Second Sunday Of Easter
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series VI, Cycle C
Object:
COMMENTARY ON THE LESSONS
Lesson 1: Acts 5:27-32 (C)
Three themes stand out in this passage for me. First, I am struck by the fact that the apostles who so recently had virtually given up, among them Peter who had denied Jesus in the courtyard and had been nowhere to be seen at the crucifixion, are now out preaching the gospel even though they know full well that they're almost certain to get into the very kind of trouble they had been trying to avoid. The Christian faith does, indeed, arm us for risky ventures.
Second, the apostles are now preaching that the God of their own ancestors has raised Jesus from death and given him a place of primacy as God's chosen leader of the Jewish people. And third, the purpose of the entire venture was so that the people would repent of their sins and accept the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Lesson 1: Acts 5:12-16 (RC); Acts 5:12a, 17-22, 25-29 (E)
These passages deal with the persecution of the apostles in more detail than the above lesson, and give examples of the many accomplishments of those same men because of their renewed zeal and courage. My inclination is to focus on this: when we truly trust Jesus, and when we truly receive the Holy Spirit, we are enabled to face all kinds of difficulty which might otherwise have frightened us, and we are able to do the things we are on this earth to do, because we now understand we are not alone.
Lesson 2: Revelation 1:4-8 (C)
As I read this passage, the millennium lies just ahead. As we contemplate the future, we find much reason for ambivalence. On the one hand, advances in medical science, in technology in general, imply wonderful benefits ahead. On the other hand, the seeming moral disintegration of our society with rising crime rates, the widespread use of illicit drugs, and the apparent failure of society's leaders to call us to account and to repentance is the basis for much pessimism.
I have to wonder about the church also. I see a growing schism within mainline Protestantism occasioned by the growing popularity of variant forms of worship. Don't misunderstand -- I'm not finding fault. However, I read of one congregation which managed to have their pastor removed because he was featuring traditional (classic) worship at one service, and contemporary worship at another. Yet I see this growing trend and wonder what worship will be like a generation hence. I pray it will foster spiritual maturity and openness, and that it will accomplish a profound and persuasive call to repentance and renewed commitment to the ethical precepts of our faith, that we may find this faith to "fill your minds with those things that are good and that deserve praise; things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and honorable" (Philippians 4:8).
The writer of this passage in Revelation offers hope for this in "the Lord God Almighty, who is, who was, and who is to come." So, we are assured that God will be with us and guide us through the times that lie ahead. We need not fear for the final outcome.
Lesson 2: Revelation 1:9-13, 17-19 (RC); Revelation 1:(1-8) 9-19 (E)
I belong to that school of theologians who view this passage as a report of an inner spiritual experience, reported with rich visual imagery. Unfortunately, we don't know exactly what that experience may have been, though it's fairly obvious that John experienced a vivid call to his ministry. Whether the seven churches mentioned here were literally his assignment, or whether the number seven was really symbolic of all the churches is moot, since both opinions are widely believed, and there is really no way to know which is correct. I would probably not select this passage as a sermon text unless required to do so. In that case, I would probably focus on the probability that God does call certain people into specific ministries in service of Jesus Christ. Apocalyptic passages are always perplexing, and it may very well be that John, realizing that his words would be read by the Romans as well as his intended audience, resorted to such symbolic imagery in the hope that those who were imprisoned, or those whose fates were in jeopardy, would be permitted to retain the writings because the Romans didn't quite know what to make of them. In any event, he addressed a generation of people who were apparently able to make sense of such imagery, something we today find to be much more difficult.
Gospel: John 20:19-31 (C, RC, E)
Doubting Thomas. Many a Christian has identified with this man. He's the quintessential scientist-computer technologist-left brain person. Jesus had been there and for one thing, Thomas was probably feeling a little left out. Everyone else has seen Jesus, who had appeared in a locked room saying, "Peace be with you," so now everyone is talking about the remarkable reappearance of their dear friend, even though they have seen him die. My guess is Thomas was pretty tired of hearing all about this appearance in his absence. Who among us has not been left out of something shared by all our friends? A few years ago, my wife and I, along with four other couples, planned a trip to Europe. For a year we all looked forward to sharing the experience. One evening, one of those friends heard of some short term special air fares, called the rest, they all got on the phone, made reservations. My wife and I were gone and, when we learned of the new plan, we realized that we could not go. My wife is a teacher and she had to return to school.
