[Propertalk] Fw: SermonWriter: May 2 (Easter 5C) John 13:31-35

[Joe Parrish]

The following are SermonWriter materials for May 2 (Easter 5C). They focus 
on the Gospel lesson, John 13:31-35, where Jesus says, "I give you a new 
commandment, that you love one another."


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http://www.lectionary.org/SW/05-02oi/John.13.31-35.htm

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Please mention SermonWriter to them.  Thanks!

Dick Donovan
www.sermonwriter.com

www.lectionary.org


A THOUGHT ON PREACHING:  If preaching is not your main business, you have no 
business preaching.  (Zan Holmes, quoting Black Elders)


TITLE:  The Sign that You Are a Christian


SERMON IN A SENTENCE:  Christ calls us to love one another as he has loved 
us so that the world might experience Christ's love through us.


SCRIPTURE:  John 13:31-35


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SERMON QUOTES:

In his book, Why Not the Best? Jimmy Carter tells about sitting in a pew in 
his Plains, Georgia Baptist church.  He says that he can't remember a word 
of the sermon that morning, but he couldn't quit thinking about the title of 
the sermon, which was "If you were arrested for being a Christian, would 
there be enough evidence to convict you?"

That's a pretty long sermon title, isn't, but it's the kind of provocative 
statement that comes back at odd hours to haunt you.  "If you were arrested 
for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?"

That question caused Jimmy Carter to take stock.  There was a good deal of 
evidence to prove that he was a Christian.  He was a member of the largest 
church in town.  He was a deacon in the church and taught Sunday school.  He 
talked openly about his faith, and even wrote about it.  But then he 
concluded:

"I finally decided that if arrested
and charged with being a committed follower of God,
I could probably talk my way out of it!"

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A few years ago, I read a story that illustrates how this works.  Albert 
DiBartolomeo was a report for the Philadelphia Inquirer.  He had gone to a 
Catholic school as a child, and many years later wrote an article in which 
he talked about one of the nuns there.  He said that her nickname was 
Bulldog -- and he described her as a "seraphic Frankenstein monster."  Wow! 
That's tough talk!  Mean talk!  Angry talk!

After the article hit the streets, DiBartolomeo received a phone call from a 
nun -- Sister Maria.  You can probably imagine how that conversation went --  
an angry nun shouting at DiBartolomeo and demanding a public apology.

But that isn't how the conversation went at all.  Sister Maria did say, 
"You've done a big disservice to sisters," but she said it in a kindly 
voice.  There was no shouting -- no recriminations -- no demands for 
retractions -- just a simple statement of fact, "You've done a big 
disservice to sisters," spoken in a soft and kindly voice.

DiBartolomeo felt a bit guilty when they finished their conversation and he 
hung up his phone -- but he assumed that was the end of it.  But it wasn't 
the end of it at all.  Sister Maria began to send him notes.  When his 
stepfather became ill, she sent a note assuring him that he was in her 
prayers.  When his stepfather died, she sent a pamphlet entitled, "Dealing 
with Grief."

DiBartolomeo was grieving.  He was heartbroken at his stepfather's death. 
Finally, he reached out to the one person who had shown real concern.  He 
wrote a long letter to Sister Maria, pouring out his heart.  She responded 
compassionately, telling of her own struggles and inviting him to visit, 
saying, "It would be so good to meet and really cement this friendship that 
I think was a gift from God" She sent him a rosary that she had used in the 
hospital while recovering from a heart condition.

Finally, after more than a year, DiBartolomeo met with Sister Maria at a 
Catholic retreat house on the Jersey shore.  As they sat by the sea, he gave 
her a present -- a beautiful handmade wooden box filled with postage stamps. 
Bit he said, "What Sister Maria gave me that day was a moment of insight, a 
gift far greater than the wooden box I had brought her."

Even after Sister Maria had to go to a nursing home, they continued to 
correspond.  DiBartolomeo said, "Like sunshine and salt breezes on a 
summer's day by the sea, her words still nourish my soul."

