Proper 16
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series VI, Cycle A
COMMENTARY ON THE LESSONS
Lesson 1: Exodus 1:8--2:10 (C)
The Exodus writer tells the story of the birth of Moses, along with the historical context. Pharaoh, concerned with the growing number of Israelites living in Egypt, fearing that they would align themselves with any invading enemy, orders that all boy babies be destroyed. The midwives, however, remained loyal to God and refused. One boy baby was set adrift in a homemade boat-basket, only to be discovered by Pharaoh's daughter Imagine this, who does she find as a nurse but the baby's real mother? Bernhard Anderson wrote of this: "The theme of Moses' humble birth and his upbringing in Pharaoh's court is the sort of thing that delights popular imagination. Yet Moses' name is an authentic indication of his Egyptian nurture which is, after all, one of the main points of the story." It does sound convenient as a story. But Anderson wrote: "The tradition of Exodus 2 that Moses was brought up and trained in Egyptian circles is authentic, although it is colored with elements of folklore. The story of the baby in the basket of bulrushes ... is reminiscent of a similar account of Sargon of Akkad."
Lesson 1: Isaiah 22:19-23 (RC)
Shebna, a government official, has overstepped himself. Carried away by his own self-importance, he has earned God's disapproval Therefore, Shebna is about to be ousted and replaced by Eliakim. He will be given the key to the house of David and henceforth his position will remain secure.
Lesson 1: Isaiah 51:1-6 (E)
The people are desperate to regain their freedom from Babylon. God asks them to remember who they are, a great and called people, children of Abraham and Sarah. Called by God as well, they must have faith that God will deliver them from their distress.
Lesson 2: Romans 12:1-8 (C)
As is so often true of Paul's teachings, there are several preaching possibilities in this brief passage. We are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice "which is your spiritual worship." In today's world of self-abuse, drugs, alcohol, and, worst of all, overeating, this is a strong possibility for Sunday's sermon. Or, Paul urges that we not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds, so that we may discern the will of God. There we have, on the one hand, our tendency to be preoccupied with the pleasures of the day, as opposed to the self-discipline which would include prayer, contemplation, charitable work, all of which make possible the renewing of the mind. Such a theme needs to be played out before a congregation.
But this is also a splendid opportunity to preach about the Church, which the good preacher should do fairly frequently. Here, Paul reminds us that the Church is composed of a variety of people with a variety of skills, and each of us is to serve according to the skills we have been given. It is this theme which I propose for the Sunday ahead.
Lesson 2: Romans 11:33-36 (RC, E)
The ways of God are beyond mere mortal capacity to understand or anticipate. A sermon possibility here would be to express gratitude for this, because we're better off not knowing how things will turn out. Were the universe of such dimensions that I, with my little mind, could understand, how tiny it would be. God must be concerned with those things which lie ahead, tomorrow, a hundred years from now, a million years from now. Furthermore, if the past has any meaning at all, it must play a part in the present and the future, yet what do I know of the past except my own paltry experience? How reassuring it is to believe there is a power greater than everything else, a Higher Power, who can oversee and make sense of the things we could never hope to understand. It is possible in even the most distressing circumstances to have hope for tomorrow, because we can safely trust our fate to the wisdom of One who knows what we can never know.
Gospel: Matthew 16:13-20 (C, RC, E)
Jesus needs to know the word on the street as to his true identity. I find it intriguing that when it is reported that various opinions include that he is John the Baptist, or Elijah the prophet, or Jeremiah, Jesus has no comment. After all, there seems to be an underlying presumption of reincarnation here, yet none of the conversants raises that issue. In the case of each of those men, their return was predicted. Of course, Jesus is really seeking to find out what his own closest friends have decided now that they have been with him so long. They know. He is the Messiah, the long awaited one, and it is he who will lead the people into their destiny. Jesus' time is drawing to a close. He and his apostles have again left their home area in order to take stock. Jesus must know whether his mission will ever be fulfilled, whether, following his death, someone will know who he was. To be thought a prophet was a high compliment, but not good enough. Napoleon once said, "I know men, and Christ was more than a man." Did they know this? Peter did.
