[Propertalk] Fwd: Part 2 - [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Epiphany 2

[joeparrish]

Forwarded Part 2: 


Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device
-------- Original message --------From: Judy <judy_boli at ecunet.org> Date: 1/14/17  9:34 PM  (GMT-05:00) To: Propertalk <propertalk.topic at ecunet.org> Subject: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Epiphany 2 


Dear Friends,

 

This Sunday’s sermon is entitled “The Rev. Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.- Champion of Justice” or “Let There Be Peace on Earth” or “Put
Your Money Where Your Mouth Is!” and deals with The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s
birthday.  Here it is: 

[Actual numbering below actually begins with Number 5, if there was not an overly active Word editor: ]
 Never swear at people, especially at
     children.  A dear friend of mine
     told me that her son’s high school coach frequently swears at his
     players.  How disgraceful!  How anti- Dr. King!  Look how far our society has fallen!  The world swears at people- Christians
     don’t.
 Don’t get revenge.  Forgive your enemies.
 Don’t call our children “bad,” even when teasing;
     and don’t say things like “I brought you into this world- I can take you
     out of this world.”  As innocent as
     they sound- they send the wrong message.
 Don’t ever let someone drag you down to the level
     of hating them- no matter what they do to you.


 

I know you realize, many Christians- good people- don’t
abide by the content of the above list.  Do
you recall that awful incident June 17, 2015 when Dylann Roof walked into a
prayer meeting at Mother Emmanuel Methodist Church, prayed with the group, and
then killed 9 people in order to start a race war?  Do you remember the families’ responses?  It was forgiveness- amazing, painful,
forgiveness.  Some even tried to talk
sense into him!  I wonder- “Wow!  How could they do that?!”  Maybe you even thought the same thing.  But think about it- what makes us so special
that we are not bound by the same words of Jesus that they are when he said,
“Love your enemies.  Pray for those who
misuse you.”  They aren’t called to a
higher level of discipleship than we are; they are just following Jesus better
than we are.  It’s easy to say, my enemy
is evil.  I can’t follow Jesus- it won’t
work.  I’m here to tell you that nothing
else will work.  We’ve tried the violence
way, and look where it got us.  Besides,
we aren’t called to do things our way- sorry, Frank Sinatra; we are called to
be faithful to God and live life Jesus’ way. 
When we think, talk, or act violently, we are falling prey to the
temptation that the Rt. Rev. Nathan Baxter (Episcopal Bishop of Central
Pennsylvania) warns us about when he says: “As we act, we must not become the
evil we deplore.”  

 

I’d like to close with the same poem I’ve used almost
every Sunday since ChristMass.   It was written by the African-American poet- Dr.
Howard Thurman (among other posts, dean of Howard University).  His poem matches Dr. King’s life.

 

Epiphany is
the Work of Christmas

When the song of the angel is still,

When the star in the sky is gone,

When the kings and the princes are home,

When the shepherds are back with their flock,

The work of Christmas begins:

            To find the lost,

            To heal the broken,

            To feed the hungry,

            To release the prisoner,

            To rebuild the
nations,

            To bring peace among
peoples,

            To make music in the
heart! 

 

My prayer for all of us is that this poem matches our lives more and
more.  My prayer is that we honor our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and his faithful martyr, The Rev. Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr., by living what they taught- not just this weekend, not just
all year long, but all our lives long- one day at a time.  “Let there be peace on earth (and in Saginaw), and let it
begin with me.”

 

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





-- 

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/20170115/e673e37c/attachment.htm>