[Propertalk] Fwd: Sermon Resources for October 7 - Part 1

Fri Oct 5 00:22:19 EDT 2012

Sermons for Proper 22 
Mark 10:2-16 - "Divorce and Children"
Genesis 2:18-24: - "Bystanders or Standbys" by Leonard Sweet

 Mark 10, the sermon title “Divorce and Children"  

The U.S. Census Bureau report for the decade of the 90's was released in 2001. Here are its disturbing findings concerning the family. Households headed by unmarried partners grew by almost 72 percent from 1990 to 2000. Most of these arrangements were men and women living together out of wedlock. Other studies have shown that cohabitation increased by close to 1,000 percent from 1960 to 1998. Households headed by single mothers increased by more than 25 percent, and those led by single fathers grew, get this, by almost 62 percent. And this next finding is astounding: For the first time ever, nuclear families dropped below 25 percent of households. That’s a mom and a dad and children, the nuclear family, represents less than a quarter of all homes. 

Another finding partially explains why this is happening: A third of all babies are born to unmarried women (33 percent) compared to only 4 percent in 1940. There are a growing number of women in their late 20’s and 30’s who are deciding to bear and raise children on their own. Our culture is teaching that this is normal…

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Genesis 2, the sermon titled “Bystanders or Standbys” by Leonard Sweet   

Crime scene investigators (which we now know as “CSI”) acknowledge that if all the witnesses to an event report exactly the same information there is only one conclusion to draw: They are lying. Human individuality, the uniqueness of individual perceptions and eye-witness, the unrepeatability of each person’s own experience, makes it impossible for any group of individuals to see and report an event with the exact same language and coherence. If each rendition becomes a simply repetition — something is amiss.

The creation narratives found in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 should never be thought of as a scenario of “Genesis 1 vs. Genesis 2.” Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 do not offer some kind of contest to see whose world view wins. Instead, the biblical text is concerned to convey as much truth, to throw as much light as possible, into the relationship between God’s creativity and our creaturely experience of creation. To discern the divine in our midst takes more than one voice. 

What makes Scripture such a vital, life-giving force in our lives is that it is not a “mantra” of repetitious, unchanging, unvarying same-old-same-old series of words. Scripture lives because it tells a story, the greatest story ever told…

The rest of this sermon can be obtained by joining http://www.sermons.com/signup

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A Modern Perspective on Jesus and the Children

If it seems strange to you that people might usher the children away from Jesus, think about the last time you flew on an airplane. When the family with four small children came walking up the aisle, did you think, maybe not so secretly, “Please don’t sit next to me, please don’t sit next to me?” 

Now imagine Jesus sitting a few rows up, waving down the flight attendant and volunteering to have all the children present sit around him for the duration of the flight…"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”

www.Sermons.com 
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Where Is the Hope?

I recently saw a newspaper cartoon of a mother reading a bedtime story to her little, curly-haired daughter. The book was called Grim Reality Fairy Tales, and the text read, "and the prince kissed her and they fell in love, dated a while and moved in together, broke up, got back together, got married, got a baby, got separated, got back together again, broke up, got divorced, spent time alone rediscovering themselves, met someone new, fell in love and repeated the pattern habitually ever after."

This worldview is sad, hopeless, and far from what God intended. More than ever, our children wonder what marriage is and what they might hope for in a relationship.

Steve Zeisler, What Did Moses Command?
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Don’t Hope…Decide

Michael Hargrove tells about a scene at an airport that literally changed his life. He was picking up a friend. He noticed a man coming toward him carrying two light bags. The man stopped right next to Hargrove to greet his family. The man motioned to his youngest son (maybe six years old) as he laid down his bags. They hugged and Hargrove heard the father say, “It’s so good to see you, son. I missed you so much!” “Me, too, Dad!” said the son. The oldest son (maybe nine or ten) was next. “You’re already quite the young man. I love you very much, Zach!” Then he turned to their little girl (perhaps one or one-and-a-half). He kissed her and held her close. He handed his daughter to his oldest son and declared, “I’ve saved the best for last!” and preceded to give his wife a long, passionate kiss. “I love you so much!” H e saidto his wife softly. 

Hargrove interrupted this idyllic scene to ask, “Wow! How long have you two been married?” 

“Been together fourteen years total, married twelve of those,” the man replied, as he gazed into his wife’s face. 

“Well then, how long have you been away?” 

The man turned around and said, “Two whole days!” Hargrove was stunned. “I hope my marriage is still that passionate after twelve years!” 

The man stopped smiling and said, “Don’t hope, friend . . . decide!” 

And that’s it, isn’t it? For most of us it comes down to a decision. “Till death us do part.” It doesn’t happen in every relationship, but that is still the ideal that Jesus gives us. 

Michael Hargrove, quoted by King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
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Teaching Takes Time 

One of the biggest problems in a culture like ours is proper time management. This is not because we have any less time than others; it's because the alternatives are so many. Because we have money; because we have ease of transportation; because the urban centers we live in have much to offer us in ways to make use of our time - any of us can find ourselves in a situation where we can't possibly do everything that might be done. The opportunities become a blur; we find ourselves in a maze. Sorting out the minutes and hours becomes an awesome task. And in the process, people - those people around us who are dearest - escape our notice. Their needs go unmet, unserved. Many times those people are the little people - our children.

Some argue that our children do not need the quantity of our time if the time we give them is filled with quality. It's true. There's no need to give our children even fifteen minutes of our time, if all they experience through us is negativism or unrest or a spirit of impatience. But most good teaching takes sheer time. Our loving and caring spirit, our understanding and calmness, and our devotion to Jesus Christ in word and action, need to seep in to a child's mind and soul. Such sharing rarely comes through a quick torrent of kisses or a fleeting, kindly word. It takes time and patience. Indeed the very spending of time with our children is part of our communicating to them that they are valued and loved.

Richard W. Patt, Partners in the Impossible, CSS Publishing Co., Inc. 
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