When our friends returned from that trip which had been our original idea, they invited us to their gathering to see videos of their wonderful trip. It took all the Christianity in my very being to pretend pleasure as they spent the entire evening reliving what should have been our trip. I have to think Thomas felt some of that. Add the fact that the whole report smacked of some exaggeration anyway, and there was no way he was going to go along. Until, that is, Jesus returned a few days later, evidencing both his love for Thomas, and his sympathy for the man's dilemma. Setting aside all the rest, you have to like Jesus for going to all that trouble for the sake of a questioning, miffed friend. He allowed Thomas actually to touch his wounds. Thomas may very well have experienced more joy than all the rest at that point. "My Lord, and my God," he said.
SERMON SUGGESTIONS
Title: "Doing What We Know Is Right"
Text: Acts 5:27-32
Theme: This is quite a remarkable turnaround, the way the apostles led by Peter have begun preaching what to the reigning authorities was a blasphemous doctrine, one which in those days could get a person killed. For an analogy, a young couple in Iran, one a German national, the other a girl of the Muslim religion, were engaged to be married. The girl was willing to move to Germany where she could better pursue her work. When the German suitor got off the plane, he embraced his waiting fiance and gave her a kiss on the cheek. They were promptly arrested by the airport "religious police." Soon, the girl was found guilty of blasphemous behavior, was imprisoned for four months, and was lashed 99 times with a whip. The German man is now in prison. He was sentenced to death; more recently that sentence was commuted to life in prison, all because he gave his beloved a kiss on the cheek in public. Such inhumanity is incredible to our Western minds, but it helps demonstrate how people of other lands, particularly 2,000 years ago, could treat anyone who didn't live by their narrow religious requirements.
Back to Peter and his friends, that was the kind of climate in which they lived. Keep in mind that Jesus was executed in a most painful way because of his religious teachings, the very ones the apostles are here known to be teaching. That took a kind of courage we did not see them demonstrate prior to the death of Jesus and the newly awakened awareness of the presence of the Holy Spirit.
1. To follow Jesus requires that we "obey God rather than men." Many a situation confronts us in the market place -- situations in which slightly shaky ethics could turn a neat profit, in which a not quite truthful word can avoid discomfort, in which a bigoted comment can earn a quick guffaw and, perhaps a closed business deal. To obey God denies us the right to do these things.
2. The Holy Spirit empowers us when we do what we know is right; when we obey God. This is a remarkable truth which one must discover for oneself, I suppose. The current climate in America is very permissive when it comes to minor acts of dishonesty, and to "putting a spin" on one's misdoings. It's only later, looking back, that we discover that when we hold ourselves to a high standard of moral conduct good things happen in our lives. It's not that honesty pays off. It's not that blatant. It's just that the gentle, kindly, ethical life always affords a remarkable sense of inward empowerment as life's difficulties come our way. It's as though God chooses to bless those who live by his commandments.
3. An amazing sense of self confidence grows within the man or woman who tries very hard to live by the will of God. Obviously, this will involve much self-sacrifice, much self-discipline in the short run.
Title: "Love Reaches Out"
Text: John 20:19-31
Theme: One could, of course, preach on the problem of doubt. Paul Tillich argued that the person who has never been troubled by doubt has never taken the faith seriously. George Buttrick called doubt "the reverse side of the coin of faith." Clearly, intellectual doubt is normal. It may even be that the brightest people are the one's most troubled by doubt. If, as the Bible contends, faith is a gift from God, then God may view doubt as a healthy part of the developing of faith. So long as doubt does not cause one to turn from the Christian faith completely, it is not destructive. Doubt is acceptable to God, so long as one still lives by the best one knows, and keeps oneself open to the moment when God may choose to intervene.