There is divided opinion on this next. The Roman Catholic Church interprets that Jesus announced that Peter, "the rock," would be the foundation of the Church. As I understand it, this forms the basis of the principle of apostolic succession. Protestants disagree for a number of reasons. It would have been divisive to tell Peter that in the presence of the others. We know how some of them had their own ideas about that especially James and John, who vied for primacy in the eyes of Jesus. Also, Peter was a humble fisherman. He would soon enough betray Jesus in the courtyard, and while I don't exactly blame him for that since I can't be sure how I would stand up to something that scary either, it doesn't seem that he was all that qualified to be the basis of the Church. We Protestants believe, rather, that it is the Church itself which holds the keys to the Kingdom, or more precisely, the faith which composes the Church. We must live and let live in this regard. Also, there would have to be a presumption that Jesus foresaw a "Church" as the outcome of his ministry.
As for a sermon, one possibility would be to fasten on Jesus' announcement that the Church's mission is as follows: "Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." That will require some research. The reader is referred to William Barclay's Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, Volume 2, for a complete assessment of this text. He deals at length with the Greek and Hebrew meanings of the words, with Jewish word usages reflected here, and opens up the meaning of the passage in an excellent way. He assesses the passage in this way:
"Peter, you are going to have grave and heavy responsibilities laid upon you. You are going to have to take decisions which will affect the welfare of the whole Church. In the days to come, the administration of the Church will fall upon you. You will be the guide and the director of the infant Church. And the decisions you give will be so important that they will affect the souls of men in time and eternity." (He goes on to observe that) "The privilege of the keys meant that Peter would be the steward of the household of God, opening the door for (people) to enter the Kingdom. The duty of binding and loosing meant that Peter would have to make decisions about the Church's life and practice which would have far-reaching consequences. And indeed, when we read the early chapters of Acts, we see that in Jerusalem that is precisely what Peter did, for Peter was true to the duty and the task and the privilege that were laid upon him."
SERMON SUGGESTIONS
Title: "Doing What You Know Is Right"
Text: Exodus 1:17-20
Theme: The midwives were faithful. As we read this story, the midwives receive little attention, but they must have had a lot of courage to defy the orders of the king. Anyone who valued human life so little as to have all boy babies slaughtered would have thought nothing of putting those two women to death. They, however, refused to do what they were told to do because of conscience. They knew God's will in the matter and it is that which they would do. Their story has a happy ending, since we are told that God rewarded them. Perhaps it doesn't work quite that way, but they certainly won some grudging admiration from the Pharaoh, and they were undoubtedly happy people with clear consciences and self-pride.
1. Sometimes our job, or the expectations of other people, tempt us to do what we know to be wrong. I have told in an earlier section of the man in my congregation who was required to do something dishonest if he wished to continue working where he was then employed. He couldn't do it. His conscience would not let him.
2. People admire us in the long run if they know we will not do what we know to be wrong.
3. God "rewards" right conduct. Perhaps not with money or success, but the inner rewards which come from God are of greater value.
