Second Sunday Of Easter
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series VI, Cycle B
COMMENTARY ON THE LESSONS
Lesson 1: Acts 4:32-35 (C, RC)
This, of course, was written long before the political issues of socialism and communism became as explosive as they are today. These people were moved by compassion and the spirit of kindness and generosity. It didn't work, of course, any more than it works today. Sin would enter in and spoil things as always. Still, what a splendid attitude these people displayed toward each other and toward needful people in the larger community. While the practices would need extensive modification, this passage does exemplify the ideal community and stands as an example to every congregation today. I would use this to preach on the Church, and would derive certain principles which ought to govern a local church based on the generosity of the people described here.
Lesson 1: Acts 3:12a, 13-15, 17-26 (E)
(See Easter 3)
Lesson 2: 1 John 1:1--2:2 (C)
I have always loved the first letter of John. The writer was a true poet of the heart. In this lengthy passage, we have several excellent preaching possibilities. It starts with an allusion to the preexistent Christ. The writer uses light and darkness as symbols of good and evil, and thereafter reminds us of several important truths. First, we are all sinful. The surest way to display one's sinfulness is to insist that one is not sinful. However, if we admit our sinful nature and if we faithfully try to "live in the light," which I take to mean with integrity and with love for others, then God will cleanse us of our sin. By that John doesn't mean we will therefore be sinless. He means that if we are constantly aware of our inclinations to sin, God will forgive us.
I think there are two definitions of "sin" as John has used the word. One is "Sin" with a capital "S." It's a condition, a basic state in which we exist. It has nothing to do with the fact that each of us is the result of a sex act. (Original sin was defined as that by some people, but that would be ridiculous. God set things up that way so it must be good when not misused.) Then there are "sins." These are obviously specific acts of wrongdoing or failures in doing what we should have done. We might use this analogy: three people have the flu. One has a sore throat. One has an upset stomach. One has a headache. Silly analogy, I suppose, but my point is that the three have the same ailment, but it takes different forms.
Finally, John was reminding us that Jesus steps forward on our behalf to represent us before God. Jesus is the means by which we are able to understand all of this.
I think in a sermon I would be inclined to remind this sophisticated, blase, do-your-own-thing society about the reality of sin. The congregation I served for many years was composed of business and professional folks. Great people. But I'm not sure they quite grasped the gravity of Sin with a capital "S." Forgiveness takes on new, powerful meaning when we also understand Sin as a powerfully destructive force.
Lesson 2: 1 John 5:1-6 (RC, E)
(See Easter 6)
Gospel: John 20:19-31 (C, RC, E)
I personally identify with Thomas. If someone told me that a friend who recently died had just paid a visit while I was out and the rest of my gang was present, I'd be a little upset too. "Come on, guys. You're puttin' me on, right?" It's quite likely that any one of these apostles would have felt the same way if they'd been absent, and we can't fault Thomas who, bless his heart, would forever after be memorialized as "Doubting Thomas." Jesus understood, though. Granted, he jabbed them a little right at the end (if he really said that) about "those who believe without seeing me." Really, the reason we are able to believe without seeing him is because a number of people DID see him and have borne witness.
This would be a good time to preach on the problem of doubt. I think we discussed this earlier, but Paul Tillich wrote that "If faith is understood as belief that something is true, doubt is incompatible with the act of faith. If faith is understood as being ultimately concerned, doubt is a necessary element in it. It is a consequence of the risk of faith" (Dynamics Of Faith). George Buttrick called doubt "the reverse side of the coin of faith." If doubt is a normal part of the faith experience, it would be helpful to let people know that any private doubts with which they currently struggle are normal, perhaps even admirable as signs of a faith journey.
SERMON SUGGESTIONS
Title: "Church As Redemptive Community."