Having said the above, I am inclined to do something different with this text. We all have those times when we feel left out. In our church, a group of young adults got together and called themselves the CMATs. It was composed, finally, of some dozen couples. Several times a year they would have a party of one kind or another. Maybe it was a trip somewhere. Often, it was a party at one or another family's home. Maybe a picnic. But all were invited. You see, that group called themselves the CMATs because it meant "Can't Miss A Thing." They're all wonderful people. But they all agreed that one of their sadnesses in life is the periodic feeling that people around them are happy, and they are missing out. In truth, nearly all of us, certainly all of us extroverts have that feeling. That group had a bond that all would be invited to any CMAT function. They would never be left out.
1. We all have times when we feel excluded. Periodic feelings of loneliness are a common human ailment. I think that was part of Thomas' problem. Doggone it, he was away at the very moment when Jesus had been present. After all these months, years together, the rest of them had experienced something wonderful, and he had been gone. Suddenly, he was no longer a full member. That can hurt. It led Thomas to become angry, to refuse to believe his friends (deep down, he may very well have believed them but could not allow himself to face the sudden feeling of exclusion).
2. When we feel this, we must try not to take it out on the people around us. Rarely does anyone intentionally exclude us. My grandson is getting ready to have a birthday party, his twelfth. He is making out his guest list. He is on a soccer team, a baseball team, has several neighborhood buddies, is active at school. He must have a hundred people he calls "friend." But Mom can't have 100 twelve-year-olds over. He has to cut. He is miserable, realizing that no matter where he cuts, someone who might have been invited if the guest list had been one more, must be left out. We adults face the same kind of problems. As a Christian, when I feel this way, my first move is to try to understand why this happened, and why I am feeling as I do. Everyone copes with this feeling: at work, in social settings, at church, in athletics.
3. As a Christian, I am to be sensitive to these feelings in others. Jesus understood the feelings of Thomas. He went so far as to go back when Thomas was there, so Thomas, formerly an outsider in his own mind, could become the center of attention. The person who is careful to tend to friends or co-workers who are feeling left out is a true Christian indeed.
ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS
Several years ago, my wife died in a car accident. A year later, still struggling with my grief, I decided I needed to get away. I arranged a trip abroad. First, I flew into Rome, and after a few days of sightseeing, I rented a car and drove north, through the Dolemite mountains, then into Bavaria. I toured northern Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and finally arrived in Salzberg, Austria. Although the scenery was spectacular and the cities marvelous, I was barely able to enjoy the latter stages of my trip because of my bone deep loneliness. One morning I was sitting at a sidewalk cafe in Salzberg, miserable and alone, when a man walked up to me and introduced himself. He was the athletic director of a major university. It seems he and a small group of people were about to leave on a guided tour of the area. He saw me, thought I looked lonely, and invited me to go along.
I gladly accepted his invitation. What a day. It was a small group consisting of a middle-aged Irish woman who was working on her Ph.D., a sheepherder from New Zealand who had just won a prestigious medal from the British government, a young couple backpacking through Europe, two or three other interesting people, and my host. We started with a drive through the mountains, a visit to Berchtesgaden, then lunch at a small mountain cafe which overlooked a gorgeous mountain pass. When the day was over, after many a shared experience, we all agreed to meet for dinner that evening. Following a raucous, fun meal together, we all went to the famous marionette theater, then ended the evening at midnight drinking wine on the sidewalk of downtown Salzberg.What a grand day that was.
For some reason, I have never seen nor been in touch with those people again. My spirits marvelously renewed, I continued my journey to a planned meeting with friends in England. But now, I look back upon that marvelous day, and that wonderful man who saw my loneliness. I know nothing of his religious beliefs, but what he did for me that day was one of the truly Christ events of my life.
____________
"He had been kicked in the head by a mule when young and believed everything he read in the paper."
-- George Ade (re: how some people believe things too uncritically)
____________
Phil Jackson, former coach of the world champion Chicago Bulls, said he often reads the following poem by Rudyard Kipling to his players before an important game:
"Now this is the law of the jungle --
as old and as true as the sky:
And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper,
And the wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree trunk,
The law runneth forward and back --
For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf,
And the strength of the Wolf is the Pack."