Title: "Ordinary People And The Body Of Christ"
Text: Romans 12:1-8
Theme: The Church is an interesting institution, especially to those outside the Church who can't, for the life of them, understand why it means so much to so many of us within the Church. Remember C. S. Lewis' marvelous commentary in The Screwtape Letters? We all know about Screwtape, the senior Devil who gave instructions to Wormwood, his assistant on earth, in the work of winning his "patient" away from God. "One of our great allies is the church itself," he wrote. "Do not misunderstand me," he continued. "I do not mean the Church as we see her spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners. That, I confess, is a spectacle which makes our boldest tempters uneasy. But fortunately it is quite invisible to these humans. All your patient sees is the half finished, sham Gothic building on the new building estate. When he goes inside, he sees the local grocer with rather an oily expression on his face bustling up to offer him one shiny little book containing a liturgy which neither of them understands, and one shabby little book containing corrupt texts of a number of religious lyrics, mostly bad, and in very small print. When he gets to his pew and looks round him he sees just that selection of his neighbors whom he has hitherto avoided. You want to lean pretty heavily on those neighbors. Make his mind flit to and fro between an expression like 'The Body of Christ' and the actual faces in the next pew. It matters very little, of course, what kind of people that pew really contains. You may know one of them to be a great warrior on the Enemy's side. No matter. Your patient, thanks to our Father Below, is a fool. Provided that any of those neighbors sing out of tune, or have shoes that squeak, or double chins, or odd clothes, the patient will easily believe that their religion must therefore be somehow ridiculous."
That's what we're often faced with. The church as we know it is imperfect, composed of ordinary people like you and me. We all have feet of clay. Jesus knew this. He made it clear from the start that every one of us stands in need of change, and forgiveness, and confrontation with ourselves in the presence of God's love. I like the response one person gave to a friend who criticized the church with the old saw: "The trouble with the church is there are too many hypocrites in it." To which my friend replied, "I know, but there's always room for one more. Why don't you join?"
1. The Church is a place for sinners. If we were all totally good there would be no need for a Church. A friend of mine told me of a new member of his congregation who explained that she had recently been divorced, and the minister of her own church had explained that she must quit teaching church school, and must give up her office in the woman's society, because she is divorced. How ridiculous. The very thought makes me angry. That man was guilty of what Jesus taught to be the worst sin of all: self-righteousness. The church which does not welcome sinners of every sort is not a true church.
2. The Church is only effective when her members are willing to do their part. Not everyone is equipped to teach in the church school, or serve as a trustee, or sing in the choir (although many a choir has a member or two who don't seem to realize this). But we can all support our church in some way, if only by bringing a friend, or by speaking well of the staff, or by writing a check of sufficient size to constitute sacrifice on the giver's part.
3. It is through the Church with all her flaws that Jesus chose to be found. Maybe we are all hypocrites and sinners. But Jesus loves us and it is in our church with all its flaws that he comes to us. A friend of mine wrote a book titled: "Portrait of The Church, Warts And All." That says it.
Title: "The Price Of Faith"
Text: Matthew 16:15-17
Theme: Jesus put the most direct of all questions to Peter: "Who do you say that I am?" We can imagine them standing together, face to face, eyes locked. There was no evading the question, and a lie would have instantly been evident to Jesus. Peter must now search his own heart, evaluate what he has heard, what he has seen, and what his instincts have told him. Peter would go on to play a crucial role in the formation of the Church. Momentous events lay in his near future. But for this moment Peter was Every Man. He was Every Woman. He must decide now. Christ had come to stand before him. Did he believe?
Later, Peter would again be faced with a similar question: "Peter, do you love me?" That too is a question we must answer. But first, this: "Do you believe?" Peter gave his reply: "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Then Jesus interprets to Peter that his faith has been a gift. "Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven."
1. Christ confronts us all. Implicit in that confrontation is that same question. Do I believe that he is the Messiah -- the Christ? The answer must be something more than a verbal reply. If I believe it, something will have changed in me as compared to the man I was. (Of course, many of us were raised to take this for granted, but there comes a time when intellectual belief must be replaced by heartfelt conviction.)
2. God gives the gift of faith. Here is where the Church is so important. Many a person has found God, then turned to the Church. But the Church has preserved and perpetuated the idea of God so that millions who are outside the Church are inside the culture which had been produced by the power of the Church in the Western world. We frequently hear of people, drug addicts for example, or alcoholics, who in their desperation turn at last to God. Often, they have had little or no contact with a church. But in every such story I have heard, the individual has found a church Those who turn to an organization like Alcoholics Anonymous are still finding help in an organization which is founded on the teachings of the Church.
