[Propertalk] Fw: SermonWriter: Sep. 20 (Proper 20B) Mark 9:30-37

[Joe Parrish]

The following are SermonWriter materials for Sep. 20 (Proper 20B). They focus on Mark 9:30-37, where Jesus says, "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me."

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Dick Donovan


A THOUGHT ON PREACHING:  The young preacher has been taught to lay out all his strengths on the form, taste, and beauty of his sermon as a mechanical and intellectual product.  We have thereby cultivated a vicious taste among the people and raised the clamor for talent instead of grace, eloquence instead of piety, rhetoric instead of revelation, reputation and brilliancy instead of holiness. (E. M. Bounds)


TITLE:  Welcoming Children -- Welcoming Christ


SERMON IN A SENTENCE:  Christ calls us to meet the needs of children -- and promises that, when we do, he will treat our hospitality as if we had rendered it to him.


SCRIPTURE:  Mark 9:30-37


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(NOTE TO THE PREACHER:  I believe that the church needs to make a stronger emphasis on ministry to children from dysfunctional homes.  If you plan to talk about this in your sermon, do a little homework.  Find out what your denomination is doing -- in your state, nationally, and internationally.  Google "children's homes Methodist" or "children's homes Lutheran" or whatever your denomination.  There might be people in your congregation who could take in a foster child.  There might be some who could take in young people ages 18-20 who have aged out of the welfare system.  But don't twist arms.  This is an important but sometimes difficult ministry.  Anyone who opts to participate needs to go in with their eyes open -- and their hearts as well.)

(IF YOU LIVE OUTSIDE THE U.S., you will have to adapt the above to fit the situation in your country.  The principle will be the same -- Jesus expects us to take care of children. But the particular need and the potential solutions might be quite different.)


FOR MORE SERMONS ON THIS TEXT, GO TO:

http://www.lectionary.org/SermLinks/NT/NT02_Mark.htm

Scroll down to Mark 9.  There are at least three sermons on this text posted there.


A BIT OF HUMOR:

Linus asks Charlie Brown, "So you don't think Jesus ever owned a dog?"

Charlie Brown responds, "No, I doubt it."

Lucy asks, "But why?"

Snoopy thinks, "If he had a dog, all of the apostles would have wanted one."


TRUE STORY:

Did you know that Babe Ruth had a troubled childhood?  He and his parents lived above the Baltimore saloon that his father owned.  His parents, like so many parents today, were busy with many things, and had little time for him.  He said that he hardly knew them.

At some point, Ruth ended up in St. Mary's Industrial School, which he characterized as a combination orphanage and reform school.  The kids there were tough, and Ruth could easily have gone from there to a life of crime.

But there was a man there -- Brother Matthias -- whom Ruth characterized as "the greatest man I know."  Matthias saw Ruth's talent for baseball, took him under his wing, and began training him.  Ruth said, "He used to back me into a corner of the big yard at St. Mary's and then would bunt a ball to me by the hour, correcting the mistakes I made with my hands and feet."

Because of Brother Matthias, Ruth was able to leave St. Mary's in 1914 to play professional baseball with the Baltimore Orioles.

Ruth wasn't known as a religious man, but he claimed never to have forgotten the religious training he received at St. Mary's.  He said, "That's why all through the years, even when the big money was rolling in, I'd never forgot St. Mary's, Brother Matthias, and the boys I left behind.  I kept going back."


THOUGHT PROVOKERS:

Only when the bud of the flower
receives warmth from the sun
and nourishment from the soil
will it open and expose all of the beauty
that is latent within it.

So too a person at the beginning of life
must receive the warmth of human love,
assurance and the nourishment of parental affection
if he is to open up and show the beauty
that God has placed within him.

John Powell, Why Am I Afraid to Love

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Children are like wet cement.
Whatever falls on them makes an impression.

Haim Ginott

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

The most deadly sin of all sins
is the mutilation of a child's spirit.

Eric Erikson

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

There are no illegitimate children --
only illegitimate parents.

Leon R. Yankwich,
a U.S. District Court Judge

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

God's model for teaching truth to our children
calls not only for a constant process
but for honest, meaningful relationships.
We are to teach diligently
when we sit, walk, lie down, and rise up.
In other words, God wants us to teach His truths
in every interaction with our children --
even the most mundane.

Josh McDowell

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

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HYMN STORY:  Jesus Loves Me

Some years ago, I was privileged to tour the grounds of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York.  I remember standing at the Academy cemetery on the high bank of the Hudson River -- a place of great beauty.  Our guide pointed to an island on the other side of the river -- Constitution Island -- and told us of Anna Warner, who wrote "Jesus Loves Me."  He said that Anna and her sister, Susan, had lived on that island.  Their uncle, the Rev. Thomas Warner, had been the Academy Chaplain, and the sisters had taught Sunday school classes for cadets for a number of years.  It is thought that Dwight D. Eisenhower was one of the last cadets to attend their classes.  We don't know that that is true, but we know that it is possible. Eisenhower graduated in 1915, and Anna died in that same year.

When the sisters died, the Academy honored them by providing for them to be buried at the Academy cemetery -- an unusual exception to the rules -- a high honor, indeed!

When I heard that story, I thought of the sister's ministry to those cadets, and wondered if the officer who made possible their burial in that cemetery might at one time have been cadets in their Sunday school classes.  I also found myself wondering whether the sister's humble ministry might have affected world history at some point through the influence they had on the lives of those cadets.

The words to this popular song were written originally as a poem in Anna's novel, Say and Seal.  In the book, the words were spoken to comfort a dying child.  In 1861, William Bradbury set the words to music and added the chorus, "Yes, Jesus loves me!"  The joyful tune and simple words soon became favorites around the world.

Stories that have grown up around this song.  One is that someone asked Karl Barth, the great theologian, to summarize the essence of the Christian faith in a few words, and he responded, "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so."  Another is that, at the height of persecution in Communist China, a Christian sent a message to a friend.  The message escaped the attention of the censors, because it said simply:  "This I know people are well" -- but that phrase, the "this I know people" clearly identified the Christian community in China.  It assured the friend that the church in China was alive and well.

We, too, are "This I Know" people.

NOTE:  See other hymn stories at http://www.lectionary.org/hymnstories.htm



BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Barclay, William, The Daily Study Bible: Gospel of Mark (Edinburgh: The Saint Andrew Press, 1954)

Boring, M. Eugene, The New Testament Library, Mark, A Commentary (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006)

Brooks, James A, The New American Commentary: Mark (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1991)

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)

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

Edwards, James R., The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel According to Mark (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2002)

Evans, Craig A., Word Biblical Commentary: Mark 8:27 -- 16:20 (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2001)

France, R.T., The New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Gospel of Mark (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2002)

Geddert, Timothy J., Believers Church Bible Commentary: Mark (Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 2001)

Grant, Frederick C. and Luccock, Halford E., The Interpreter's Bible, Vol. 7 (Nashville: Abingdon, 1951)

Hare, Douglas R. A., Westminster Bible Companion: Mark (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996)

Hooker, Morna D., Black's New Testament Commentary: The Gospel According to Saint Mark (Hendrickson Publishers, 1991)

Hurtado, Larry W., New International Biblical Commentary:  Mark (Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1983, 1989)

Lane, William L., The New International Commentary on the New Testament: The Gospel of Mark (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1974)

Moule, C.F.D., The Cambridge Bible Commentary on the New English Bible: The Gospel of Mark (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965)

Perkins, Pheme, The New Interpreter's Bible, Vol. VIII (Nashville: Abingdon, 1995)

Williamson, Lamar Jr., Interpretation: Mark (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1983)

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