These illustrations are based on Luke 19:1-10 with All Saints Day Illustrations listed below
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Sermon Opener - Zacchaeus - Luke 19:1-10
We owe Luke a great debt. For in his Gospel alone is told a dramatic story that encapsulates for us what the mission of Jesus was all about, and in turn what the mission of the church is all about. The event happened while Jesus was passing through Jericho, the city of palms. Writes Luke: “And there was a man named Zacchaeus he was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.” In one sentence we are told the story of a human life.
Here’s the background. Nothing in first century Judea was quite so hated and despised as was the Roman tax. It not only reminded the Jews that they were a subjugated people, it also represented a theological affront. To the Jew there was only one King, and that was God, not Caesar. Paying tribute to an earthly non-Jewish monarch was something that the Hebrews had opposed throughout their long history.
But there was more. The dirty work of collecting the tax was done not by the Romans, but by collaborating Jews. To make matters worse, some of the money that they collected off the backs of their fellow countrymen stuck to their own fingers. We are told that Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector. That is the only time in the New Testament that that term is used. It meant that he was over an entire district. Zacchaeus may have been short in stature, but he had wealth and wealth means power, so, in a manner of speaking, people looked up to him. Zacchaeus was the little man with the big reputation. He was not just well to do. According to Luke, he was rich.
Of course, one might take issue with Luke in that descriptive term rich. For in many ways Zacchaeus was as poor as any man in Jericho….
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Real Gratitude - Luke 19:1-10
The first one is a simple ordinary rock. It’s a rock with some green and yellow paint splattered on it. I use it as a paper weight on my desk. I have had it for over 30 years. It’s not worth a lot, but I cherish it. If I tried to sell it, I couldn’t get much money for it, but you see, I would never even consider selling it, because I treasure it so much. Why is it so special to me? Not because of what it is. Not because of how it looks. Not even because of what it does... but because of the one who gave it to me. That’s what makes it special - the one who loved me and gave it to me. Our son, Jeff, gave that green and yellow paper weight rock to me when he was 5 years old. He made it for me in Sunday School. It’s the symbol of his love. The giver, not the gift, makes it special.
The second prized possession of mine that I want to tell you about today is a homemade greeting card. I have also had it for over 30 years - and I just love that card. I treasure that card so much because our daughter, Jodi, made it for me when she was 6 years old. On the front of the card, it reads, “To the Most Sweetest Father on Earth.” And it has her own sketch of planet Earth. Inside it reads, “Happy Birthday,” then that is scratched through... followed by “Happy Father’s Day,” followed by the notation, “Oops! Everybody makes mistakes.” And it is signed, “Love, Jodi (6 years old).
These gifts are special to me because of the special persons who gave them to me. That is the real key to life, the real key to joy, the real key to genuine gratitude, to stress the giver rather than the gifts. For you see, we can gain the whole world and all the gifts and miss the giver and lose our own souls.
Celebrating the giver rather than the gift - that is the key and when you make that breakthrough, you can never be the same. That kind of gratitude will change your life! There is a beautiful example of this in the Bible - the story of Zacchaeus in Luke 19. Remember the story with me.
I. Real Gratitude Gives Us a New Relationship with God
II. Real Gratitude Gives Us a New Regard for Others
III. Real Gratitude Gives Us a New Reason for Living
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We Don’t Play the Full Scale
One of the most famous composers had a rebellious son who used to come in late at night after his mother and father had gone to bed. And before going to his own room, this rebellious son would go to his father’s piano and slowly, spitefully… and loudly would play a simple scale, all but the final note. He would play, “Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol-La-Ti…” and then he wouldn’t strike that final “Do.” Then leaving the scale unfinished, he would retire to his room.
Meanwhile, his father (great musician that he was) hearing the scale minus the final note,… would twist and turn and writhe on his bed, his mind unable to relax because the scale was not finished.
Finally, not able to stand it any longer, the father would crawl out of bed, stumble down the stairs and strike that final note of the scale. Only then could he relax and be at peace.
Now, that’s an interesting parable because it reminds me of the way we so often treat God. We play around with some of the notes of faith, but we don’t play the full scale…
- We forgive, but not completely.
- We love, but not completely.
- We serve, but not completely.
- We accept Christ, but not completely.
- We live the Christian life-style but not completely.
- We commit our lives to God, but not completely.
But then, even when we treat God shabbily, in his infinite patience and amazing grace, he continues to reach out to us and he continues to love us.
James W. Moore, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
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Didn’t You Hear the Bells?
One time a blind man was invited to attend the wedding of a friend. The couple had chosen to be married in a village church that was known for its picturesque qualities. As the couple left the chapel, the mother of the groom said to the blind man, “What a pity that you couldn’t see the chapel. It really is so lovely. And such a pretty garden.” She later repeated this to some mutual friends at the reception.
The blind man just shrugged his shoulders each time and changed the subject. He thought to himself, “didn’t she hear the bells?” For him, the bells that had rung before and after the ceremony had been magnificent. He was astonished at their tones and the patterns that they made. For him they had created an atmosphere of joy and sacredness. The blind man finally concluded that the mother of the groom may have seen the lovely chapel but she missed the sound of the bells. With all her senses she had only experienced part of the beauty.
Zacchaeus was blinded by his selfishness, but that did not keep Jesus from seeing him as a whole person. Jesus wanted to stay with Zacchaeus. To miss this part of the story is to remain in the dark. Jesus had to go to his house because this represented what Jesus was all about; giving grace toward those who are lost. In the gospel of Luke, Zacchaeus became the symbolic recipient of the grace of God toward lost humanity. There is no limit to God’s grace. There is even hope for the greedy and powerful. By staying with Zacchaeus, Jesus demonstrated that the grace of God extends to everyone, especially the lost.
Keith Wagner, Little Guy, Big Gift
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The Only Thing That Can Be Changed
A famous preacher once said, "When people tell me that human nature cannot be changed, I am moved to reply that in light of my experience, human nature may well be the only thing that CAN BE CHANGED!" We cannot change the course of the moon or the sun. We cannot change the laws of the physical world. We cannot change the movement and flow of the ocean. We cannot change the stars in the skies and the course they move in. However, the Bible pulsates with pages of testimonies of the lives, purposes, events, and habits which have been changed and can be changed.