3. Jesus would go on to tell his disciples that if they truly believe, they would be called upon to deny themselves. That is implicit in what he has said to Peter. There's a price to faith, but it's one we gladly pay once faith is ours.
ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS
Halford Luccock reported the following: "A New York City plumber wrote to the Bureau of Standards in Washington, saying that he had found hydrochloric acid good for cleaning out clogged drains. The bureau wrote him: 'The efficacy of hydrochloric acid is indisputable, but the corrosive residue is incompatible with metallic permanence.' The plumber replied that he was glad the bureau agreed with him. The bureau tried again saying: 'We cannot assume responsibility for the production of toxic and noxious residue with hydrochloric acid, and suggest that you use an alternative procedure.' The plumber again wrote that he was pleased the bureau agreed with him. Finally, the bureau wrote this to the plumber: 'Don't use hydrochloric acid. It eats hell out of the pipes.' " (Could be used in connection with Jesus' question to Peter -- it required a simple answer. It's also a helpful word to some of us preachers who tend to be a little inclined to preach at a rarefied level.)
____________
H. G. Wells, in his story The Soul Of A Bishop, listens in on a conversation between an angel and the Bishop. The angel is telling him that all religions are trying to express a truth which they don't clearly know, a mystical something which eludes the mind as water escapes the hand. "But the Truth," said the Bishop, hoping for an exclusive revelation, "you can tell me the truth." The angel smiles, cups his hand over the Bishop's bald spot, strokes it affectionately, then holding his cranium firmly in his strong hand, says, "Truth? Yes, I could tell you. But could this hold it? Not this little box of brains. You haven't things to hold it inside with."
____________
Psalm Of The Day
Psalm 124 (C) -- "Blessed be the Lord who has not given us as prey to their teeth."
Psalm 138 (RC, E) -- "I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart."
Prayer Of The Day
Bless our church that we may, as the Body of our Lord, bring blessings to each other, and to those whom we meet, that your will may be carried out through us. Amen.
Lesson 1: Exodus 1:8--2:10 (C)
The Exodus writer tells the story of the birth of Moses, along with the historical context. Pharaoh, concerned with the growing number of Israelites living in Egypt, fearing that they would align themselves with any invading enemy, orders that all boy babies be destroyed. The midwives, however, remained loyal to God and refused. One boy baby was set adrift in a homemade boat-basket, only to be discovered by Pharaoh's daughter Imagine this, who does she find as a nurse but the baby's real mother? Bernhard Anderson wrote of this: "The theme of Moses' humble birth and his upbringing in Pharaoh's court is the sort of thing that delights popular imagination. Yet Moses' name is an authentic indication of his Egyptian nurture which is, after all, one of the main points of the story." It does sound convenient as a story. But Anderson wrote: "The tradition of Exodus 2 that Moses was brought up and trained in Egyptian circles is authentic, although it is colored with elements of folklore. The story of the baby in the basket of bulrushes ... is reminiscent of a similar account of Sargon of Akkad."
Lesson 1: Isaiah 22:19-23 (RC)
Shebna, a government official, has overstepped himself. Carried away by his own self-importance, he has earned God's disapproval Therefore, Shebna is about to be ousted and replaced by Eliakim. He will be given the key to the house of David and henceforth his position will remain secure.
Lesson 1: Isaiah 51:1-6 (E)
The people are desperate to regain their freedom from Babylon. God asks them to remember who they are, a great and called people, children of Abraham and Sarah. Called by God as well, they must have faith that God will deliver them from their distress.
Lesson 2: Romans 12:1-8 (C)
As is so often true of Paul's teachings, there are several preaching possibilities in this brief passage. We are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice "which is your spiritual worship." In today's world of self-abuse, drugs, alcohol, and, worst of all, overeating, this is a strong possibility for Sunday's sermon. Or, Paul urges that we not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds, so that we may discern the will of God. There we have, on the one hand, our tendency to be preoccupied with the pleasures of the day, as opposed to the self-discipline which would include prayer, contemplation, charitable work, all of which make possible the renewing of the mind. Such a theme needs to be played out before a congregation.