Text: Acts 4:32-35
Theme: I would first remind my listeners that the experiment described in the passage was an admirable effort to care for the poor, and to share life with each other. It predates modern social experiments which are ardently disliked by most Americans today. Then I would emphasize that the church is, after all, composed of sinful people. By definition, we can't expect to find a church without some problems occasioned by the fact that we don't all agree on things. I'll confess here and now that it never really bothered me when the occasional member of my congregation departed to find another church. I was never disdainful of this, but I'm a believer that people have a right to make that kind of change if they feel the need. I also know they'll find more or less the same folks wherever they go.
1. The Church is composed of ordinary, sinful people. An ancient document was found which read: "The church is like Noah's Ark. If it weren't for the storm outside, you couldn't stand the smell inside."
2. The Church holds before us a lofty calling. The role of the church member is to strive for that lofty ethic in one's own life, yet to be understanding and forgiving of others as we share part of our common life.
3. The Church is the custodian of the gospel. For all its faults and limitations, we believe that God chose to work through the Church to propagate the faith. We are to support it with our loyalty, our love, and, let us not forget, our money.
4. The Church is open to all, regardless of status. The story is told of an African-American gentleman who was turned away from a white church many years ago. Discouraged, he walked down the road and encountered God along the way. God asked the man why he was so mournful. The man replied that he had wanted to attend the church up the road, but had been turned away. God replied, "Yes, I understand. I've been trying to get in there for years."
Title: "What Do We Mean By 'Salvation'?"
Text: 1 John 1:8--2:2
Theme: This is a difficult concept for many people to understand. Those outside the Christian faith whom we would hope to win to the faith often see the idea of "sin" as foreign to their usual way of thinking. Our society is only loosely held together these days by any agreed-upon set of moral principles. I think we all pretty well agree that such things as murder and armed robbery and outright stealing are wrong. To a lesser degree, we generally have the idea that gossip about a friend or misrepresenting a service or a product are not good. Beyond this, there is little sense of sin today. The preacher's first task is to define it in a way that will cause the listener to say, "Yes, I see what you mean now."
Reference to such things as these may help to define sin: private enjoyment when a successful friend has a failure; jealousy; anger over an affront; disdain for someone because of his or her personal appearance; ethnic prejudice; criticism not given in love, and so forth. Now the problem is we ALL do these things. Some of us more than others. Some of us see it in ourselves, some don't. There's part of John's point: if we don't see these things in ourselves, we are guilty of thinking we are not sinful and, sadly, that's the greatest sin of all. I once preached a sermon on being judgmental, and I had one particular woman in mind. Of course I was judging her, so it's an entire Catch-22. But this woman constantly found fault with everyone. After the sermon, she came to me with a wonderful smile and said: "Right on, preacher. I hope certain people heard you this morning." Of course she was oblivious to her own culpability.
Now, given the fact that we are to be constantly alert to our own sinful inclinations, how does it work that someone else can die for my sins and I'm no longer guilty? I once read about a little boy starting first grade. His mother sent a note to the teacher which read: "Nathan is a very sensitive little boy. If he should do anything bad, if you will just slap the boy next to Nathan, he will immediately straighten up." Is that how it works? Jesus suffered so I'll straighten up? I think it's far more complicated and profound than that.
Then what? I think we are now confronted with the idea of the atonement. I now turn the matter over to my friend the reader, remarking that my own belief is what is known as the Moral Influence theory. Little Nathan wasn't far from it after all. But Jesus knew what he was doing, took a gallant risk, acting in love for me, hoping I would realize God's nature when I realized that Jesus was of the nature of God and would rather die than punish me. Yet Sin must be dealt with.
Title: "Handling The Problem Of Doubt"
Text: John 20:25
Theme: There's an old Scottish expression that goes like this: "Fear knocked at the door. Faith opened the door. There was no one there." That's where we'll come out. But there are many sincere people who are not cynics, not opponents of the faith. Most of them may very well be in our churches. They are the people who simply, in spite of a willingness to be shown, cannot believe in the fundamentals of the Christian faith. They are people who perceive life through the right brain. (I sometimes get right and left mixed up, but I mean the people who see things sharply in black and white. Things must add up for them.)