Eric S. Ritz, Why Change Is Possible
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Putting the Pieces in Order
Author Charlie Shedd gives us a wonderful example of this truth from his own family life. Charlie's daughter had a science project to do for school, but neither Charlie or his wife were much help with the technical aspects. The saving grace was their next door neighbor, John, who helped the daughter with each part of her project. Finally came the night when the daughter had to put the whole project together. She was in tears about what to do first until she called John. John said simply, "Why don't you bring the whole thing over to my house, and I'll give the pieces in the right order, so you can finish your project." That is what happened when Zacchaeus let Jesus take control of the pieces of his life, and put everything in its proper order. When we let Jesus Christ take control in our lives, we can truly say with Zacchaeus, "Today salvation has come to this house."
Robert A. Beringer, Turning Points, CSS Publishing Company
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Totally Immobilized
Mrs. Billie Cannon, a Knoxville, Tennessee homemaker, was preparing to paint her back porch. In order to protect the floor, she very carefully placed around the edges a strip of Scotch tape-the kind with adhesive on both sides. It was her plan to place a drop cloth over the floor and secure it with the tape. Having succeeded in placing the tape around the entire surface, she went back inside the house to get a drop cloth. Returning to the porch sometime later, she found that all of her carefully placed tape was gone. She was completely mystified. Where could it be? Who would possibly have taken the time to pull up that tape and why? As she was surveying the situation and mulling over her puzzling predicament, she noticed something moving in her back yard. Looking closer she discovered that it was a snake. It was a rather large creature of its species, but it was no threat to her. It was hopelessly immobilized by being totally enmeshed in a large ball of Scotch tape.
Evidently while Mrs. Cannon was in the house the snake had crawled up on the back porch and had eased itself onto that tape with the adhesive on both sides. Sensing that the tape was sticking to its skin, the snake obviously put up a terrible struggle. In doing so it pulled every bit of tape from the floor. The harder it fought, however, the more hopelessly it became entangled in its cellophane prison until now it was totally captive.
That poor snake reminds me of many people I have known. Somewhere along the way they have made a serious mistake. Then, rather than calmly analyzing their situation and correcting their course, they have reacted impulsively. Soon their lives are like that snake’s. The more they struggle, the more entangled they have become until eventually they are totally immobilized psychologically, emotionally and spiritually.
King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
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Didn't Know He Was Lost
There are many who are bored, burned out, lonely and empty. Many people have tried to substitute the accumulation of things for good relationships, but no matter how much they get, something is still missing in life. Their pipe does not go down deep enough to draw living water, and they feel lost. There was a little boy who got separated from his parents in a large shopping center. The Security Department quickly located the child, and took him to an office while the frantic parents were paged over the public address. One of the security guards got a large ice cream cone for the boy, so when his parents arrived at the office, there was their little son happily eating his ice cream. Suddenly, as his parents embraced him, the child burst into tears. One of the security guards said, "Gosh, I guess he didn't know he was lost until he was found!"
Jesus once met a man named Zacchaeus who was like that. Zacchaeus was a Jew but he worked for the Romans as a tax collector, and he was about as popular as folks today who work for the IRS! In those days tax collectors gathered their funds with a little help from the Roman Army, and when Rome's needs were met, they could collect as much as their ingenuity permitted. Zacchaeus may have been small of stature, but he was a "big man" among the tax collectors. In fact, he was a "chief tax collector." He had a big home in Jericho, a very comfortable life, and although he had more enemies than friends, Zacchaeus outwardly appeared very successful.
Robert A. Beringer, Turning Points, CSS Publishing Company
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Making Real Changes
Some people want to experience new life but they want to do it on their terms. They want to do it without making any real changes in their lives.
"Next year I’m going to be a changed person!" Charlie Brown tells Lucy.
"That’s a laugh, Charlie Brown!" she says.
"I mean it!" he replies. "I’m going to be strong and firm!"
"Forget it," she says as she walks off. "You’ll always be wishy-washy!"
"Why can’t I change just a little bit?" Charlie Brown asks himself. "I’ll be wishy one day," he shouts, "and washy the next!"
King Duncan,www.Sermons.com, Collected Sermons
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God the Diver
C.S. Lewis has this really helpful illustration. He says that in the incarnation, Jesus was like a diver. He is God in heaven looking down into this dark, slimy, murky water. That's our sinful, polluted world. God dives in, He gets himself wet. And then God came up again, dripping, but holding the precious thing he went down to recover. That precious thing was Zacchaeus, and you and me. All those sinners who have trusted in Christ. That's how we get out of the slime of tax collecting, or cheating, or lusting, or hating, or whatever other self-destructive sin we are buried in. God in Christ descended down into the slime and rescued us. Resolutions and vows to be better won't help by themselves. We don't have the power to keep them. We are stuck on the sea bottom. We have no power of our own to get up or out. All we can do is cry out for God's grace to lift us up, to rescue us.
Raymond Cannata, A Surprising Resolution
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Are You Going to Fish?
There’s an old story about a fisherman who was very successful. Every morning he went out on the lake in a small boat and when he returned a couple of hours later, his boat was loaded down with fish. He never failed. People wondered how he did it, even when others were not catching anything at all. He always came in with his boat just overflowing with fish.
One morning a stranger showed up with his fishing tackle and said, "Mind if I go fishing with you this morning?" "No," said the fisherman. "Just hop in and we’ll go over to a little cove where I always have good luck."
The man hopped in the boat and off they headed across the lake until they came to a small cove. The old fisherman stopped the boat and cut off the motor. He reached over in his tackle box and took out a red stick of dynamite. He lit the fuse and held it for a moment as the fuse burned down. Then at the last moment he tossed it in the water and there was a tremendous explosion. Fish were everywhere on the water. He picked up his net and began scooping up the fish.
After watching this for a moment the stranger reached in his pocket and pulled out his wallet. Opening it up, he showed a badge and said, "I’m a game warden and you are under arrest." The old fisherman simply reached over into his box and pulled out another stick of dynamite. He lit it and held it as the fuse burned down. Then, he tossed it to the game warden and said, "Now, are you going to just sit there or are you going to fish?"
There comes a time when we all have to decide - who we’re going to be and what we’re going to do! That was true for the game warden and that was true for Zacchaeus in our text for today. He had a crucial decision to make – and it would change his life forever.
Bob Younts, First United Methodist Church of Moore
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ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS NOT IN OUR EMAIL
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Sermon Opener: Who You Gonna’ Vote For? - Luke 19:1-10
They say “politics and religion don't mix,” but politicians can’t stop talking about religion. They say “separation of church and state.” I say politicians have sure been preaching a lot of sermons lately. Some of them preachin’ political sermons in the churches, right up there where the preacher ought to be. You might be able to separate the state from the church but you sure can’t separate the politician from the pulpit. They say, “I’m not going to force my values on others.” I say, what is faith without values?