But this is also a splendid opportunity to preach about the Church, which the good preacher should do fairly frequently. Here, Paul reminds us that the Church is composed of a variety of people with a variety of skills, and each of us is to serve according to the skills we have been given. It is this theme which I propose for the Sunday ahead.
Lesson 2: Romans 11:33-36 (RC, E)
The ways of God are beyond mere mortal capacity to understand or anticipate. A sermon possibility here would be to express gratitude for this, because we're better off not knowing how things will turn out. Were the universe of such dimensions that I, with my little mind, could understand, how tiny it would be. God must be concerned with those things which lie ahead, tomorrow, a hundred years from now, a million years from now. Furthermore, if the past has any meaning at all, it must play a part in the present and the future, yet what do I know of the past except my own paltry experience? How reassuring it is to believe there is a power greater than everything else, a Higher Power, who can oversee and make sense of the things we could never hope to understand. It is possible in even the most distressing circumstances to have hope for tomorrow, because we can safely trust our fate to the wisdom of One who knows what we can never know.
Gospel: Matthew 16:13-20 (C, RC, E)
Jesus needs to know the word on the street as to his true identity. I find it intriguing that when it is reported that various opinions include that he is John the Baptist, or Elijah the prophet, or Jeremiah, Jesus has no comment. After all, there seems to be an underlying presumption of reincarnation here, yet none of the conversants raises that issue. In the case of each of those men, their return was predicted. Of course, Jesus is really seeking to find out what his own closest friends have decided now that they have been with him so long. They know. He is the Messiah, the long awaited one, and it is he who will lead the people into their destiny. Jesus' time is drawing to a close. He and his apostles have again left their home area in order to take stock. Jesus must know whether his mission will ever be fulfilled, whether, following his death, someone will know who he was. To be thought a prophet was a high compliment, but not good enough. Napoleon once said, "I know men, and Christ was more than a man." Did they know this? Peter did.
There is divided opinion on this next. The Roman Catholic Church interprets that Jesus announced that Peter, "the rock," would be the foundation of the Church. As I understand it, this forms the basis of the principle of apostolic succession. Protestants disagree for a number of reasons. It would have been divisive to tell Peter that in the presence of the others. We know how some of them had their own ideas about that especially James and John, who vied for primacy in the eyes of Jesus. Also, Peter was a humble fisherman. He would soon enough betray Jesus in the courtyard, and while I don't exactly blame him for that since I can't be sure how I would stand up to something that scary either, it doesn't seem that he was all that qualified to be the basis of the Church. We Protestants believe, rather, that it is the Church itself which holds the keys to the Kingdom, or more precisely, the faith which composes the Church. We must live and let live in this regard. Also, there would have to be a presumption that Jesus foresaw a "Church" as the outcome of his ministry.
As for a sermon, one possibility would be to fasten on Jesus' announcement that the Church's mission is as follows: "Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." That will require some research. The reader is referred to William Barclay's Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, Volume 2, for a complete assessment of this text. He deals at length with the Greek and Hebrew meanings of the words, with Jewish word usages reflected here, and opens up the meaning of the passage in an excellent way. He assesses the passage in this way:
"Peter, you are going to have grave and heavy responsibilities laid upon you. You are going to have to take decisions which will affect the welfare of the whole Church. In the days to come, the administration of the Church will fall upon you. You will be the guide and the director of the infant Church. And the decisions you give will be so important that they will affect the souls of men in time and eternity." (He goes on to observe that) "The privilege of the keys meant that Peter would be the steward of the household of God, opening the door for (people) to enter the Kingdom. The duty of binding and loosing meant that Peter would have to make decisions about the Church's life and practice which would have far-reaching consequences. And indeed, when we read the early chapters of Acts, we see that in Jerusalem that is precisely what Peter did, for Peter was true to the duty and the task and the privilege that were laid upon him."
