[Propertalk] SermonWriter materials for (July 26) Proper 12B. They focus on John 6:1-21

[Joe Parrish]

Taking the money you would spend on a coffee drink once a day for a month and giving it to a community food bank is a small save, but it can mean the difference between feeling fed and cared for or hungry and abandoned for a struggling family.

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The following are SermonWriter materials for (July 26) Proper 12B. They focus on John 6:1-21, the story of the feeding of the five thousand.

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Dick Donovan


A THOUGHT ON PREACHING:  (The preacher's) words had power because they accorded with his thoughts; and his thoughts had reality and depth because they harmonized with the life he had always lived. It was not mere breath that this preacher uttered; they were the words of life, because a life of good deeds and holy love was melted into them. Pearls, pure and rich, had been dissolved into the precious draught. (Nathaniel Hawthorne)


TITLE:  Little Things Mean a Lot


SERMON IN A SENTENCE:  We wish we could make the grand gesture -- give the great gift -- but Christ honors our gifts, large and small, and makes them great.


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Psalm 107:23-30:

23Some went down to the sea in ships,
   doing business on the mighty waters; 
24they saw the deeds of the Lord,
   his wondrous works in the deep. 
25For he commanded and raised the stormy wind,
   which lifted up the waves of the sea. 
26They mounted up to heaven, they went down to the depths;
   their courage melted away in their calamity; 
27they reeled and staggered like drunkards,
   and were at their wits' end. 
28Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
   and he brought them out from their distress; 
29he made the storm be still,
   and the waves of the sea were hushed. 
30Then they were glad because they had quiet,
   and he brought them to their desired haven.


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SERMON:     

One of the big hits of 1954 was a song by Kitty Kallen entitled, "Little Things Mean a Lot."  Kitty had sung with some of the most famous big bands in the 1940s -- Artie Shaw -- Jack Teagarden -- Jimmy Dorsey -- but she lost her voice, bringing her singing career to a halt.  She made a comeback in 1954 with the song, "Little Things Mean a Lot," which became the number one song on the U.S. Billboard chart.

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      Blow me a kiss from across the room.
      Say I look nice when I'm not.
      Touch my hair as you pass my chair.
      Little things mean a lot.

(To hear Kitty sing the song, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nNk3ZlDsL8)

It's a romantic song, of course.  It reminds us that love doesn't require grand gestures.  It says, "Don't have to buy me diamonds, or pearls, champagne, sables and such."  It adds, "Give me your hand when I've lost the way.  Give me your shoulder to cry on."  It ends with the words, "Little things mean a lot" -- and so they do.

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Some years ago (Jan. 1989, "Points to Ponder"), there was a story in Reader's Digest that caught my eye.  I would like to share it with you.  Gerda Weissmann Klein spent six years in a Nazi death camp.  Hollywood made a documentary film -- "One Survivor Remembers" -- of her experience.  The film won an Oscar for the best documentary film. 

NOTE:  You can see Gerda's acceptance speech at the award ceremony at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zn-fPM4KS0

Gerda had this to say about those years.  She said:

      "Most people think the Holocaust camps were like snake pits -- 
      that people stepped on each other for survival.  
      It wasn't like that at all.  
      There was kindness, support, understanding."

She continued:

      "I often talk about a childhood friend of mine, Ilse.  
      She once found a raspberry in the camp 
      and carried it in her pocket all day 
      to present to me that night on a leaf.

      "Imagine a world in which your entire possession is one raspberry, 
      and you give it to a friend.  
      Those are the moments I want to remember.  
      People behaved nobly under unspeakable circumstances."

(NOTE TO THE PREACHER:  A long quotation can make or break your sermon, depending on how well you read it.  Practice this quotation aloud until the words come naturally to your mouth.)

"Imagine a world in which your entire possession is one raspberry," Gerda says --."and you give it to a friend."

Is there anyone here whose world is so poor that you don't have more than one raspberry to offer Jesus?  Is there anyone here who has so little that they give something to help the poor?  Is there anyone here who cannot do something to help a friend?  

Like the boy who gave his lunch to Jesus, Ilse could have never imagined that her raspberry would mean more than a moment's pleasure to a friend.  But, by the grace of God, her generosity was transformed into inspiration to millions of people around the globe who have heard Gerda tell her story.

