then an angel flew to him with a hot coal in his hand,
touching his mouth with it. Then the angel said, "When this hot coal
touched your lips, your guilt was taken away and your sins were erased."
Then he heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Who can I send?
Who will go for us? And Isaiah said, "Here am I. Send me!"
From when your day begins to when it ends, God asks you to
remember that you are His servant meant to leave the world better than
you found it. When you return to your home and are ready to retire for
the night, you are to ask yourself - "Is the world a better place for my
having been in it today? Have I used both head and foot - have I
both thought and acted for God today? He sent me. Did I go?
And if I went, what did I do when I got there?"
Anne Bauer of Helena Montana went to the hospital to visit her
mother who had fallen and broken her leg. She was particularly sensitive
on behalf of her mother right then because she had lost her husband just a
few months before this added burden of injury. Yet the nurse treated her
as if she was a bed number, not a person - grabbing her wrist like it was
the last item in a sale bin, flopping the blood-pressure cuff around her arm,
pumping it up quickly, then marching out of the room. When she returned
she announced from the doorway "Vital checks" - charging over to the
bedside. Something deep inside herself nudged Anne to say, "Thank
you Sarah, for taking such good care of my mom." "It's so nice to
hear that," the nurse replied. "The last few nights have been rough.
All the beds are full and some of the nurses are out sick." She
paused and adjusted the patient's pillows and said to her, "See you in a
couple of hours, Ruth Ann" and left.
Anne said "I'd been angry with Sarah for seeming to forget
my mom was a person. I quietly thanked God for reminding me
that Sarah was a person too." She had forgotten that. Perhaps you
forget that those around you are persons who have their own stories, their
own difficulties and dilemmas to think about. It's not all about you!
It's not all about us - what we're facing each day. It's also and
about all the people around us. what they're experiencing...the encouraging
words THEY need - the lift they need to THEIR spirits to be able to
continue on. They are our mission field - our place to answer God's
call - our place to meet God every day!
Sometimes we get in our own way. I read a beautiful story in
Guideposts about a girl name Beatriz who had a little problem - her sister,
Leticia asked her to be her matron of honor at her wedding. The problem
was, Beatriz hadn't 'spoken to their Mom for five years. Her husband
had lost his mother a few months before and had been encouraging her to
heal the rift, but she hadn't. . "Why should I be the one to give in?
She's the one who doesn't know how to treat me." The self
righteousness felt good, but within herself she knew it was wrong. God's
commandment tells us to honor our parents. Jesus teaches us to forgive -
not grudgingly and not with any conditions, just forgive. She realized that
if she didn't do something, she would be ruining her sister's wedding.
"Okay, Lord" she thought, "I'm going to need your help with this
one." A few days later she stopped at a florist - shivering as she held the
cooler door open - trying to decide which color bouquet to get. Not
being able to decide she grabbed them all - eight dozen roses, and took
them to the counter...loaded them in the car - and pulled into her mother's
driveway, making the sign of the cross. "I know I need to do this,
Lord. Give me the right words." I looked through the windshield
and saw my mom standing in the garage. Were those tears in her
eyes? I gathered the flowers, the cellophane quivering in my
shaking hands and stepped out onto the driveway. Mom WAS
crying. I could hardly believe it. My stoic, stubborn mom. Had our
separation hurt her too? It didn't fit with my picture of her. And
yet, here she was - this crying, vulnerable woman. I rushed to the
garage, set the flowers on the washing machine and took her in my
arms."
Doing things God's way is always good for us, though for some
devilish reason (pun intended) we think God's way will be impractical and
get us taken advantage of us. Let us decide, once and for all, that God
knows what He's doing!
Frank Sinatra sang, "I Did It My Way." We are called to sing,
"I Did It God's Way." We will have to be consistent in that - persistant
in that.
I remember getting a real lesson in real persistence when I got a
job PICKING POTATOES the title of our sermon today. We had been
potato farmers, but we weren't farming any more - the neighbors were -
and when it came time to harvest their crop - it gave several of us - including
my mother - the chance to make some extra money. Being a teenager, I
looked forward to the money I would make - so much per bushel - I
figured I could pick at least a hundred bushel in a day. Naturally my tiny
little mother would be far behind me. But she had one quality that I was
severely lacking - PERSISTENCE - that quality that God wants us to
have. She had had years as a potato farmer's wife - she had picked more
potatoes than I would ever see - she had taken care of nine children with
no modern conveniences - she had learned how to work through pain and
discomfort and to put the needs of the family above her own. God doesn't
want us just to "go through" our difficulties, He wants us to "GROW
Through" our difficulties. That's what my mother had done. She had
grown. She was tough. She had learned persistance. I hadn't.
I don't remember how many - or rather how FEW, were the
bushels I picked, but I remember that my mother was the one who picked
over a hundred bushels in one day, not me! PICKING POTATOES - a
life lesson I will never forget.
I have learned some PERSISTENCE. I know how to keep
keeping on. If there's a problem at the church, I will keep after it until it is
solved. Then the staff will say, "That's why he's the boss." (I LOVE
to hear that!)
I trust that you too, will , FOR GOD'S SAKE, be the persistent
people - from early morning to late evening, from today through all time
and eternity - so that your life may be filled with the glorious realization
that you have earned a very special place in the Heart of God - a very
special place in His Kingdom - BEYOND THE SUNSET. Amen.
Sermon Notes(Not edited nor proofed)The Rev. Dr. Garth R. Thompson Pastor, M.B. Community ChurchA sermon is a simple truth told by someone whobelieves it to people he knows and loves (Phillips Brooks)July 29, 2007 10:30 a, m. Luke 11:1-13
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our heartsbe acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.
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