SERMON SUGGESTIONS
Title: "Doing What You Know Is Right"
Text: Exodus 1:17-20
Theme: The midwives were faithful. As we read this story, the midwives receive little attention, but they must have had a lot of courage to defy the orders of the king. Anyone who valued human life so little as to have all boy babies slaughtered would have thought nothing of putting those two women to death. They, however, refused to do what they were told to do because of conscience. They knew God's will in the matter and it is that which they would do. Their story has a happy ending, since we are told that God rewarded them. Perhaps it doesn't work quite that way, but they certainly won some grudging admiration from the Pharaoh, and they were undoubtedly happy people with clear consciences and self-pride.
1. Sometimes our job, or the expectations of other people, tempt us to do what we know to be wrong. I have told in an earlier section of the man in my congregation who was required to do something dishonest if he wished to continue working where he was then employed. He couldn't do it. His conscience would not let him.
2. People admire us in the long run if they know we will not do what we know to be wrong.
3. God "rewards" right conduct. Perhaps not with money or success, but the inner rewards which come from God are of greater value.
Title: "Ordinary People And The Body Of Christ"
Text: Romans 12:1-8
Theme: The Church is an interesting institution, especially to those outside the Church who can't, for the life of them, understand why it means so much to so many of us within the Church. Remember C. S. Lewis' marvelous commentary in The Screwtape Letters? We all know about Screwtape, the senior Devil who gave instructions to Wormwood, his assistant on earth, in the work of winning his "patient" away from God. "One of our great allies is the church itself," he wrote. "Do not misunderstand me," he continued. "I do not mean the Church as we see her spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners. That, I confess, is a spectacle which makes our boldest tempters uneasy. But fortunately it is quite invisible to these humans. All your patient sees is the half finished, sham Gothic building on the new building estate. When he goes inside, he sees the local grocer with rather an oily expression on his face bustling up to offer him one shiny little book containing a liturgy which neither of them understands, and one shabby little book containing corrupt texts of a number of religious lyrics, mostly bad, and in very small print. When he gets to his pew and looks round him he sees just that selection of his neighbors whom he has hitherto avoided. You want to lean pretty heavily on those neighbors. Make his mind flit to and fro between an expression like 'The Body of Christ' and the actual faces in the next pew. It matters very little, of course, what kind of people that pew really contains. You may know one of them to be a great warrior on the Enemy's side. No matter. Your patient, thanks to our Father Below, is a fool. Provided that any of those neighbors sing out of tune, or have shoes that squeak, or double chins, or odd clothes, the patient will easily believe that their religion must therefore be somehow ridiculous."
That's what we're often faced with. The church as we know it is imperfect, composed of ordinary people like you and me. We all have feet of clay. Jesus knew this. He made it clear from the start that every one of us stands in need of change, and forgiveness, and confrontation with ourselves in the presence of God's love. I like the response one person gave to a friend who criticized the church with the old saw: "The trouble with the church is there are too many hypocrites in it." To which my friend replied, "I know, but there's always room for one more. Why don't you join?"
1. The Church is a place for sinners. If we were all totally good there would be no need for a Church. A friend of mine told me of a new member of his congregation who explained that she had recently been divorced, and the minister of her own church had explained that she must quit teaching church school, and must give up her office in the woman's society, because she is divorced. How ridiculous. The very thought makes me angry. That man was guilty of what Jesus taught to be the worst sin of all: self-righteousness. The church which does not welcome sinners of every sort is not a true church.
2. The Church is only effective when her members are willing to do their part. Not everyone is equipped to teach in the church school, or serve as a trustee, or sing in the choir (although many a choir has a member or two who don't seem to realize this). But we can all support our church in some way, if only by bringing a friend, or by speaking well of the staff, or by writing a check of sufficient size to constitute sacrifice on the giver's part.
