[Propertalk] Fw: SermonWriter: Nov. 1 (Proper 26B) Mark 12:28-34 - Part 1 of 2

[Joe Parrish]

Part 1 of 2:

Sermons for All Saints Day:



John 11:32-44 - "Tears Are Our First Words" by Leonard Sweet



The beginning way we have of communicating is through tears. Is there 
anything that gets a baby more attention than tears? Is there anything that 
can command complete, immediate devotion more than a torrent of tears. Is 
there anything that can makes adults feel more dismal, daunted, desperate 
than the wailing of an infant?



Our baby's tears can bring us to tears as well.



In earlier cultures the tears of mourners were gathered into something 
called a lachrymatory, or "tear-catcher," a specially created container for 
human tears of grief or sometimes of joy. In fact, a company is now bringing 
them back and selling them online. Here is the website with great images of 
what some of the early ones looked like:



http://www.tearcatcher.com/tearbottle.html



Mourning tears were believed to have extreme powers--of solace, of 
sustenance, of spiritual healing. There were beautiful, delicate 
lachrymatory tear bottles for women and more masculine cigar-shaped tear 
bottles for men. Traditionally all were designed with an evaporation 
chamber. When the last of the gathered tears finally evaporated, the 
official mourning period was over.



In Roman times women were paid to cry into tear bottles, so that as many 
filled bottles as possible could accompany the extensive mourning 
processions that befitted any important, powerful figure. In typical Roman 
fashion, more was always better--whether one was dead or alive.



Even the most humble burial ceremony involved the presence of paid mourners. 
In Jewish culture the bare minimum required two flute players and 
professional wailing woman. Anything less was an insult to the family name. 
The grief industry in the first century--like that of the twenty-first 
century--was big business.



Have you noticed that as the economy has fallen, the number of ads for life 
insurance are on the rise? In the face of an uncertain economic climate, 
unstable global relationships, catastrophic environmental scenarios, and 
butt-headed political stalemates, there is always one thing that remains 
certain . . . death. You can always bank on death showing up. The grief 
industry never has a down turn.



When Jesus finally arrived at Bethany the first-century grief industry was 
already well represented. "The Jews" who came down from Jerusalem to 
"console Martha and Mary" (v.19) undoubtedly included many professional 
mourners, musicians, and trained tear-producers.



The rest of Leonard Sweet's sermon can be obtained by joining 
www.Sermons.com



Click here:  http://www.sermons.com/signup or call 1-800-777-7731 to join.



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The Grief Grinch



We are approaching an exciting time of the year - Thanksgiving, Christmas, 
New Year's. Times of celebration. Times for friends and family. Times of 
joy. And for some, times of incredible sadness. The holidays will be hard 
because someone with whom previous special days were shared is gone. To 
paraphrase Tennyson's In Memoriam, "Never Christmas wore to New Year's but 
some heart did break." If you have never experienced that, I would be 
tempted to offer congratulations, but I will not. They would probably simply 
be premature. The name of the Grinch who stole Christmas year-in and 
year-out is grief.

Perhaps there is an ache inside you this year that intensifies each time you 
think of turkeys or mistletoe or presents under the tree. Perhaps your wish 
is, not so much to have HAPPY holidays this year, but just to survive them. 
You hear the Psalmist say "For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my 
hope is from him. He is my rock, my salvation, my fortress, my 
deliverance..." Hmmm.

[Eyes heavenward] Well, God, deliver me from THIS! Can you arrange it so 
November 15 will be followed by January 16? If not that, at least give me 
some SURVIVAL TIPS to help me manage this year.

I have good news. You have been given some survival tips. The lesson from 
John's gospel this morning provides some - resources for dealing with grief 
at the holidays or any days. Follow the story and see how it works out.

You remember the situation: Jesus had received word that His good friend 
Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, had died. By the time Jesus and the 
disciples got to the family home in Bethany, great numbers had already 
arrived. After all, Lazarus had been dead for four days by now, and the 
normal period of intense grief for Jews in first century Palestine was a 
full week. There was plenty of weeping and wailing going on and plenty more 
yet to be done, and it was to be done by as many people as possible. It 
might appear to you and me as a little contrived - all the noise, the really 
excessive displays of emotion...but if the tables were turned and they had 
the chance to watch what WE do in the same situation, they might consider 
our reserved behavior a sign of disrespect for the dead. All the wailing was 
their way of doing honor to the deceased. At any rate, there is one thing 
that is common to both cultures: the gathering of friends - a marvelous 
resource for coping with grief in the first century or the twenty-first.

David E. Leininger, The Grief Grinch, www.Sermons.com



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Let Him Go!



During these past twelve years that I've been involved in the ministry, I 
have had the wonderful experience of watching as Jesus called men and women 
out of spiritual death into new life. I have never lost the wonder and 
excitement, the emotion of that kind of resurrection, and I pray that I 
never will. But then I've also seen loving, caring people reach out and 
embrace and welcome these strangers in their midst, helping them to meet new 
friends and develop new habits (like coming to church on a regular basis or 
coming to Sunday School). I've seen them provide encouragement to find and 
use their unique gifts in the ministry of the church. Whenever I've seen 
this happen, I have recalled Jesus' instructions to the crowd of onlookers 
at the resurrection of Lazarus: "Unbind him, and let him go." When we 
encourage newly resurrected Christians to become a vital part of the faith 
community, that's what we're doing. We're taking off the grave clothes, 
participating in the miracle of new life.

Johnny Dean, Death Stinks, www.Sermons.com



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