I have known people like this. They are wonderful friends who would do anything for you. They are trustworthy, often exemplifying the very best moral standards of the faith. But they just can't strain until they finally believe, "Yeah, okay, this nice guy was executed, then he came walking down the street again just as spry as you please." Maybe it doesn't even matter as long as the sun is shining in their lives. I suspect "faith" is mainly an intellectual thing for many people anyway. It's when darkness suddenly besets one, when storms batter one's life, that it all matters.
I sometimes wonder whether God cares whether we all "believe" the story anyway. I sometimes think God, looking down the road of a person's life, can see that day in some bright tomorrow when faith will break through like sun on that first, lovely spring day. In the book Keys of the Kingdom by Cronin, there a scene near the end where an old doctor is dying. He has served for many years in a community of people in China. His best friend is a Catholic priest. Long have they argued about the existence of God. As the old doctor lay dying, he looked up at his friend the priest. He said, "I'm sorry, Father. I still can't believe in God." The priest looked down at his longtime friend, and said, "It's all right. God believes in you."
Maybe Tillich was right. Maybe some people with a seemingly secure faith just plain haven't been hard-pressed yet by life's suffering. Maybe we grow most when we struggle most with these inner battles. Maybe doubt is even a gift given to some as a way for that person's faith to grow. In any event, preaching on this, I would say that what Kierkegaard called Christianity's "cultured despisers" may have a problem. But those who do what they can, live by what they are able to believe, will find that God forgives the rest.
1. Doubt is normal for many people.
2. Faith is not an intellectual act; it is a gift from God.
3. God seems to use events in our lives as a way of breaking through.
4. Because personalities differ, faith experiences differ.
5. We dare not judge another in this, and by prayer and worship make it possible to give the gift when God is ready.
ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS
At the outbreak of World War II, a community of westerners living and working in China was interned by the Japanese. Since they were civilians, the Japanese didn't put them in prison camps or mistreat them in the way they would do with military prisoners. But they did place several hundred of them, mainly American and British, in a compound surrounded by barbed wire. There they were destined to live for the next several years, until the war ended. Their captors remained outside the compound, seeing only that a very minimum amount of food was provided and beyond that, leaving these people to shift for themselves. One among them, Dr. Langdon Gilkey, an educator, later wrote a popular book detailing that experience. In the book, Shantung Compound, the author told a fascinating story of human frailty and of human honor and dignity.
When this imprisoned community was first formed, it was assumed the people would occupy more or less the same status they had known when free. That is, the professional and executive classes would run things, down to the semi-skilled people who, it was taken for granted, would do the unpleasant and mundane work. But things were not working out. Some of the heretofore successful people did not respond well to the stress and privation. Many sought special privilege. Some felt they were entitled to unfair shares of food and medical supplies. Surprisingly, the occasional thief was sometimes discovered to be an executive or a highly placed professional. One unforgivable event occurred after several months when a shipment of food parcels arrived from the American Red Cross. A group of American internees argued that they need not share with their British neighbors since the food came from an American source. Some executive wives who had not previously worked assumed they needn't pitch in and assist in the many difficult tasks which now must be done. Morale was desperately low.
But then others, carpenters, for instance, former janitors perhaps, began to emerge as genuine leaders. Frequently the person sharing meager rations with the sick or hungry children was someone least successful and prosperous in the former life situation. Gilkey said he was amazed to observe a slow but profound realignment of station and responsibility based, now, on character and humane courage and sensitivity. And he saw this: The people who rose to the top were the people of Christian faith. This last factor so profoundly affected him that Gilkey later became a respected and articulate teacher of the Christian faith.
The point here is not to cast aspersions on any one group of people. It must be added that in Shantung Compound, many of the most admirable people were, indeed, from the ranks of the most successful. It's simply to recognize that living together in a common bond is not always easy, and that our lesser nature sometimes comes into play to make the Church fall sadly short of the image we may conjure in our minds.