And so I ask you: What is the state without the church? What is a politician without visible values? What is life without faith? To borrow the words of Paul, “It is nothing.” It is a resounding gong, a clanging symbol. Zacchaeus recognized this. He could not be in the presence of Jesus and not be moved. Moved to right the wrong in his life. He was a tax collector who taken advantage of many people. Lied to them. Swindled them. Skimmed off the top of his collections. And beyond all this, he had ignored the poor.
Now it’s Tuesday morning for old Zacchaeus and he has to walk in the election booth and pull the lever. He is either going to vote for the state or for the faith. He is either going to vote for himself of for those he has defrauded. He will either cast his vote for Rome or for Christ. Come Election Day, who is he gonna’ vote for?
1. He Could Vote for the Tax Collectors.
2. He Could Vote for the Poor.
3. He Could Vote for Christ.
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How Jesus Saw
Many of you have seen the delightful Broadway musical and motion picture, "My Fair Lady." It is based on George Bernard Shaw’s wonderful play, "Pygmalion." It is about a brilliant professor, Henry Higgins, who transforms a humble flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, into an elegant English lady. In the midst of her brilliant transformation, Eliza falls in love with Henry Higgins, but he treats her only with disdain. Towards the end of the play, she expresses her complaint to their mutual friend, Colonel Pickering: "You see," she says, "Really and truly apart from the things anyone can pick up (the dressing and the proper way of speaking, and so on), the difference between a lady and a flower girl is not in how she behaves, but how she is treated. I shall always be a flower girl to Professor Higgins, because he always treats me as a flower girl, and always will; but I know I can be a lady to you, because you always treat me as a lady, and always will."
It is both interesting and encouraging to notice how Jesus treated people whether it be the woman of the streets or the tax collector in the tree. He saw something no one else could see. That is the first thing we need to see. Jesus was more eager to see Zacchaeus than Zacchaeus was to see him.
King Duncan, Collected Sermons,www.Sermons.com
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He Looks Like You
Mark Trotter, a few years ago, told a beautiful story about a boy whose parents were missionaries to India. When the boy was 12 years old, his parents left him and his younger brother to go to India and take up their tour of duty there. Their intention was that once they got settled they would send for the boys. But shortly after they left America, World War II broke out. They couldn't get to the boys, and they couldn't get the boys to them. So the separation between the missionaries and their sons went on for something like eight years. When the war was over, the parents returned to America. Their oldest son was 20 years old and in college. He recalled how excited he was when he got the word that his parents would soon arrive in their hometown by train. The son got to the train depot early, even before the sun came up. When the train finally pulled in, the mother and father were the only ones who got off the train. The son wrote these words:
"I could barely see them in the haze, and they could hardly see me. We embraced in the semi-darkness. Then my mother took my hand and led me into the light of the waiting room. There were tears running down her cheeks as she looked at me. She kept looking at my face, staring hard. Then she turned to my dad and called him by name, 'Arnett,' she cried, 'he's gone and looked just like you! He looks just like you!'"
That happened to Zacchaeus spiritually that day. He came down out of that sycamore tree looking and sounding and acting like his Lord.
Mark Trotter, quoted by James W. Moore in ‘Grit, Grace, and Gratitude’
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A Man Who Could Get the Last Quarter Out of You
A man on vacation was strolling along outside his hotel in Acapulco, enjoying the sunny Mexican weather. He heard the screams of a woman kneeling in front of a child. The man knew enough Spanish to determine that the boy had swallowed a coin. Seizing the child by the heels, the man held him up, gave him a few shakes, and an American quarter dropped to the sidewalk. “Oh, thank you sir!” cried the woman. “You seemed to know just how to get it out of him. Are you a doctor?” “No, ma’am,” replied the man. “I’m with the United States Internal Revenue Service.”
This was Zacchaeus. A shake down artist. A man who could get the last quarter out of you.
Brett Blair, www.Sermons.com.
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Grace that Cost
The novelist, A. J. Cronin, tells a story from his own experience as a doctor that catches the wonder of the gift of grace. The Adams family at the close of the Second World War decided to open their home to a little refugee boy with the outlandish name of Paul Piotrostanalzi. The Adams had two daughters and a son named Sammy. Sammy and Paul became inseparable friends, but little Paul was a difficult child, and often disobeyed Mr. and Mrs. Adams. One day, little Paul went swimming in some contaminated water. He became very ill with a high fever, and the doctor suggested he sleep in an attic bedroom. But little Sammy missed his friend Paul so much that one night he crept up the attic stairs and into bed with Paul. Paul's hot breath fell on Sammy's neck all night. In the morning, Sammy, never a strong child, became deathly ill. Paul recovered his health, but Sammy died within three days. It was a terrible tragedy for the Adams family.
A year later Dr. Cronin decided to pay a call on the Adams family. But as he pulled into their driveway, he was amazed and then angry as he saw Paul, the refugee boy, working in the garden with Mr. Adams. He got out of his car and angrily approached Mr. Adams. "What's this Paul Pio........ whatever his name is, doing here after what he did to your family?" Mr. Adams looked at the doctor and then said quietly, "Dr. Cronin, you won't have any more trouble with Paul's name. You see, he's Paul Adams now. We've adopted him." That is a wonderful story of costly grace, and that is exactly the wonderful gift that Jesus once gave to a heart-hungry tax collector named Zacchaeus.
Robert A. Beringer, Turning Points, CSS Publishing Company.
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Zacchaeus Stands In
From “Peculiar Treasures: A Biblical Who’s Who” by Frederick Buechner. Harper & Row San Francisco, 1979, pp. 180-81.
In this book, Buechner presents from A-Z several dozen character sketches of well-known (and sometimes not-so-well-known) biblical characters. The last entry in the volume is, not surprisingly, Zacchaeus. What Buechner shares about this man, and how he lets Zacchaeus be a summary for all the other folks in the Bible, is as delightful as it is instructive! Buechner observes:
“Zacchaeus makes for a good [character] to end with because in a way he can stand for all the rest. He’s a sawed-off little social disaster with a big bank account and a crooked job, but Jesus welcomes him aboard anyway, and that’s why he reminds you of all the others, too. There’s Aaron whooping it up with the Golden Calf the moment his brother’s back is turned, and there’s Jacob conning everybody including his own father.