3. It is through the Church with all her flaws that Jesus chose to be found. Maybe we are all hypocrites and sinners. But Jesus loves us and it is in our church with all its flaws that he comes to us. A friend of mine wrote a book titled: "Portrait of The Church, Warts And All." That says it.
Title: "The Price Of Faith"
Text: Matthew 16:15-17
Theme: Jesus put the most direct of all questions to Peter: "Who do you say that I am?" We can imagine them standing together, face to face, eyes locked. There was no evading the question, and a lie would have instantly been evident to Jesus. Peter must now search his own heart, evaluate what he has heard, what he has seen, and what his instincts have told him. Peter would go on to play a crucial role in the formation of the Church. Momentous events lay in his near future. But for this moment Peter was Every Man. He was Every Woman. He must decide now. Christ had come to stand before him. Did he believe?
Later, Peter would again be faced with a similar question: "Peter, do you love me?" That too is a question we must answer. But first, this: "Do you believe?" Peter gave his reply: "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Then Jesus interprets to Peter that his faith has been a gift. "Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven."
1. Christ confronts us all. Implicit in that confrontation is that same question. Do I believe that he is the Messiah -- the Christ? The answer must be something more than a verbal reply. If I believe it, something will have changed in me as compared to the man I was. (Of course, many of us were raised to take this for granted, but there comes a time when intellectual belief must be replaced by heartfelt conviction.)
2. God gives the gift of faith. Here is where the Church is so important. Many a person has found God, then turned to the Church. But the Church has preserved and perpetuated the idea of God so that millions who are outside the Church are inside the culture which had been produced by the power of the Church in the Western world. We frequently hear of people, drug addicts for example, or alcoholics, who in their desperation turn at last to God. Often, they have had little or no contact with a church. But in every such story I have heard, the individual has found a church Those who turn to an organization like Alcoholics Anonymous are still finding help in an organization which is founded on the teachings of the Church.
3. Jesus would go on to tell his disciples that if they truly believe, they would be called upon to deny themselves. That is implicit in what he has said to Peter. There's a price to faith, but it's one we gladly pay once faith is ours.
ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS
Halford Luccock reported the following: "A New York City plumber wrote to the Bureau of Standards in Washington, saying that he had found hydrochloric acid good for cleaning out clogged drains. The bureau wrote him: 'The efficacy of hydrochloric acid is indisputable, but the corrosive residue is incompatible with metallic permanence.' The plumber replied that he was glad the bureau agreed with him. The bureau tried again saying: 'We cannot assume responsibility for the production of toxic and noxious residue with hydrochloric acid, and suggest that you use an alternative procedure.' The plumber again wrote that he was pleased the bureau agreed with him. Finally, the bureau wrote this to the plumber: 'Don't use hydrochloric acid. It eats hell out of the pipes.' " (Could be used in connection with Jesus' question to Peter -- it required a simple answer. It's also a helpful word to some of us preachers who tend to be a little inclined to preach at a rarefied level.)
____________
H. G. Wells, in his story The Soul Of A Bishop, listens in on a conversation between an angel and the Bishop. The angel is telling him that all religions are trying to express a truth which they don't clearly know, a mystical something which eludes the mind as water escapes the hand. "But the Truth," said the Bishop, hoping for an exclusive revelation, "you can tell me the truth." The angel smiles, cups his hand over the Bishop's bald spot, strokes it affectionately, then holding his cranium firmly in his strong hand, says, "Truth? Yes, I could tell you. But could this hold it? Not this little box of brains. You haven't things to hold it inside with."
____________
Psalm Of The Day
Psalm 124 (C) -- "Blessed be the Lord who has not given us as prey to their teeth."
Psalm 138 (RC, E) -- "I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart."
Prayer Of The Day
Bless our church that we may, as the Body of our Lord, bring blessings to each other, and to those whom we meet, that your will may be carried out through us. Amen.
