[Propertalk] Ash Weds. and 1 Lent - sermon illustrations

[Joe Parrish]

PROCLAIM - 2/22/2012
      
   
      
       
   
      
       
A resource to help you in your preaching ministry.
   
      
       
         
            
                
            2/22/2012
                                           Reading: Matthew 6:1 - 21                  
                   RCL: Ash Wednesday BCP: Ash Wednesday LL: Ash Wednesday    	              
           
         
      
   
      
       
         
            
                
                  
Summary
				  
Our attitudes and intentions determine whether our actions are sins or not.
			                           
How a “Thing” becomes a “Sin”
                     

            A Sunday school teacher taught herclass a lesson about “repentance.” Wanting to make sure the class understood, sheasked, “Can anyone tell me what you must do before you receive forgiveness foryour sins?” There was some silence, but it was finally broken by a small voicepiping up from the back of the room, “First, you gotta sin!”
            Ah yes, and what opportunities wehave to do that. A TV evangelist once announced on his program that there are577 different sins that people can commit. He received thousands of lettersasking for the list. Possibly the letter writers were afraid they’d missed someof them. 
            There’s also a tale about a bigchurch with a lighted board out front, on which the pastor put slogans for theedification of passersby. One week the saying was, “If you’re done with sin,come on in.” But someone had written an addendum on the sign in lipstick, “Butif you’re not quite done, call 555-0200.”
            Well, there are sins aplenty justwaiting to be committed. St. Anthony, a Franciscan monk from the 13thcentury, counseled, “Expect temptation with your last breath.”
            Here’s a little survey for you. I’mgoing to list a few human behaviors, and I’d like you to rate them on a scaleof 1-5, according to how sinful you think they are. A 5 would be very sinfuland a 1 would be not sinful at all. (Use your bulletin as a scorecard.)

Buying a lottery ticket
Dancing
Listening to hard-rock music
Shopping on Sunday
Playing cards

            Now take the survey again, but thistime, rate the sins according to how they would have been scored back when youwere a teenager.
            At one time, all of these thingswere considered sins by some church groups. Today, most of them are no longerthought of that way. It seems that some things that have been clearlyidentified as sins in one age become acceptable with changing time. 
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PROCLAIM  - 2/26/2012
      
   
      
       
   
      
       
A resource to help you in your preaching ministry.
   
      
       
         
            
                
            2/26/2012
                                           Reading: Mark 1:9 - 15                  
                   RCL: Lent 1 BCP: Lent 1 LL: Lent 1    	              
           
         
      
   
      
       
         
            
                
                  
Summary
				  
When we are on the wrong path, we need someone to tell us so — maybe even Jesus!
			                           
Recalculating, Recalculating, Recalculating ...
                     

            Sooner or later, almost everyoneexperiences that uncomfortable feeling that, no matter how confident we were atthe start of a journey, we are now lost.
            The feeling may come on gradually.Something doesn’t seem quite right. There’s this odd feeling we’re travelingthe wrong way. The landmarks don’t look right. The signs are all wrong.
            Or it may come as a jarring shock:We are way out of our reckoning. Translation? We are good, old-fashioned lost,lost, lost! 
            When that happens, we have to getback on the right track. And that may be easy, as easy as making a couple ofquick turns, or it may mean having to backtrack for however long we have beengoing the wrong direction. Either way, there’s no use waiting. We’ve got tostart getting “unlost.” 
            Or, as those little GPS units arefond of saying, “Recalculating, recalculating, recalculating ….” 
            Don’t we all, at some point, need aloved one, a friend or even an annoying acquaintance, who will tell us what wedon’t want to hear? Something like, “What were you thinking?” People who tellus we need a course correction may be individuals we love and admire. Or theymay be persons we consider adversaries, rivals or even enemies. But if they setus on the right track, we owe them hearty thanks — no matter how much we resenthearing the truth.
 
>From spiritual high to spiritual low
            In this short passage from Mark,there are not one, but two spiritual forces that set Jesus on a major coursecorrection. At least that’s one way of looking at this passage.
            The four gospels all agree that for Jesus,his baptism was a major turning point. The Father says to him, “You are my Son,the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”1 Imagine hearing that froma voice from heaven! How would you feel?
            This is a high point! It is sowonderful it makes me wonder: What if Jesus had chosen that moment to enterJerusalem, to the adulation of the crowds. What if he jumped ahead to theTriumphant Entry into the Holy City? We are to
                     
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