____________
Some time ago, a distinguished psychotherapist gave an address to a gathering of professional counselors in a church in Indianapolis. He first frankly stated that he is not a Christian. But he said he'd made an interesting discovery in his years as a therapist. He said that in today's world, one of the significant stress factors in society is the constant uprooting of families as people advance in the corporate ranks. He said the man or woman being promoted moves to a new city with a built-in support group within the corporation. But the rest of the family is often left adrift, separated from old friends, from the familiar scenes of everyday life. He said he's realized that the one place where such people can turn for acceptance, for instant friendships and relationships of high quality, is the church. He said he believes that every church should be working at being a place of redemptive love where newcomers can go and quickly find their place and feel accepted.
____________
"No, when the fight begins within himself, a man's worth something.
God stoops o'er his head, Satan looks up between his feet --
both tug -- He's left, himself, i' the middle: the soul wakes and grows.
Prolong that battle through his life! Never leave growing till the
life to come."
-- Robert Browning
____________
"Courage as an element of faith is the daring self-affirmation of one's own being in spite of the powers of 'nonbeing' which are the heritage of everything finite. Where there is daring and courage there is the possibility of failure. And in every act of faith this possibility is present. The risk must be taken."
-- Paul Tillich (Dynamics of Faith, p.17)
____________
In Archy and Mehitabel, the toad Warty Bliggens:
"considers himself to be
the center of the ...
universe
the earth exists
to grow toadstools for him
to sit under
the sun to give him light
by day and the moon
and wheeling constellations
to make beautiful
the night for the sake of
warty bliggens"
____________
Psalm Of The Day
Psalm 133 (C) -- "How good and pleasant it is...."
Psalm 117 (RC) -- "Praise the Lord, all you nations."
Psalm 111 (E) -- "Praise the Lord!"
Prayer Of The Day
Dear God: beset by doubts, we sometimes are. Be patient with our little faith, grant us the gift of deepening faith as we confront the troubles which so often mark our lives. Lead us onward in our great adventure, as we seek to follow thee. Amen.
Lesson 1: Acts 4:32-35 (C, RC)
This, of course, was written long before the political issues of socialism and communism became as explosive as they are today. These people were moved by compassion and the spirit of kindness and generosity. It didn't work, of course, any more than it works today. Sin would enter in and spoil things as always. Still, what a splendid attitude these people displayed toward each other and toward needful people in the larger community. While the practices would need extensive modification, this passage does exemplify the ideal community and stands as an example to every congregation today. I would use this to preach on the Church, and would derive certain principles which ought to govern a local church based on the generosity of the people described here.
Lesson 1: Acts 3:12a, 13-15, 17-26 (E)
(See Easter 3)
Lesson 2: 1 John 1:1--2:2 (C)
I have always loved the first letter of John. The writer was a true poet of the heart. In this lengthy passage, we have several excellent preaching possibilities. It starts with an allusion to the preexistent Christ. The writer uses light and darkness as symbols of good and evil, and thereafter reminds us of several important truths. First, we are all sinful. The surest way to display one's sinfulness is to insist that one is not sinful. However, if we admit our sinful nature and if we faithfully try to "live in the light," which I take to mean with integrity and with love for others, then God will cleanse us of our sin. By that John doesn't mean we will therefore be sinless. He means that if we are constantly aware of our inclinations to sin, God will forgive us.
I think there are two definitions of "sin" as John has used the word. One is "Sin" with a capital "S." It's a condition, a basic state in which we exist. It has nothing to do with the fact that each of us is the result of a sex act. (Original sin was defined as that by some people, but that would be ridiculous. God set things up that way so it must be good when not misused.) Then there are "sins." These are obviously specific acts of wrongdoing or failures in doing what we should have done. We might use this analogy: three people have the flu. One has a sore throat. One has an upset stomach. One has a headache. Silly analogy, I suppose, but my point is that the three have the same ailment, but it takes different forms.
