[Propertalk] This is Part 2 of 2 Sermonwriter excerpts

[joeparrish at compuserve.com]

This is Part 2 of 2 Sermonwriter excerpts.
Peace and blessings,
Joe
St. John's, Elizabeth, NJ


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.

<>
      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.

<>
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.

<>
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

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *


<>

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)

www.sermonwriter.com

www.lectionary.org

<>

 Richard Niell Donovan






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