Sister Maria obeyed Christ's commandment.  "Love one another," Christ had 
said.  "Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another."  Sister 
Maria did that, and Albert DiBartolomeo caught a glimpse of Christ.  No 
preaching or logic could have drawn him to that religious retreat center, 
but the kind words of an elderly woman broke through the locked door of his 
heart.

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There's a lovely song that expresses what I am talking about.  It says, "We 
are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord" -- and it prays that "all 
unity may one day be restored.  It talks about how we work together "side by 
side" -- and how we" guard each one's dignity and save each one's pride." 
Then the chorus concludes by saying:

"And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love.
Yes, they'll know we are Christians by our love."

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FOR MORE SERMONS ON THIS TEXT, GO TO:

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

Scroll down to John 13.  There are several sermons on this text posted 
there.


TRUE STORY:

See the story of Albert DiBartolomeo and Sister Maria in the sermon above.


THOUGHT PROVOKERS:

Lucy came up behind Schroeder as Schroeder was playing the piano.  She said, 
"Guess What?  I am going to hold my breath and turn blue in the face if you 
don't tell me you love me."

Schroeder quit playing the piano for a moment, and turned to face Lucy. 
"Withdrawal in children is quite a phenomenon," he said.  "It can have a 
metabolic basis.  What you really need is forty milligrams of Vitamin B6. 
Eat plenty of bananas and avocados and beef liver."

Lucy says, "I asked for love, and I got beef liver."

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Because we cannot see Christ,
we cannot express our love to him;
but our neighbors we can always see,
and we can do to them what, if we saw him,
we would like to do to Christ..
Here in the slums, in the broken body, in the children,
we see Christ and we touch him.

Mother Teresa

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Love cures.
It cures not only those who receive it,
but it cures those who give it.

Dr. Karl Menninger, the eminent psychiatrist

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

The reigning cliche of the day
is that in order to love others
one must first learn to love oneself.
This formulation -- love thyself, then thy neighbor --
is a license for unremitting self-indulgence,
because the quest for self-love is endless.
By the time you have finally learned to love yourself,
you'll find yourself playing golf at Leisure World.

Charles Krauthammer

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

We can risk loving as passionately as God loves.
For we know that the love God makes possible
is no scarce resource that must be hoarded
so that it can be distributed in dribs and drabs --
a little here and a little there.
Love is not a rare commodity;
rather, the more we love with the intense particularity of God's love,
the more we discover that we have the capacity to love.

Stanley Hauerwas

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *


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HYMN STORY:  Blest Be the Tie That Binds

John Fawcett was born into a poor family in Yorkshire, England, and was 
orphaned at age 12.  To survive, he accepted a lengthy apprenticeship to a 
tailor.  Then, while still in his teens, he heard the great George Whitfield 
preach and became a Christian.

While serving his apprenticeship, Fawcett became active in a Baptist church 
and was often asked to speak.  Then at age 25 (and newly married) he was 
invited to serve as pastor of a small church at Wainsgate.  The poor people 
of that little village were able to pay very little, and much of Fawcett's 
pay came as potatoes and other produce.  Once his wife, Mary, began having 
children, they found it difficult to survive.

Then Fawcett learned that the pastor of a large Baptist church in London was 
retiring, and he let the church know that he would be interested in serving 
them.  They called him to be their pastor at a much larger salary, so John 
and Mary packed their household and prepared to move.  But then, as the 
story is told, Mary told John that she didn't think that she could leave 
these people whom they had both learned to love -- and John allowed that he 
shared her sentiment -- so the two of them unpacked the wagon and let the 
London church know that they wouldn't be coming.

Then Fawcett, who wrote a number of hymns during his lifetime, wrote this 
hymn, "Blest Be the Tie," to convey his sentiments and those of his wife to 
the poor people among whom they had chosen to live.  Fawcett served that 
little church for the rest of his life -- 54 years in all.


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


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Richard Niell Donovan