____________
"Love manifests its greatest power there where it overcomes the greatest separation. And the greatest separation is self from self."
-- Paul Tillich, in Love, Power, And Justice
____________
"There is a desire in man, common to him and other animals, namely the desire for the enjoyment of pleasure: and this men pursue especially by leading a voluptuous life, and through lack of moderation become intemperate and incontinent."
-- Saint Thomas Aquinas
____________
"The most unhappy of all men is the man who cannot tell what he is going to do, who has got no work cut out for him in the world, and does not go into it. For work is the grand cure of all the maladies and miseries that ever beset mankind -- honest work which you intend getting done."
-- Thomas Carlyle
"I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker."
-- Helen Keller
"Who works for glory misses oft the goal:
Who works for money coins his very soul.
Work for the work's sake, then, and it may be
That these things shall be added unto thee."
-- Kenyon Cox
"Drive a nail home and clinch it so faithfully that you can wake up in the night and think of your work with satisfaction -- a work at which you would not be ashamed to invoke the Muse."
-- Henry David Thoreau
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing."
-- Satchel Paige
____________
Abraham Lincoln, during one of the most critical times in his life and in the history of this nation, departed for Washington from Springfield, Illinois, by train. It was 1861 and he was to be inaugurated as President of the United States. His words to some friends as he departed were preserved by those friends. He said this: "I am now leaving, not knowing when or whether I may return; with a task before me greater than that which rested on George Washington. Without the assistance of the Divine Being who always attended him, I cannot succeed. With that assistance I cannot fail. Trusting the God who can go with me, and remain with you, and be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope that all will be well."
____________
Psalm Of The Day
Psalm 118:14-29 -- "The Lord is my strength and my might." (or)
Psalm 150 -- "Praise the Lord."
Prayer Of The Day
Guard us from the ravenous temptations which attract us so easily these days, we pray. Keep us strong in the face of the ease with which many people accept compromise of ethical beliefs. Help us to be faithful to our true beliefs we pray. In Christ's name. Amen.
Lesson 1: Acts 5:27-32 (C)
Three themes stand out in this passage for me. First, I am struck by the fact that the apostles who so recently had virtually given up, among them Peter who had denied Jesus in the courtyard and had been nowhere to be seen at the crucifixion, are now out preaching the gospel even though they know full well that they're almost certain to get into the very kind of trouble they had been trying to avoid. The Christian faith does, indeed, arm us for risky ventures.
Second, the apostles are now preaching that the God of their own ancestors has raised Jesus from death and given him a place of primacy as God's chosen leader of the Jewish people. And third, the purpose of the entire venture was so that the people would repent of their sins and accept the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Lesson 1: Acts 5:12-16 (RC); Acts 5:12a, 17-22, 25-29 (E)
These passages deal with the persecution of the apostles in more detail than the above lesson, and give examples of the many accomplishments of those same men because of their renewed zeal and courage. My inclination is to focus on this: when we truly trust Jesus, and when we truly receive the Holy Spirit, we are enabled to face all kinds of difficulty which might otherwise have frightened us, and we are able to do the things we are on this earth to do, because we now understand we are not alone.
Lesson 2: Revelation 1:4-8 (C)
As I read this passage, the millennium lies just ahead. As we contemplate the future, we find much reason for ambivalence. On the one hand, advances in medical science, in technology in general, imply wonderful benefits ahead. On the other hand, the seeming moral disintegration of our society with rising crime rates, the widespread use of illicit drugs, and the apparent failure of society's leaders to call us to account and to repentance is the basis for much pessimism.
I have to wonder about the church also. I see a growing schism within mainline Protestantism occasioned by the growing popularity of variant forms of worship. Don't misunderstand -- I'm not finding fault. However, I read of one congregation which managed to have their pastor removed because he was featuring traditional (classic) worship at one service, and contemporary worship at another. Yet I see this growing trend and wonder what worship will be like a generation hence. I pray it will foster spiritual maturity and openness, and that it will accomplish a profound and persuasive call to repentance and renewed commitment to the ethical precepts of our faith, that we may find this faith to "fill your minds with those things that are good and that deserve praise; things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and honorable" (Philippians 4:8).
