[Propertalk] Fwd: Sermons Resources for July 3 - Part 1

[Joe Parrish]

Sermons for Proper 9: 
   Matthew 11: 16-19, 25-30   - "The Burden Bearing Christ"
   Romans 7:15-25a - "A Community of Practice, Not a Community of Perfection" by Leonard Sweet
 
Matthew 11, the sermon titled "The Burden Bearing Christ"  
 
There is a wonderful legend concerning the quiet years of Jesus, the years prior to his visible ministry. The legend claims that Jesus the carpenter was one of the master yoke-makers in the Nazareth area. People came from miles around for a yoke, hand carved and crafted by Jesus son of Joseph.
 
When customers arrived with their team of oxen Jesus would spend considerable time measuring the team, their height, the width, the space between them, and the size of their shoulders. Within a week, the team would be brought back and he would carefully place the newly made yoke over the shoulders, watching for rough places, smoothing out the edges and fitting them perfectly to this particular team of oxen.
 
That’s the yoke Jesus invites us to take. Do not be misled by the word “easy,” for its root word in Greek speaks directly of the tailor-made yokes: they were “well-fitting.” The yoke Jesus invites us to take, the yoke that brings rest to weary souls, is one that is made exactly to our lives and hearts. The yoke he invites us to wear fits us well, does not rub us nor cause us to develop sore spirits and is designed for two. His yokes were always designed for two. And our yoke-partner is none other than Christ himself.
 
Running throughout all scripture from the beginning to the end is the theme that ours is a burden bearing Christ. He is not just a Lord whom we burden, and we do, but a Lord who actually solicits our burdens. I want to think with you this morning concerning that thought. He who would be effective must first be free from his burdens. And, it is Christ who frees us. Frees us from…
 
1. The burden of sin
2. The burden of self-righteousness.
3. Our burdens. So we can bear the burden of others.
 
The rest of this sermon following the outline above can be obtained by joining http://www.sermons.com/signup
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 Romans 7, the sermon titled "A Community of Practice, Not a Community of Perfection" by Leonard Sweet 
 
When your child is playing a musical instrument that is “rented” from the school, instead “owned” by you, there is a big decision to make at the end of the school year. Do you pay rental fees for the summer break? Or do you turn the instrument in? Paying rental fees for the summer means that the instrument will be practiced on hot summer days and during beautiful sunsets. Turning the instrument in means that summer is for swimming, sleep-away camps, family vacations, flexible schedules and peace and quiet.
 
Your decision is based both on the passion of your budding musician for their instrument and on your personal preferences. For parents, on the one hand, there is the knowledge that structure and practice and commitment are all good things for a young musician. On the other hand, there is the prospect of a few weeks without squeaks and squawks, without hearing the same fractured tune repeated over and over again in your head, an earworm that can be as ragging and nagging as “It’s a Small World After All.” 
Professional musicians, as well as the garage band guys, the Christmas party piano player, the community band enthusiasts --- all seem to make their music effortlessly. But it took a lot of squeaky-squawky, off-key, eardrum bruising moments to get to the degree of proficiency where, suddenly, they were making music. 
 
Music that brings ecstasy and enchantment. 
Music that channels creativity and sparks the imagination. 
Music that fills a lonely evening. 
Music that brings a party to life. 
 
Okay, okay: the hope of that mystic connection to music is why you DO pay for that instrument over the summer vacation.
 
When it sounds good, it looks easy. But it took a lot of practice to get to that point of sounding good. Why is it we will put up with the imperfections and disruptions of “practice” when it comes to learning to play a musical instrument . . . but we find it so much harder to put up with the discord and dissonance that comes when we are all engaged in “practicing” the greatest instrument we have each been given? 
 
That instrument is the living Spirit of Christ within each of us.
 
The Church is best defined as a “community of practice.” A place where those who have chosen to live the life of Christ can hit flats and sharps, miss entrances, go off-beat, and even get completely lost for a while — yet still be a part of the church community’s “practice session” that is Christ’s church. Isn’t growing a soul, like learning any musical instrument, a life-long project? Yes, it brings great joy. Yes, it brings focus and direction. Yes, it brings a love of artistic perfection. But it does take continual, gradual, life-long practice. 
 
In today’s epistle text it is not surprising that it took Martin Luther and other reformation theologians to shift the focus of Paul’s words away from the “pre-Christian” Saul to the “post-Christian” Paul…
 
The rest of the sermon can be found here:  http://www.sermons.com/signup 

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A Style in Mistakes
The only way we ever really know any of the masters, the real geniuses, is by knowing their style. Suppose you hear a strain of music that you have never heard before, but in just a minute you say, "that’s Brahms," or "that’s Beethoven." How do you know? That’s their style, the way they do it. No one else does it quite that way. We had quite a controversy some time ago when somebody gave two wonderful Rembrandts to the art museum in Detroit. So we all went and ooohed and ah-h-d and thought they were wonderful. Then a couple of Philistines came in and said, "Fakes." What do you mean fakes? "They are not originals." How do you know. So the press had a great time and we all took sides. Then they sent for a couple of experts. Now, an expert is just somebody from way off, you know. They got two fellows from New York, and they came and studied it and they pondered and they finally came and s aid,"Yes, they are fakes. This copyist just didn’t make the mistakes that Rembrandt always made." A style in mistakes.
We know the great masters by their style.
Kent Moorehead, Achieving An All-In Victory, CSS Publishing Company 

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