There’s Jael driving a tent-peg through the head of an overnight guest, and Rahab, the first of the red-hot mamas. There’s Nebuchadnezzar with his taste for roasting the opposition, and Paul holding the lynch mob’s coats as they go to work on Stephen. There’s Saul the paranoid, and David the stud, and those mealy-mouthed friends of Job’s who would probably have succeeded in boring Job to death if Yahweh had not stepped in just in the nick of time. And then there are the ones who betrayed the people who loved them best such as Absalom and poor old Peter, such as Judas even. Like Zacchaeus, they’re all of them peculiar as Hell, to put it quite literally, and yet you can’t help feeling that, like Zacchaeus, they’re all of them somehow treasured, too. Why? Who knows? But maybe you can say at least this about it — that they’re treasured less for who they are and for what the world has made them than for what they have it in them at their best to be because ultimately, of course, it’s not the world that made them at all. “All the earth is mine,” says Yahweh, “and all that dwell therein” adds the 24th Psalm, and in the long run, presumably, that goes for you and me, too.
Scott Hoezee, Comments and Observations
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A Ministry of Interruptions
The places and situations that we consider temporary or simply way stations turn out to be the places or situations that hold the most significance for us. Henri Nouwen once said something to the effect that in his ministry he found himself becoming frustrated and resentful that his work was constantly being interrupted by people who wanted or needed something from him, until one day the Lord spoke to him and revealed that his real work was in those interruptions. So I think we have to pay attention to the transit points on our journey. It just may be that we'll discover someone, perhaps even ourselves, who is out on a limb and needs some attention.
Larry R. Kalajainen, Extraordinary Faith for Ordinary Time, CSS Publishing Company
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Christ Sets Us Free of All Chains
There is a story about an ancient Persian king who had injured his ankle quite severely. None of his court physicians knew how to help him. A member of his court told him about a certain slave who was said to have a great insight into matters of the body. The Persian king sent for the slave who was brought to him weighted down with chains and dressed in rags. However, the slave was indeed able to give him great assistance with his problem. The pain ceased and the ankle soon healed. The king was elated and justly grateful for the slave’s help. He was so grateful that he sent the slave a gift-a new set of golden chains.
Some people shy away from religion because they are afraid that they may be trading in one set of chains for another. Religion can do that to people, but not a relationship with Christ. Christ sets us free!
King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
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This Tithing Business Has to Stop!
Leighton Farrell was the minister of Highland Park Church in Dallas for many years. He tells of a man in the church who once made a covenant with a former pastor to tithe ten percent of their income every year. They were both young and neither of them had much money. But things changed. The layman tithed one thousand dollars the year he earned ten thousand, ten thousand dollars the year he earned one-hundred thousand, and one- hundred thousand dollars the year he earned one million. But the year he earned six million dollars he just could not bring himself to write out that check for six-hundred thousand dollars to the Church.
He telephoned the minister, long since having moved to another church, and asked to see him. Walking into the pastor’s office the man begged to be let out of the covenant, saying, "This tithing business has to stop. It was fine when my tithe was one thousand dollars, but I just cannot afford six-hundred thousand dollars. You’ve got to do something, Reverend!" The pastor knelt on the floor and prayed silently for a long time. Eventually the man said, "What are you doing? Are you praying that God will let me out of the covenant to tithe?" "No," said the minister. "I am praying for God to reduce your income back to the level where one thousand dollars will be your tithe!"
Bob Younts, First United Methodist Church of Moore
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Saying the Right Thing: True Thanksgiving
One of my favorite Peanuts comic strips is the one that came out some years ago just a few days before Thanksgiving. Lucy's feeling sorry for herself and she laments, "My life is a drag. I'm completely fed up. I've never felt so low in my life."
Her little brother Linus tries to console her and he says, "Lucy, when you're in a mood like this, you should try to think of things you have to be thankful for; in other words, count your blessings."
To that, Lucy says, "Ha! That's a good one! I could count my blessings on one finger! I've never had anything and I never will have anything. I don't get half the breaks that other people do. Nothing ever goes right for me! And you talk about counting blessings! You talk about being thankful! What do I have to be thankful for?"
Linus says, "Well, for one thing, you have a little brother who loves you."
With that, Lucy runs and hugs little brother Linus as she cries tears of joy, and while she's hugging him tightly, Linus says, "Every now and then, I say the right thing."
Well, we have a God who loves us, and if that doesn't make us sing the song of thanksgiving, I don't know what would. That's what Zacchaeus realized that day in Jericho. He realized that God loved him, even him.
James W. Moore, Grit, Grace, and Gratitude
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Prayer
The Bible is still the most talked about and the least read book in the world! Have I ever opened my heart to Jesus in prayer on a regular basis? Or is my prayer life like that of the old man out in his rowboat when a great storm hit. The waves washed away his oars and his bailing bucket. He knew with certainty that the next wave would swamp his boat. Only then did he look up to heaven and say, "Lord, I haven't bothered you for 25 years. Get me out of this mess, and I won't bother you for 25 more!"
Robert A. Beringer, Turning Points, CSS Publishing Company
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Climbing the Tree
A friend told me of the hours he spent as a child in a large cherry tree in his grandmother's backyard. The tree was very large and high, at least as he remembered it. He remembered the very first time he climbed it. He had to jump to catch hold of the lowest branch, and then pull himself by sheer muscle power up onto it. Then he could work his way up the tree. The tree seemed so high, that he got dizzy looking down, and yet, scary as it was, he couldn't resist climbing higher and higher. Finally he got very close to the top where the branches were thinner, and he could climb no higher. He stayed there, straddling a limb and holding tightly to one above it, swaying in the breeze with the leaves fluttering around him. It was an exhilarating moment for a seven-year-old. He was on top of the world.
But when the time came to climb back down, he was terrified. As long as he was on his way up, his vision and his focus was on the branch above him. But on the way down, all he could see was how far below the ground was and how many protruding limbs there were between him and the ground. Very gingerly, he made his way down, branch by branch, and when he finally got on the ground, he discovered his knees were trembling with the excitement and fear of the whole experience. Like a typical small boy, however, once he knew he could conquer the tree, he couldn't stay out of it, and before long, he went up and down it like a monkey. Somehow, the risk of being out on a limb high in the tree became as routine as brushing one's teeth.
Years later, long after he had grown out of his tree-climbing days, he was visiting his grandparents and happened to notice the old cherry tree. The lower limb that had been his first step up into the tree, the limb that he had had to leap to catch hold of, now was at shoulder height. The whole tree seemed somehow shrunken and unprepossessing. It wasn't nearly as large as he remembered it. The thin branches near the top, where he had spent many a summer hour swaying in the breezes and feeling himself to be on top of the world, were no more than 20 feet from the ground. He laughed as he saw the tree through the adult eyes, but he remembered and relived for a few moments, his feelings as that seven-year-old boy with trembling knees taking a daring risk to climb up among the clouds.