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FOR MORE SERMONS ON THIS TEXT, GO TO:  

http://www.lectionary.org/SermLinks/NT/NT04john.htm

Scroll down to John 6.  There are three sermons on this text posted there.


TRUE STORY:  

See the story of "Little Things Mean a Lot" and the Gerda Weissmann Klein story in the sermon above.


THOUGHT PROVOKERS:   

In many of the families I visited nothing was certain, nothing predictable, nothing totally safe.  Maybe there would be food tomorrow, maybe there would be work tomorrow, maybe there would be peace tomorrow.  Maybe, maybe not.  But whatever is given -- money, food, work, a handshake, a smile, a good word, or an embrace -- is a reason to rejoice and say gracias.  What I claim as a right, my friends in Bolivia and Peru received as a gift; what is obvious to me was a joyful surprise to them; what I take for granted, they celebrate in thanksgiving; what for me goes by unnoticed became for them a new occasion to say thanks.

Henri J. M. Nouwen, Gracias!  A Latin American Journal

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

One of the characteristics of truly great people is that they can receive graciously.  I know a very famous man in the academic world who by no means always dresses like an academic.  In a London railway station he saw an old lady in difficulties and offered to carry her bag. When he had put it in her carriage for her, she gave him sixpence -- which he gravely and courteously received rather than embarrass the old lady who offered it.

Jesus could receive.  He could take a boy's picnic lunch because it was all that the boy could offer -- and with it he could work a miracle.

William Barclay, Everyday with William Barclay

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

To give without any reward, or any notice, has a special quality of its own.  It is like presents made for older people when you were a child.  So much went into them -- dreams and prayers and hours of knotted fingers and frozen effort and there... only a dirty piece of knotted string came out of it.  But you knew, even if they didn't, that you were giving them something worthy of them.

There is something of worship or prayer in laying down an offering at someone's feet and then going away quickly.  The nicest gifts are those left, nameless and quiet, unburdened with love, or vanity, or the desire for attention.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh, The Flower and the Nettle

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

The fragrance always stays 
in the hand that gives the rose.

Hada Bejar,
17th century British playwright

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

A candle loses nothing 
by lighting another candle.

Anonymous

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *


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BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Barclay, William, The Daily Study Bible, "The Gospel of John," Vol. 1 (Edinburgh: The Saint Andrew Press, 1955)

Borchert, Gerald L., New American Commentary: John 1-11, Vol. 25A (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1996)

Bromiley, Geoffrey (General Editor), The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Volume Three: K-P - Revised (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1986)

Bruce, F. F., The Gospel of John (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1983).

Brueggemann, Walter; Cousar, Charles B.; Gaventa, Beverly R. and Newsome, James D., Texts for Preaching: A Lectionary Commentary Based on the NRSV--Year B (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1993)

Carson, D. A., The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel of John (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1991).

Craddock, Fred R.; Hayes, John H.; Holladay, Carl R.; and Tucker, Gene M., Preaching Through the Christian Year B (Valley Forge: Trinity Press International, 1993)

Gossip, Arthur John and Howard, Wilbert F., The Interpreter's Bible, Volume 8 (Nashville: Abingdon, 1952)

Howard-Brook, Wes, Becoming the Children of God: John's Gospel and Radical Discipleship (New York: Maryknoll, 1994).

Hoyer, Robert J., Lectionary Bible Studies: The Year of Mark: Pentecost 1 (Minneapolis and Philadelphia: Augsburg and Fortress Press, 1976)

Kostenberger, Andreas J., Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament: John (Grand Rapids:  Baker Academic, 2004)

Lincoln, Andrew T., Black's New Testament Commentary: The Gospel According to Saint John (London: Continuum, 2005)

Lockyer, Herbert, Sr., Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1986)

Morris, Leon, The New International Commentary on the New Testament: The Gospel According to John (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1995).

Myers, Allen C., The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1987)

O'Day, Gail R., The New Interpreter's Bible, Volume IX (Nashville: Abingdon, 1995)

Ridderbos, Herman (translated by John Vriend), The Gospel of John: A Theological Commentary (Grand Rapids:  William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997)

Sloyan, Gerald, "John," Interpretation (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1988)

Smith, D. Moody, Jr., Abingdon New Testament Commentaries: John (Nashville: Abingdon, 1999)

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 Richard Niell Donovan


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