[Propertalk] Fwd: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Epiphany 4C

[joeparrish]

Forwarded: Part 2 of 2


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-------- Original message --------
From: Judy <judy_boli at ecunet.org> 
Date:01/30/2016  10:03 PM  (GMT-05:00) 
To: Propertalk <propertalk.topic at ecunet.org> 
Subject: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Epiphany 4C 

Dear Friends,

 



This Sunday’s sermon is entitled “All You Need Is Love” or “Love Makes the World Go Round” and deals with the epistle (1st Corinthians 13:1-13).  Here it is:

Part 2 of 2: 

If we live our lives by God’s definition of love, we will have good lives- if not; all the money in the world won’t make us happy.  How many people do you know who go around cheating their acquaintances, stealing their best friend’s boyfriends or husbands or girlfriends or wives, gossiping about their neighbors, getting mad easily and not forgiving, screaming and yelling and cursing at family members, and on, and on, and on?  What kind of lives do they have?  Sure.  They’re forever working out the consequences of their behavior- and then they wonder why God doesn’t help them more.

 

So what exactly does this Christian love look like- this love that God expects of us?  Let’s look at 1st Corinthians 13: 4-8. 

Love is:

Kind

Patient

Never jealous

Never boastful

Never proud (Do you think you’re better than others?  Do you avoid discussing things for fear you may be wrong?)

Never rude.  (Are you someone who “lets it all hang out,” or do you try to be tactful when you need to speak the truth in love?)

Never selfish (Do you only think about yourself, or do you really listen when others talk?)

Never quick tempered.  (“But that’s just how I am!” or “That’s how I was raised!” or “I have a mental illness” is no excuse.)

It doesn't keep a record of wrongs that others do. 

Love rejoices in the truth, but not in evil.  (Gossips LOVE evil!  Do you gossip?)

Love is always supportive, loyal, hopeful, and trusting.  

Love never fails! 

 

Paul ends by reminding his Christian friends that everything they have and do will be lost in death.  In other words, only what’s done for God will last, and the things that are done for God are actions which are done in love.

 

So, where are you?  Are you still making excuses- how you just can’t live this way, it won’t work; people will take advantage of you, etc.? 

 

I’m going to close with a poem that each of us must answer every day when we go to bed and when we meet our Lord when we die.  It is entitled, “What Is the Gospel According to You?”

The gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John

Are read by more than a few.

But the one that is read most and commented on

Is the gospel according to you.

You are writing a gospel, a chapter each day,

By the things that you do and the words that you say.

People read what you write, whether faithless or true.

Say, what is the gospel according to you?

Do others read His truth and His love in your life?

Or has yours been too full of malice and strife?

Does your life speak of evil, or does it ring true?

Say, what is the gospel according to you?

                                                (Leroy Brownlow)

 

For anyone who is interested, this sermon and updated African-American wisdom statements are posted on our parish’s web site under “Sermons & Stuff”. The address is: http://www.stpaulsepisag.org .

 

Blessed preaching,

Judy Boli

St. Paul's Episcopal Church

Saginaw, Michigan

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