The gospel lesson for today is about another tree-climber whose name was Zacchaeus. He too experienced the risk and exhilaration of being "out on a limb." Zacchaeus' life was transformed as he sat on his tree limb, and at the time, it must have been a thoroughly scary experience, though perhaps later, as a mature disciple, he may have wondered why it ever seemed risky or frightening at all.
Larry R. Kalajainen, Extraordinary Faith for Ordinary Time, CSS Publishing Company, Inc.
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Taking Things Seriously
Christian actress Kari Jenson Gold wrote an article on the ideal marriage shortly after she herself was married. It was a great article and was published in a number of places, scholarly and otherwise. Then three years later she was divorced. She wrote recently, "I remember after my own divorce, when friends asked how I was, I sometimes replied that I had lost my honor. Almost no one knew what I meant, and certainly no one agreed with me. Everyone was far too busy "being supportive" . . . We do ourselves and our friends no real service by making nice and making light of something as serious as divorce and marriage. Not if we hope for a better and more faithful future." She goes on to say, "If what we all aspire to is health rather than virtue, gratification rather than strength of character, how can we hope to find a foundation for a lasting commitment?"
Zaccheus may have had plenty of people to tell him what they thought he ought to do-- but he wanted to see for himself who Jesus was!
Russell F. Metcalfe, Jr.
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God, the Millionaire
The other twenty million finalists might as well give up. One of the gold-sticker-laden sweepstakes entry forms and magazine sales pitches that show up just about weekly in most Americans' mailboxes has been sent to God. American Family Publishers sent its computer-generated entry form to "God of Bushnell," at the Bushnell Assembly of God, a church in central Florida. "God, we're searching for you. You've been positively identified as our $11 million mystery millionaire," the form read. The fine print showed the Creator was merely a finalist, but the letter encouraged him to try his luck. "Imagine the looks you'd get from your neighbors ... but don't just sit there, God, come forward now and claim your prize." Bill Brack, the church's pastor, told the Tampa Tribune that he had not yet decided whether the church would enter the sweepstakes. "God already has $11 million," he said. -- Reuters Limited. Leadership, Vol. 17, no. 3.
Dennis Marquardt, The Scoundrel, adapted from Leadership, Vol. 17, no. 3.
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Why Aren’t You Fishing?
In Our Daily Bread, Philip Parham tells the story of a rich industrialist who was disturbed to find a fisherman sitting lazily beside his boat. "Why aren't you out there fishing?" he asked. "Because I've caught enough fish for today," said the fisherman. "Why don't you catch more fish than you need?" the rich man asked. "What would I do with them?" "You could earn more money," came the impatient reply, "and buy a better boat so you could go deeper and catch more fish. You could purchase nylon nets, catch even more fish, and make more money. Soon you'd have a fleet of boats and be rich like me." The fisherman asked, "Then what would I do?" "You could sit down and enjoy life," said the industrialist. "What do you think I'm doing now?" the fisherman replied. -- Scott Minnich, Toms River, New Jersey. Leadership, Vol. 16, no. 3.
Dennis Marquardt, The Scoundrel
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Looking for a Savior
Quite frankly, I'm sick to death of ideals. I have so many ideals and I've been so frustrated by them, I really don't care for any more. What I'm looking for is a savior--not someone who will just tell me what I ought to be, but someone who will forgive me for what I am, and then with his very love will enable me to be more than I ever believed I could be. It's exactly that that Jesus does.
Bruce Thielemann in "Telltale Tears" (1986 Preaching Today). Christianity Today, Vol. 35, no. 115.
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What’s Happening Now Church
Flip Wilson was a popular comedian several years ago, some of you are old enough to remember him, and some are not.
But one of his characters was a Preacher at the "What’s Happening Now Church." In a skit that he did he told about this preacher.
He’d yell: "IF THIS CHURCH IS GOING TO SERVE GOD IT’S GOT TO GET DOWN ON ITS KNEES AND CRAWL!!!"
And the audience who was being prompted to be the congregation would yell back "Make it crawl preacher, make it crawl!
And then he would yell: "AND ONCE THIS CHURCH HAS LEARNED TO CRAWL, IT’S GOT TO GET UP ON ITS FEET AND WALK!!!"
And the audience would yell back "Make it walk preacher, make it walk."
Then he would say: AND ONCE THIS CHURCH HAS LEARNED TO WALK IT’S GOT BEGIN TO LEARN TO RUN!!!"
And they would yell, "Make it run, preacher, make it run!"
Then he would say, "AND IN ORDER TO RUN, ITS GOT REACH DEEP DOWN INTO ITS POCKETS AND LEARN TO GIVE!!!"
And the congregation would respond, "Make it crawl preacher, make it crawl."
What we fail to realize that there is a price for success. There is a responsibility we assume in our mature faith.
Brett Blair,www.sermons.com
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Humor: The Strength of the Taxman
There is a story about a local fitness center that was offering $1,000 to anyone who could demonstrate that they were stronger than the owner of the place. Here is how it worked. This muscle man would squeeze a lemon until all the juice ran into a glass, and then hand the lemon to the next challenger. Anyone who could squeeze just one more drop of juice out, would win the money.
Many people tried over time - other weightlifters, construction workers, even professional wrestlers, but nobody could do it.
One day, a short and skinny guy came in and signed up for the contest. After the laughter died down, the owner grabbed a lemon and squeezed away. Then he handed the wrinkled remains to the little man.
The crowd's laughter turned to silence as the man clenched his fist around the lemon and six drops fell into the glass. As the crowd cheered, the manager paid out the winning prize and asked the short guy what he did for a living. "Are you a lumberjack, a weightlifter, or what?"
The man replied, "I work for the IRS."
John Wayne Clarke, Sermons for Sundays after Pentecost (Last Third): Father, Forgive Them, CSS Publishing Company, Inc.
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Honoring a Sacred Place
There is an old legend that says Zacchaeus went every day outside the city of Jericho carrying a bucket of water. One day, his wife followed him, wondering what this daily ritual was all about. She saw him stop at a certain sycamore tree. Zacchaeus poured his bucket of water on the tree's thirsty roots, and then stood there reverently looking up into the tree. It was a sacred place, for it was the place where his life was changed.
But unfortunately a lot of Christians stop growing right there! They can tell you the day and the hour they first met Jesus Christ, but they have never taken this final step of letting the Living Christ rearrange the priorities of their lives. Zacchaeus was ready to let Christ be the very center of his life. He was ready to let Christ send him back out into the world to continue our Lord's ministry of justice and compassion. Religion for Zacchaeus would never be just another department in his life. His faith was now central to his whole being.