The writer of this passage in Revelation offers hope for this in "the Lord God Almighty, who is, who was, and who is to come." So, we are assured that God will be with us and guide us through the times that lie ahead. We need not fear for the final outcome.
Lesson 2: Revelation 1:9-13, 17-19 (RC); Revelation 1:(1-8) 9-19 (E)
I belong to that school of theologians who view this passage as a report of an inner spiritual experience, reported with rich visual imagery. Unfortunately, we don't know exactly what that experience may have been, though it's fairly obvious that John experienced a vivid call to his ministry. Whether the seven churches mentioned here were literally his assignment, or whether the number seven was really symbolic of all the churches is moot, since both opinions are widely believed, and there is really no way to know which is correct. I would probably not select this passage as a sermon text unless required to do so. In that case, I would probably focus on the probability that God does call certain people into specific ministries in service of Jesus Christ. Apocalyptic passages are always perplexing, and it may very well be that John, realizing that his words would be read by the Romans as well as his intended audience, resorted to such symbolic imagery in the hope that those who were imprisoned, or those whose fates were in jeopardy, would be permitted to retain the writings because the Romans didn't quite know what to make of them. In any event, he addressed a generation of people who were apparently able to make sense of such imagery, something we today find to be much more difficult.
Gospel: John 20:19-31 (C, RC, E)
Doubting Thomas. Many a Christian has identified with this man. He's the quintessential scientist-computer technologist-left brain person. Jesus had been there and for one thing, Thomas was probably feeling a little left out. Everyone else has seen Jesus, who had appeared in a locked room saying, "Peace be with you," so now everyone is talking about the remarkable reappearance of their dear friend, even though they have seen him die. My guess is Thomas was pretty tired of hearing all about this appearance in his absence. Who among us has not been left out of something shared by all our friends? A few years ago, my wife and I, along with four other couples, planned a trip to Europe. For a year we all looked forward to sharing the experience. One evening, one of those friends heard of some short term special air fares, called the rest, they all got on the phone, made reservations. My wife and I were gone and, when we learned of the new plan, we realized that we could not go. My wife is a teacher and she had to return to school.
When our friends returned from that trip which had been our original idea, they invited us to their gathering to see videos of their wonderful trip. It took all the Christianity in my very being to pretend pleasure as they spent the entire evening reliving what should have been our trip. I have to think Thomas felt some of that. Add the fact that the whole report smacked of some exaggeration anyway, and there was no way he was going to go along. Until, that is, Jesus returned a few days later, evidencing both his love for Thomas, and his sympathy for the man's dilemma. Setting aside all the rest, you have to like Jesus for going to all that trouble for the sake of a questioning, miffed friend. He allowed Thomas actually to touch his wounds. Thomas may very well have experienced more joy than all the rest at that point. "My Lord, and my God," he said.
SERMON SUGGESTIONS
Title: "Doing What We Know Is Right"
Text: Acts 5:27-32
Theme: This is quite a remarkable turnaround, the way the apostles led by Peter have begun preaching what to the reigning authorities was a blasphemous doctrine, one which in those days could get a person killed. For an analogy, a young couple in Iran, one a German national, the other a girl of the Muslim religion, were engaged to be married. The girl was willing to move to Germany where she could better pursue her work. When the German suitor got off the plane, he embraced his waiting fiance and gave her a kiss on the cheek. They were promptly arrested by the airport "religious police." Soon, the girl was found guilty of blasphemous behavior, was imprisoned for four months, and was lashed 99 times with a whip. The German man is now in prison. He was sentenced to death; more recently that sentence was commuted to life in prison, all because he gave his beloved a kiss on the cheek in public. Such inhumanity is incredible to our Western minds, but it helps demonstrate how people of other lands, particularly 2,000 years ago, could treat anyone who didn't live by their narrow religious requirements.