Finally, John was reminding us that Jesus steps forward on our behalf to represent us before God. Jesus is the means by which we are able to understand all of this.
I think in a sermon I would be inclined to remind this sophisticated, blase, do-your-own-thing society about the reality of sin. The congregation I served for many years was composed of business and professional folks. Great people. But I'm not sure they quite grasped the gravity of Sin with a capital "S." Forgiveness takes on new, powerful meaning when we also understand Sin as a powerfully destructive force.
Lesson 2: 1 John 5:1-6 (RC, E)
(See Easter 6)
Gospel: John 20:19-31 (C, RC, E)
I personally identify with Thomas. If someone told me that a friend who recently died had just paid a visit while I was out and the rest of my gang was present, I'd be a little upset too. "Come on, guys. You're puttin' me on, right?" It's quite likely that any one of these apostles would have felt the same way if they'd been absent, and we can't fault Thomas who, bless his heart, would forever after be memorialized as "Doubting Thomas." Jesus understood, though. Granted, he jabbed them a little right at the end (if he really said that) about "those who believe without seeing me." Really, the reason we are able to believe without seeing him is because a number of people DID see him and have borne witness.
This would be a good time to preach on the problem of doubt. I think we discussed this earlier, but Paul Tillich wrote that "If faith is understood as belief that something is true, doubt is incompatible with the act of faith. If faith is understood as being ultimately concerned, doubt is a necessary element in it. It is a consequence of the risk of faith" (Dynamics Of Faith). George Buttrick called doubt "the reverse side of the coin of faith." If doubt is a normal part of the faith experience, it would be helpful to let people know that any private doubts with which they currently struggle are normal, perhaps even admirable as signs of a faith journey.
SERMON SUGGESTIONS
Title: "Church As Redemptive Community."
Text: Acts 4:32-35
Theme: I would first remind my listeners that the experiment described in the passage was an admirable effort to care for the poor, and to share life with each other. It predates modern social experiments which are ardently disliked by most Americans today. Then I would emphasize that the church is, after all, composed of sinful people. By definition, we can't expect to find a church without some problems occasioned by the fact that we don't all agree on things. I'll confess here and now that it never really bothered me when the occasional member of my congregation departed to find another church. I was never disdainful of this, but I'm a believer that people have a right to make that kind of change if they feel the need. I also know they'll find more or less the same folks wherever they go.
1. The Church is composed of ordinary, sinful people. An ancient document was found which read: "The church is like Noah's Ark. If it weren't for the storm outside, you couldn't stand the smell inside."
2. The Church holds before us a lofty calling. The role of the church member is to strive for that lofty ethic in one's own life, yet to be understanding and forgiving of others as we share part of our common life.
3. The Church is the custodian of the gospel. For all its faults and limitations, we believe that God chose to work through the Church to propagate the faith. We are to support it with our loyalty, our love, and, let us not forget, our money.
4. The Church is open to all, regardless of status. The story is told of an African-American gentleman who was turned away from a white church many years ago. Discouraged, he walked down the road and encountered God along the way. God asked the man why he was so mournful. The man replied that he had wanted to attend the church up the road, but had been turned away. God replied, "Yes, I understand. I've been trying to get in there for years."
Title: "What Do We Mean By 'Salvation'?"
Text: 1 John 1:8--2:2
Theme: This is a difficult concept for many people to understand. Those outside the Christian faith whom we would hope to win to the faith often see the idea of "sin" as foreign to their usual way of thinking. Our society is only loosely held together these days by any agreed-upon set of moral principles. I think we all pretty well agree that such things as murder and armed robbery and outright stealing are wrong. To a lesser degree, we generally have the idea that gossip about a friend or misrepresenting a service or a product are not good. Beyond this, there is little sense of sin today. The preacher's first task is to define it in a way that will cause the listener to say, "Yes, I see what you mean now."