Robert A. Beringer, Turning Points, CSS Publishing Company
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Humor: The Way Things Look
One time an American soldier met up with the famous painter, Pablo Picasso. The two of them were seated at a Parisian café and decided to have lunch. Soon their conversation turned to art. Picasso described his style of art which was not traditional. The soldier said, “I don’t like modern art.” “Why not?” Picasso replied. “Modern art is not realistic. I prefer paintings that actually look like the things they are supposed to.”
Picasso said nothing. To break the silence the soldier decided to share a few pictures from his wallet of his girlfriend back in the states. Picasso looked at each of the photos politely. Then holding one of the photos in his hand, he commented on his girlfriend’s picture. “Wow, is your girlfriend really this small?”
Keith Wagner, Little Guy, Big Gift
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Real Gratitude
Some years ago, I ran across a story about a young college student who was visited one weekend by his father at a prestigious college in the East. The father had an old dilapidated car. When the dad drove away to go home, some of the boy's friends began to laugh and tease and make fun of that car. The young man said, "You can laugh if you want to, but let me tell you something. My father could have had a new car years ago if he had wanted one. He had the money to buy it, but he wanted me to have an education at this school more than he wanted a new car for himself. The only reason I am here is because he chose to drive that old car. I am so grateful to him because in that one generous sacrificial act, he taught me so much about life and thoughtfulness and love. I love that old car and I love the man in it."
That's just the way it works. The Zacchaeus story teaches us that real gratitude gives us a new relationship with God and a new regard for others.
James W. Moore, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
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Looking Deeper
Do you remember from your childhood the fairy tale about a wicked witch who turned the handsome young prince into a green, slimy, warty bullfrog sitting on a lily pad? "You'll never be restored until a lovely princess comes along and kisses you on the lips!" she cackled. Well, what chance is there that will happen? Yet one day a beautiful princess comes along the garden path, sees the ugly frog prince, but looks again, this time deeper.
She sees beyond all the ugly to the real need, and she kisses him. Slowly all the ugly falls away until the young handsome prince is restored.
That's what Jesus does to us. That's what he did for Zacchaeus.
Stephen M. Crotts, Sermons for Sundays after Pentecost: Music from another Room, CSS Publishing Company
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Illustrations for All Saints Day
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The Glorious Company – Luke 6:20-31
Harmless fun some call it. Others suggest it is never harmless or funny to joke about evil, even if we know that the witches and gremlins, devils and werewolves who roam our streets are the little children of our neighborhood, and the glaring faces in our windows are no more than hollowed-out pumpkins whose candles will not even last the evening.
While there are some October Scrooges who bemoan the knocks at the door, there are many more who pile up the fruits and candies, turn on the lights and wait by the door for the little ones and their anything-but-frightening, "Trick or Treat!" We chuckle as we listen for the familiar voice from behind the mask, and we drop an apple in the extended bag. Except for a few roaming older teens and perhaps a few soaped windows at their hands, no one worries about the "tricks" that are threatened.
Halloween takes its name from All Hallows Eve, though its origins are pre-Christian and probably go back to the ancient Druids who, with ceremonial fires and legendary visits of ghosts and gremlins, marked the first day of winter on November 1. Others hold that people in the Middle Ages believed that the souls came back and celebrated through the town on the night before the mass for all saints.
No matter. Whatever we think about our Halloween customs in the last decade of this 20th century, there ought to be just a touch of sadness that the day following, a special festival of the church, is all but forgotten in most churches and totally unknown in others.
1. Martyrs, Prophets And Saints
2. The Beatitudes: Guidelines For The Faithful
3. Who Follows In Their Train?
4. We Remember With Thanksgiving
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Getting out of the Doldrums - Luke 6:20-31
The classic children’s book, The Phantom Tollbooth (1961), tells the story of a young boy named Milo. One dull, rainy afternoon Milo receives the anonymous gift of a cardboard fold-and-cut tollbooth. Bored Milo builds the tollbooth and “drives through” it with his toy car.
Immediately Milo disappears from his room and finds himself traveling along a strange road in a new land. But despite this miraculous relocation, as the road continues on and on, and the countryside rolls by and by, Milo begins to grow bored again. He spaces out and begins to be completely oblivious to his surroundings. He doesn’t even notice as his car begins to go slower and slower and then finally coasts to a complete stop. Rousing lightly from his stupor, Milo finally notices there are strange little creatures draped over the hood of his car, snoozing on his head and shoulders, snoring on his dashboard. When the boy demands to know what is going on the sleepy creatures inform him that they are “Lethargians” and tell Milo that he and his vehicle are now firmly stuck in a place known as “The Doldrums.”
Of course literally the “doldrums” is actually an old nautical reference to a “dead zone” — a place where there is no wind to fill up the sails, no strong currents to guide a vessel along. Getting out of the “doldrums” takes a purposeful expenditure of energy, a muscle-powered desire to move forward.
Unfortunately it isn’t just sailing ships or bored little boys on rainy afternoons who can find themselves stranded in the “doldrums.” Whole movements can find themselves stranded in the Doldrums. Whole countries, cultures, and churches can find themselves so mired in spiritless monotony, in the security of sameness and statis, that they fail to notice they are going nowhere and are accomplishing nothing.
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Standing Up for Christian Values
Even our culture a supposedly Judeo-Christian culture is not always in agreement with the teachings of Christ.
For example, we are a materialistic culture. Many of us are obsessed with having nice things. It would cause a radical change in our lifestyle if we were to take seriously Jesus’ teaching about the place of money in our lives.
The conflict between Christ and culture was most easily seen in the days when the civil rights movement was in full bloom. Our Judeo-Christian culture actually had laws relegating people of color to the back of the bus and to grossly inferior schools. They were denied access to water fountains, restaurants and hotels. They were dehumanized in a hundred different ways.
Lyndon Baines Johnson from the state of Texas was Senate majority leader in those days. The Johnsons had a wonderful black cook, Zephyr Wright, who was considered a part of the family. One day at LBJ’s home in Washington, Johnson told Zephyr that he wanted her and her husband, Sammy, to pack up and drive to the LBJ ranch in Texas to prepare for the Johnsons’ vacation stay.
“I’m not going to do it,” Zephyr told Johnson defiantly. She explained that on the two‑day trip, she would have to substitute the bushes on the road for a rest room, brown‑bag it from restaurants that would not serve blacks, and her husband would have to sleep in the backseat of the car and she in the front seat below the steering wheel because they could not get into a hotel.
Johnson told reporters of her plight many times, and when it came time to sign the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which he had proposed, he gave one of the first pens after the signing to Zephyr Wright.
“You deserve this more than anyone else,” Johnson told Wright.
Do you think Johnson’s support of the Civil Rights Act made him popular back in Texas? Hardly. But Texas was not alone. We had dehumanizing Jim Crow laws on the books of many of our states until finally a group of Americans both black and white said, “Enough! In the name of God, enough!”
