[Propertalk] Fwd: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Proper 7C

[Joe Parrish]

Forwarded: 



-----Original Message-----
From: Judy <judy_boli at ecunet.org>
To: Propertalk <propertalk.topic at ecunet.org>
Sent: Sat, Jun 18, 2016 9:24 pm
Subject: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Proper 7C



Dear Friends,
 
This Sunday’s sermon is entitled “Under the Shadow ofHis Wings” and deals with the Psalm (Psalm 63:1-8).  Here it is: 
 
Psalm 63: 6-8- “I think about you before I go tosleep, and my thoughts turn to you during the night.  You have helped me, and I sing happy songs inthe shadow of your wings.  I stay closeto you, and your powerful arm supports me.”- this is what we’re going to thinkabout this morning.  How are you handlinglife?  Hopefully, you don’t have anythingto handle right now.  If that’s the case-God bless you, but if you think it’s going to last, you’re living in a dreamworld!  This morning, I’d like us to lookat handling life under the shadow of God’s wings vs. handling life through yourown power.
 
I’ve got two examples for us.  On April 24, 2016, I reminded us of the manytimes farmers have found a hen burned to death in a fire or pecked to death bya predator, only to find live chicks peeping under the mother’s dead body.  That’s what we’re talking about.  Do you remember some time ago- the badlyburned mother cat who who had entered the burning building repeatedly to rescueall of her kittens.  As I recall, thekittens escaped without injury and the mother cat lived, though badly scarred.  That’s the kind of sacrifice, actually on across, that God endured to protect and save us. God is ready to be there, have our back, help us handle life if we onlylet him.  Do you remember the old sexiststory of the man and his wife driving on their way to the grocery store?  A married couple was on their way to thegrocery store when the wife spotted a very young couple in front of them.  The young man was driving, but the youngwoman was so close to him that she was almost in his lap.  “Just look at that, would you!” the wifesaid.  “I remember when we used to sitlike that!”  “Well,” said the husband, “Ihaven’t moved.”  If we’re going to handlelife with an overcoming spirit, we can’t move! We’ve got to stay close to God.
 
Our Old Testament Bible lesson (1st Kings19: 1-4, 8-15a) offers thoughts about how we humans can handle life under theshadow of God’s wings.  You heard aboutthe prophet Elijah.  In our Old TestamentBible reading we heard how the prophet Elijah misread his reality and ended upin what was probably a deep depression. You know the story: the Israelites had started following the religion oftheir pagan neighbors and their pagan Queen Jezebel, because they saw it as asophisticated, fashionable religion. Instead of worshiping God, they worshiped two idols- Baal and his loverAsherah.  The men went to the pagantemple if they wanted fertile fields or a fertile wife and had sex with themale and female prostitutes there, thus imitating the actions of Baal andAsherah.  They thought this would maketheir crops and children plentiful.  Tous, this sounds gross; but to them- it was the height of sophisticatedfashion.  To us, this sounds gross; butto them- it was C-O-O-L!  Theold-fashioned way of worshiping God as they had been taught seemed“country.”  We laugh, but how many peopledo you know who go looking for a fashionable church, one where what you wear ismore important than who you came to worship?  A church that has either neglected weekly HolyCommunion or never really understood the Biblical expectation to celebrate iton the first day of every week, in other words- every Sunday?  Elijah won a mighty contest with Jezebel’spagan prophets.  Queen Jezebel wasfurious!  She threatened Elijah- said hewas as good as dead.  Forgetting hisgreat victory, Elijah ran for his life- depressed and afraid.  It was only after slowing down, stopping, andhearing God’s still small voice that he saw the reality.  He was not alone- God was with him, plusthere was a remnant of 7,000 Israelites who had not worshipped Baal andAsherah.  Elijah needed to get back underthose almighty wings, and he did.  Godwasn’t in the wind or the earthquake or in the fire, but in the still smallvoice.  The trouble is- we’ve got to slowdown and quiet down to hear Him.  We canlearn from the little girl in this story.
 
Everyone has said or heard the phrase, "Don'tjust sit there, do something."  Haveyou ever heard someone say, “Don’t just do something, sit there.”  Why? Because you’ve got to know Him, know His ways, listen to His voice, walkwith Him, access His power before you can snuggle under those wings.  In closing, here’s a story that reminds us ofthe need to “be still and know that I am God.” Before refrigerators, people used ice houses to preserve theirfood.  Ice houses had thick walls, nowindows, and a tightly fitted door.  Inwinter, when streams and lakes were frozen, large blocks of ice were cut,hauled to the ice houses, and covered with sawdust. Often the ice would lastwell into the summer.  One man lost avaluable watch while working in an ice house. He searched diligently for it, carefully raking through the sawdust, butdidn't find it. His fellow workers also looked, but their efforts, too, provedfutile. A small girl who heard about the fruitless search slipped into the icehouse during the noon hourand soon emerged with the watch. Amazed, the men asked her how she foundit.  "I closed the door," thegirl replied, "lay down in the sawdust, and kept very still. Soon I heardthe watch ticking."  (JamesHamilton- “Directions”)  Here’s yourchance.  For the rest of our worship,think about the Bible readings and sermon, look through the bulletin, think,pray, and listen for God’s voice.  And-as you receive Holy Communion- feel the calmness of his protection.  Then when you get home, don’t lose yourcalmness.  Spend some time each day withthe radio, TV, and M3P player shut off and spend a bit of time with God, claimingyour calmness under His wings.  Then goface life.
 
For anyone who isinterested, this sermon and updated African-American wisdom statements areposted 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

-- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Propertalk" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to propertalk.topic+unsubscribe at ecunet.org.


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://stsams.org/pipermail/propertalk_stsams.org/attachments/20160619/ebcf5324/attachment.htm>