Reference to such things as these may help to define sin: private enjoyment when a successful friend has a failure; jealousy; anger over an affront; disdain for someone because of his or her personal appearance; ethnic prejudice; criticism not given in love, and so forth. Now the problem is we ALL do these things. Some of us more than others. Some of us see it in ourselves, some don't. There's part of John's point: if we don't see these things in ourselves, we are guilty of thinking we are not sinful and, sadly, that's the greatest sin of all. I once preached a sermon on being judgmental, and I had one particular woman in mind. Of course I was judging her, so it's an entire Catch-22. But this woman constantly found fault with everyone. After the sermon, she came to me with a wonderful smile and said: "Right on, preacher. I hope certain people heard you this morning." Of course she was oblivious to her own culpability.
Now, given the fact that we are to be constantly alert to our own sinful inclinations, how does it work that someone else can die for my sins and I'm no longer guilty? I once read about a little boy starting first grade. His mother sent a note to the teacher which read: "Nathan is a very sensitive little boy. If he should do anything bad, if you will just slap the boy next to Nathan, he will immediately straighten up." Is that how it works? Jesus suffered so I'll straighten up? I think it's far more complicated and profound than that.
Then what? I think we are now confronted with the idea of the atonement. I now turn the matter over to my friend the reader, remarking that my own belief is what is known as the Moral Influence theory. Little Nathan wasn't far from it after all. But Jesus knew what he was doing, took a gallant risk, acting in love for me, hoping I would realize God's nature when I realized that Jesus was of the nature of God and would rather die than punish me. Yet Sin must be dealt with.
Title: "Handling The Problem Of Doubt"
Text: John 20:25
Theme: There's an old Scottish expression that goes like this: "Fear knocked at the door. Faith opened the door. There was no one there." That's where we'll come out. But there are many sincere people who are not cynics, not opponents of the faith. Most of them may very well be in our churches. They are the people who simply, in spite of a willingness to be shown, cannot believe in the fundamentals of the Christian faith. They are people who perceive life through the right brain. (I sometimes get right and left mixed up, but I mean the people who see things sharply in black and white. Things must add up for them.)
I have known people like this. They are wonderful friends who would do anything for you. They are trustworthy, often exemplifying the very best moral standards of the faith. But they just can't strain until they finally believe, "Yeah, okay, this nice guy was executed, then he came walking down the street again just as spry as you please." Maybe it doesn't even matter as long as the sun is shining in their lives. I suspect "faith" is mainly an intellectual thing for many people anyway. It's when darkness suddenly besets one, when storms batter one's life, that it all matters.
I sometimes wonder whether God cares whether we all "believe" the story anyway. I sometimes think God, looking down the road of a person's life, can see that day in some bright tomorrow when faith will break through like sun on that first, lovely spring day. In the book Keys of the Kingdom by Cronin, there a scene near the end where an old doctor is dying. He has served for many years in a community of people in China. His best friend is a Catholic priest. Long have they argued about the existence of God. As the old doctor lay dying, he looked up at his friend the priest. He said, "I'm sorry, Father. I still can't believe in God." The priest looked down at his longtime friend, and said, "It's all right. God believes in you."
Maybe Tillich was right. Maybe some people with a seemingly secure faith just plain haven't been hard-pressed yet by life's suffering. Maybe we grow most when we struggle most with these inner battles. Maybe doubt is even a gift given to some as a way for that person's faith to grow. In any event, preaching on this, I would say that what Kierkegaard called Christianity's "cultured despisers" may have a problem. But those who do what they can, live by what they are able to believe, will find that God forgives the rest.
1. Doubt is normal for many people.
2. Faith is not an intellectual act; it is a gift from God.
3. God seems to use events in our lives as a way of breaking through.
4. Because personalities differ, faith experiences differ.
5. We dare not judge another in this, and by prayer and worship make it possible to give the gift when God is ready.
ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS
At the outbreak of World War II, a community of westerners living and working in China was interned by the Japanese. Since they were civilians, the Japanese didn't put them in prison camps or mistreat them in the way they would do with military prisoners. But they did place several hundred of them, mainly American and British, in a compound surrounded by barbed wire. There they were destined to live for the next several years, until the war ended. Their captors remained outside the compound, seeing only that a very minimum amount of food was provided and beyond that, leaving these people to shift for themselves. One among them, Dr. Langdon Gilkey, an educator, later wrote a popular book detailing that experience. In the book, Shantung Compound, the author told a fascinating story of human frailty and of human honor and dignity.