King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
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Mercy and Empathy
There are people crying all around us, people approaching the point of desperation. But many of their cries go unheard. The noise of the self-oriented machinery of our culture is drowning them out and they are dying. The world needs the merciful. We all need someone who will identify with us. Someone who will hear our cry, listen, have empathy, and care. We all need to have an attitude of mercy and to be the recipients of such an attitude! As Shakespeare said:
The quality of mercy is not strained;
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is
twice blest, It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes.
Wallace H. Kirby, Beatitudes: Programs and Promises, CSS Publishing
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New Priorities of the Kingdom
A holy man was engaged in his morning meditation under a tree whose roots stretched out over the riverbank. During his meditation he noticed that the river was rising, and a scorpion caught in the roots was about to drown. He crawled out on the roots and reached down to free the scorpion, but every time he did so, the scorpion struck back at him. An observer came along and said to the holy man, 'Don't you know that's a scorpion, and it's in the nature of a scorpion to want to sting?' To which the holy man replied, 'That may well be, but it is my nature to save, and must I change my nature because the scorpion does not change his?'
Traditional
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A Religion Worth Nothing
A religion that gives nothing, costs nothing, and suffers nothing, is worth nothing.
Martin Luther
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Sometimes We Just Need a Blessing
The problem with our society is that we don't understand the power nor the dynamics of giving a blessing. We underestimate its power and we are not in the habit of giving empathy. Few people are tuned in to your feelings of rejection. Most ignore them completely. Many simply "stuff" them, hoping that they will go away. We are a people that want to fix or problem solve.
We want answers and a rational explanation for everything that happens. Or, we believe that hard work and discipline will make everything turn out right. Do you think that the skier that crashed on the ski slope was not disciplined? Did he deserve to slip and fail because he didn't work hard enough?
I heard a story this past week that illustrates how our society treats personal rejection. A man with a critical illness was lying in a hospital bed, desperately wanting some word of encouragement. A nurse said to him, "you just need to work harder." This man had undergone multiple surgeries and is critically ill. What he needed was a "blessing." What the skier who crashed on the slope needed was a blessing.
Keith Wagner, Overcoming Rejection
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Keeping Our Perspective and Priorities Straight
Leith Anderson, a pastor, shared an experience: As a boy, he grew up outside of New York City and was an avid fan of the old Brooklyn Dodgers. One day his father took him to a World Series game between the Dodgers and the Yankees. He was so excited, and he just knew the Dodgers would trounce the Yankees. Unfortunately, the Dodgers never got on base, and his excitement was shattered. Years later he was engrossed in a conversation with a man who was a walking sports almanac. Leith told him about the first major league game he attended and added, "It was such a disappointment. I was a Dodger fan' and the Dodgers never got on base."
The man said, "You were There? You were at the game when Don Larsen pitched the first perfect game in all of World Series history'" Leith replied, ''Yeah, but uh, we lost." He then realized that he had been so caught up in his team's defeat that he missed out on the fact that he was a witness to a far greater page of history. (As told by Dean Register in the Minister's Manuel, 1995, 339)
Let me ask you a question. What's going on down the street in our ball park? We may be so caught up in the beauty of our building, the eloquence of the sermon, and the friends who sit around us, that we miss out on a far greater page in the story of our Christianity. Look around you. What is it that is happening in our community? What is it that is happening down the street at your neighbor's house? What is happening down at the playground? What is your spouse trying to tell you? Is God pitching a perfect game in the world series of our neighborhood and we simply are missing out because we are so invested in our team?
Brett Blair,www.eSermons.com
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We Belong to the Kingdom of God
The story is told of Frederick William IV of Prussia who once visited a school and quizzed the students. He held up a stone and asked the children: to what kingdom does this belong? They responded: mineral. He then, pointed to a flower and asked: to what kingdom does this belong? They answered: plant. He then pointed to a bird flying by outside the window and asked: to what Kingdom does that belong? They replied: animal. Then he asked: now, to what kingdom do I belong. He had raised a profound theological question. To what kingdom do we belong?
On a literal sense, we are, off course, part and parcel of the animal kingdom. I belong to the same kingdom as my dog Ruff. He has many human traits. He can pout, he can get excited, he has a temper (as some of you who have visited the parsonage have discovered). But yet, Ruff does not understand time. He cannot grasp that there is a point beyond which he will not live. Only humans can grasp time. Ruff cannot tell right From wrong. It is not within him to share. His limited mind cannot set goals. All of those are human traits. The magnificent thing for humans is that it is within us to rise above purely animal desires and become a part of another kingdom----the Kingdom of God.
Staff,www.Sermons.com
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A Response to the Beatitudes
Then Jesus took his disciples up the mountain and gathered them around. He taught them saying:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are the meek.
Blessed are they that mourn.
Blessed are the merciful.
Blessed are they who thirst for justice.
Blessed are you when persecuted.
Blessed are you when you suffer.
Be glad and rejoice for your reward is great in heaven.
Then Simon Peter said, "Are we supposed to write this down?"
And Andrew asked, "Are we supposed to know this?"
And James asked, "Will we have a test on this?"
And Phillip said, "I don't have any paper."
And Bartholomew asked, "Do we have to turn this in?"
And John said, "The other disciples didn't have to learn this."
And Matthew asked, "Can I go to the boys' room?"
And Judas asked, "What does this have to do with real life?"
Then one of the Pharisees who was present asked to see Jesus' lesson plan and inquired of Jesus, "Where is your objectives and lesson plan?"
And Jesus wept.
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Celebrating All Saint’s Day
When pop culture transforms a “holy day” into a “holiday,” it almost always manages to focus on the wrong side of the equation.
For example:
*The number of shopping days left til Christmas is NOT as important as the 12 day period between the Christmas day miracle and the season of Epiphany.
*A huge party, Mardi Gras, on “Fat Tuesday” is NOT as important as the forty days of Lent that follow.
*Eating all your chocolate bunnies before breakfast on Easter morning is NOT as important as rejoicing over living a resurrection faith on Easter afternoon.
*Tonight, while the world is preparing to throw itself a spooky, kooky All Hallow’s Eve party, “Halloween” is NOT as important as is the celebrations it fronts for — All Saints Day and All Soul’s Day.
Outwitting spooky spirits on Halloween is not essential to Christian discipleship. But remembering the “saints” is. Celebrating our ancestors in the faith, those men and women, some unknown, some esteemed, who lived and died furthering the Christian faith, that is the “holy day” the church needs to hold up to the world.