Back to Peter and his friends, that was the kind of climate in which they lived. Keep in mind that Jesus was executed in a most painful way because of his religious teachings, the very ones the apostles are here known to be teaching. That took a kind of courage we did not see them demonstrate prior to the death of Jesus and the newly awakened awareness of the presence of the Holy Spirit.
1. To follow Jesus requires that we "obey God rather than men." Many a situation confronts us in the market place -- situations in which slightly shaky ethics could turn a neat profit, in which a not quite truthful word can avoid discomfort, in which a bigoted comment can earn a quick guffaw and, perhaps a closed business deal. To obey God denies us the right to do these things.
2. The Holy Spirit empowers us when we do what we know is right; when we obey God. This is a remarkable truth which one must discover for oneself, I suppose. The current climate in America is very permissive when it comes to minor acts of dishonesty, and to "putting a spin" on one's misdoings. It's only later, looking back, that we discover that when we hold ourselves to a high standard of moral conduct good things happen in our lives. It's not that honesty pays off. It's not that blatant. It's just that the gentle, kindly, ethical life always affords a remarkable sense of inward empowerment as life's difficulties come our way. It's as though God chooses to bless those who live by his commandments.
3. An amazing sense of self confidence grows within the man or woman who tries very hard to live by the will of God. Obviously, this will involve much self-sacrifice, much self-discipline in the short run.
Title: "Love Reaches Out"
Text: John 20:19-31
Theme: One could, of course, preach on the problem of doubt. Paul Tillich argued that the person who has never been troubled by doubt has never taken the faith seriously. George Buttrick called doubt "the reverse side of the coin of faith." Clearly, intellectual doubt is normal. It may even be that the brightest people are the one's most troubled by doubt. If, as the Bible contends, faith is a gift from God, then God may view doubt as a healthy part of the developing of faith. So long as doubt does not cause one to turn from the Christian faith completely, it is not destructive. Doubt is acceptable to God, so long as one still lives by the best one knows, and keeps oneself open to the moment when God may choose to intervene.
Having said the above, I am inclined to do something different with this text. We all have those times when we feel left out. In our church, a group of young adults got together and called themselves the CMATs. It was composed, finally, of some dozen couples. Several times a year they would have a party of one kind or another. Maybe it was a trip somewhere. Often, it was a party at one or another family's home. Maybe a picnic. But all were invited. You see, that group called themselves the CMATs because it meant "Can't Miss A Thing." They're all wonderful people. But they all agreed that one of their sadnesses in life is the periodic feeling that people around them are happy, and they are missing out. In truth, nearly all of us, certainly all of us extroverts have that feeling. That group had a bond that all would be invited to any CMAT function. They would never be left out.
1. We all have times when we feel excluded. Periodic feelings of loneliness are a common human ailment. I think that was part of Thomas' problem. Doggone it, he was away at the very moment when Jesus had been present. After all these months, years together, the rest of them had experienced something wonderful, and he had been gone. Suddenly, he was no longer a full member. That can hurt. It led Thomas to become angry, to refuse to believe his friends (deep down, he may very well have believed them but could not allow himself to face the sudden feeling of exclusion).
2. When we feel this, we must try not to take it out on the people around us. Rarely does anyone intentionally exclude us. My grandson is getting ready to have a birthday party, his twelfth. He is making out his guest list. He is on a soccer team, a baseball team, has several neighborhood buddies, is active at school. He must have a hundred people he calls "friend." But Mom can't have 100 twelve-year-olds over. He has to cut. He is miserable, realizing that no matter where he cuts, someone who might have been invited if the guest list had been one more, must be left out. We adults face the same kind of problems. As a Christian, when I feel this way, my first move is to try to understand why this happened, and why I am feeling as I do. Everyone copes with this feeling: at work, in social settings, at church, in athletics.
3. As a Christian, I am to be sensitive to these feelings in others. Jesus understood the feelings of Thomas. He went so far as to go back when Thomas was there, so Thomas, formerly an outsider in his own mind, could become the center of attention. The person who is careful to tend to friends or co-workers who are feeling left out is a true Christian indeed.
ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS
Several years ago, my wife died in a car accident. A year later, still struggling with my grief, I decided I needed to get away. I arranged a trip abroad. First, I flew into Rome, and after a few days of sightseeing, I rented a car and drove north, through the Dolemite mountains, then into Bavaria. I toured northern Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and finally arrived in Salzberg, Austria. Although the scenery was spectacular and the cities marvelous, I was barely able to enjoy the latter stages of my trip because of my bone deep loneliness. One morning I was sitting at a sidewalk cafe in Salzberg, miserable and alone, when a man walked up to me and introduced himself. He was the athletic director of a major university. It seems he and a small group of people were about to leave on a guided tour of the area. He saw me, thought I looked lonely, and invited me to go along.
I gladly accepted his invitation. What a day. It was a small group consisting of a middle-aged Irish woman who was working on her Ph.D., a sheepherder from New Zealand who had just won a prestigious medal from the British government, a young couple backpacking through Europe, two or three other interesting people, and my host. We started with a drive through the mountains, a visit to Berchtesgaden, then lunch at a small mountain cafe which overlooked a gorgeous mountain pass. When the day was over, after many a shared experience, we all agreed to meet for dinner that evening. Following a raucous, fun meal together, we all went to the famous marionette theater, then ended the evening at midnight drinking wine on the sidewalk of downtown Salzberg.What a grand day that was.
For some reason, I have never seen nor been in touch with those people again. My spirits marvelously renewed, I continued my journey to a planned meeting with friends in England. But now, I look back upon that marvelous day, and that wonderful man who saw my loneliness. I know nothing of his religious beliefs, but what he did for me that day was one of the truly Christ events of my life.
____________
"He had been kicked in the head by a mule when young and believed everything he read in the paper."
-- George Ade (re: how some people believe things too uncritically)
____________
Phil Jackson, former coach of the world champion Chicago Bulls, said he often reads the following poem by Rudyard Kipling to his players before an important game:
"Now this is the law of the jungle --
as old and as true as the sky:
And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper,
And the wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree trunk,
The law runneth forward and back --
For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf,
And the strength of the Wolf is the Pack."
____________
"Love manifests its greatest power there where it overcomes the greatest separation. And the greatest separation is self from self."
-- Paul Tillich, in Love, Power, And Justice
____________
"There is a desire in man, common to him and other animals, namely the desire for the enjoyment of pleasure: and this men pursue especially by leading a voluptuous life, and through lack of moderation become intemperate and incontinent."
-- Saint Thomas Aquinas
____________
"The most unhappy of all men is the man who cannot tell what he is going to do, who has got no work cut out for him in the world, and does not go into it. For work is the grand cure of all the maladies and miseries that ever beset mankind -- honest work which you intend getting done."
-- Thomas Carlyle
"I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker."
-- Helen Keller
"Who works for glory misses oft the goal:
Who works for money coins his very soul.
Work for the work's sake, then, and it may be
That these things shall be added unto thee."
-- Kenyon Cox
"Drive a nail home and clinch it so faithfully that you can wake up in the night and think of your work with satisfaction -- a work at which you would not be ashamed to invoke the Muse."
-- Henry David Thoreau
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing."
-- Satchel Paige
____________
Abraham Lincoln, during one of the most critical times in his life and in the history of this nation, departed for Washington from Springfield, Illinois, by train. It was 1861 and he was to be inaugurated as President of the United States. His words to some friends as he departed were preserved by those friends. He said this: "I am now leaving, not knowing when or whether I may return; with a task before me greater than that which rested on George Washington. Without the assistance of the Divine Being who always attended him, I cannot succeed. With that assistance I cannot fail. Trusting the God who can go with me, and remain with you, and be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope that all will be well."
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Psalm Of The Day
Psalm 118:14-29 -- "The Lord is my strength and my might." (or)
Psalm 150 -- "Praise the Lord."
Prayer Of The Day
Guard us from the ravenous temptations which attract us so easily these days, we pray. Keep us strong in the face of the ease with which many people accept compromise of ethical beliefs. Help us to be faithful to our true beliefs we pray. In Christ's name. Amen.