When this imprisoned community was first formed, it was assumed the people would occupy more or less the same status they had known when free. That is, the professional and executive classes would run things, down to the semi-skilled people who, it was taken for granted, would do the unpleasant and mundane work. But things were not working out. Some of the heretofore successful people did not respond well to the stress and privation. Many sought special privilege. Some felt they were entitled to unfair shares of food and medical supplies. Surprisingly, the occasional thief was sometimes discovered to be an executive or a highly placed professional. One unforgivable event occurred after several months when a shipment of food parcels arrived from the American Red Cross. A group of American internees argued that they need not share with their British neighbors since the food came from an American source. Some executive wives who had not previously worked assumed they needn't pitch in and assist in the many difficult tasks which now must be done. Morale was desperately low.
But then others, carpenters, for instance, former janitors perhaps, began to emerge as genuine leaders. Frequently the person sharing meager rations with the sick or hungry children was someone least successful and prosperous in the former life situation. Gilkey said he was amazed to observe a slow but profound realignment of station and responsibility based, now, on character and humane courage and sensitivity. And he saw this: The people who rose to the top were the people of Christian faith. This last factor so profoundly affected him that Gilkey later became a respected and articulate teacher of the Christian faith.
The point here is not to cast aspersions on any one group of people. It must be added that in Shantung Compound, many of the most admirable people were, indeed, from the ranks of the most successful. It's simply to recognize that living together in a common bond is not always easy, and that our lesser nature sometimes comes into play to make the Church fall sadly short of the image we may conjure in our minds.
____________
Some time ago, a distinguished psychotherapist gave an address to a gathering of professional counselors in a church in Indianapolis. He first frankly stated that he is not a Christian. But he said he'd made an interesting discovery in his years as a therapist. He said that in today's world, one of the significant stress factors in society is the constant uprooting of families as people advance in the corporate ranks. He said the man or woman being promoted moves to a new city with a built-in support group within the corporation. But the rest of the family is often left adrift, separated from old friends, from the familiar scenes of everyday life. He said he's realized that the one place where such people can turn for acceptance, for instant friendships and relationships of high quality, is the church. He said he believes that every church should be working at being a place of redemptive love where newcomers can go and quickly find their place and feel accepted.
____________
"No, when the fight begins within himself, a man's worth something.
God stoops o'er his head, Satan looks up between his feet --
both tug -- He's left, himself, i' the middle: the soul wakes and grows.
Prolong that battle through his life! Never leave growing till the
life to come."
-- Robert Browning
____________
"Courage as an element of faith is the daring self-affirmation of one's own being in spite of the powers of 'nonbeing' which are the heritage of everything finite. Where there is daring and courage there is the possibility of failure. And in every act of faith this possibility is present. The risk must be taken."
-- Paul Tillich (Dynamics of Faith, p.17)
____________
In Archy and Mehitabel, the toad Warty Bliggens:
"considers himself to be
the center of the ...
universe
the earth exists
to grow toadstools for him
to sit under
the sun to give him light
by day and the moon
and wheeling constellations
to make beautiful
the night for the sake of
warty bliggens"
____________
Psalm Of The Day
Psalm 133 (C) -- "How good and pleasant it is...."
Psalm 117 (RC) -- "Praise the Lord, all you nations."
Psalm 111 (E) -- "Praise the Lord!"
Prayer Of The Day
Dear God: beset by doubts, we sometimes are. Be patient with our little faith, grant us the gift of deepening faith as we confront the troubles which so often mark our lives. Lead us onward in our great adventure, as we seek to follow thee. Amen.