The Roman Catholic Church calendar still establishes a two day series of special masses and prayers that follow All Hallow’s Eve — All Saint’s Day on November 1 and All Soul’s Day on November 2. All Saints Day commemorates the faithful who, according to the church, have achieved heavenly status. All Soul’s Day is a day to pray for family members and the unsung saints of the world.
There is a historical argument that can be made for All Saint’s Day and All Soul’s Day being the most under-celebrated church holiday in the post-Reformation church. Before the Reformation some overzealous fundraisers in the church gladly granted what was called a “plenary indulgence” to those who attended church services on All Saint’s and All Soul’s day. According to medieval theology this meant that if you attended church on those days your presence automatically released one soul from purgatory.
The problem was that eventually the church ended up with a revolving door of visitors. It was the theological equivalent of buying a fistful of lottery tickets instead of betting on just one number. Better odds. People with lots of dead relatives would enter the church, offer the name of their deceased loved one, exit the church, and then turn around and do it all again, theologically assured that each time they re-entered the church that day they were freeing another Purgatory prisoner. Those with few relatives would simply draw up lists of historical figures they liked and hoped to chalk up heavenly credit to liberate them.
This kind of incentive for church attendance is questionable, though it did work. But the eagerness of living generations to stay connected to past generations, both in prayers and in practices, is admirable. For medieval Christians, the dead were still an active part of the living, and past generations still had something to offer the present generations.
It is hard for some of us to make that kind of connection anymore. People used to know their “family trees” as well as they knew their own furniture. But the USA has always been a country made of up of new arrivals, and for some of us the past is a blur. After generations of being on the move and unattached, there are now internet sites that offer to help us find our “ancestry.” At “Ancestry.com” the appearance of a single “leaf” next to a name is the signal that there is more information available.
But many of us don’t have “family trees.” We don’t have a familiar forest of known relatives we can point to and proudly claim as our own. Some of us have family blackberry bushes. By that I mean unwieldy, twisted, brier-patch knots that are way too thorny to investigate without getting hurt. Whether you have a well-shaped family tree or an untamed bramble bush in your personal history, every member of the body of Christ stills participates in the communion of the saints.
No matter what you know, or don’t know, about church history, or about your own personal history, we all have common ancestors in the faith and personal knowledge of saints. We need to celebrate All Saint’s Day.
Leonard Sweet, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
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Would You Be a Saint? - Matthew 23:1-12
How many of you played “dress up” this weekend?
Wow…There’s a lot of you who “dressed up.” What did you “dress up” as? …[make this as karaoke as you can ... You may want to prime the pump by arranging for some to wear their “dress ups” to church]
On Halloween we “dress up” in costumes and put on masks to “hide out,” to conceal who we really are. Originally the “disguises” worn on “All Hallows Eve” were supposed to fool the demons and other dark forces roaming the planet on that fateful night. The idea was that good Christians would be left alone by evil spirits if they dressed to look like they themselves were part of Satan’s army.
How times have changed. I don’t think too many demons were put-off by Barbie Princesses, High School Musical cheerleaders, or Star Wars soldiers. Many parents found that this Halloween the problem was not that the most popular costumes were “too scary,” but that they were way too sexy! (So, YES, they were way too scary for Mom and Dad!)
But for a lot of us the “dressing up” in costume didn’t stop with Friday night. We also “dressed up” to come to church on Sunday morning. We exchanged our Friday night “sinner” for our Sunday “saint” costume. For some reason many of us have become convinced that there is a great divide between clothing and our spiritual condition.
The family, the Body of Christ, should always require a two-pronged greeting: “Good Morning Saints; Good Morning Sinners!” That is the organic complexity, the paradox of orthodoxy, that makes up this “Christ-Body” and makes it so vital.
Both Saints and Sinners are present and accounted for.
And all of us are both.
My grandma used to make her requests using a very particular vocabulary. She would ask, “Would you be a saint and bring me that sweater?” Or maybe, “Would you be a saint and pick up those dishes?” All of her requests gave us the opportunity to register ourselves as “saints.”
But is that all there is to being a “saint?” Would all of us be real “saints” if all we had to do was run helpful errands? Isn’t there some deeper commitment, some greater impulse required of a “saint?”
We all know there are true saints in our midst this morning. Can’t you feel their presence? We have but to recognize and celebrate them. And this is our problem.
The problem with real “saints” is that they are slippery. Jesus identified the revealing qualities of a true “saint” in today’s text. They don’t proudly peacock their achievements. They do not wear “broad phylacteries” or “long fringes.” They do not insist upon the best, recognition of their deeds, or need special placement in the community, or the best seats in the sanctuary.
True “saints” slip under the radar…
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The Storyteller's Creed
If you have ever thought about writing a novel or telling a story, Robert Fulghum, who has written many books, suggest that you keep this creed close by as you write:
I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge.
That myth is more potent than history.
That dreams are more powerful than facts.
That hope always triumphs over experience.
That laughter is the only cure for grief.
And I believe that love is stronger than death.
He calls that the Storyteller's Creed. I think he is right on all counts because life, real life, is not about knowledge, history, facts, grief, and death; rather life is about imagination, dreams, hope, laughter, and love. When we hear good stories those are the things that inspire us, move and motivate us. Now you might say to me, "Now preacher, life most certainly is about grief and death. The world is full of it." Yes it is! But they do not have the final word. Grief and death are not the end of the chapter. You see, there is a people whose attitude is not changed by its poverty. There is a nation whose hunger does not drive it to despair. There is a bride whose tears do not cause her to lose hope. There is a church which is persecuted but shall persevere.
One day this great people called the Church of God will leap for joy because it's reward will be great in heaven!
Brett Blair, ChristianGlobe Illustrations
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A Tough Book to Swallow
In a certain town, a man walked into a bookstore to return a purchase. “It’s a Bible,” he said, handing to the clerk at the cash register.
“Was it a gift?” asked the clerk. “No, I bought it for myself,” he said, “and I made a mistake.”
“Didn’t you like the translation? Or the format?” “Oh no,” the man said, “the format was clear and the translation was fine. I made a mistake.”
The clerk said, “Well, I need to write down a reason for the return.” “In that case,” said the man, “write down that there is a lot in that book which is tough to swallow.”
There are some passages in the Bible that are tough to swallow. This is one of them.
William G. Carter, Praying for a Whole New World
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An Attitude of Sacrifice
Jesus is the model of sacrifice. He was certainly no one’s doormat, but yet,he was hated, excluded and called evil. Through it all he was God—controlled and not self—controlled.
When I think of making sacrifices I also think of E. Stanley Jones, perhaps United Methodism’s most famous foreign missionary. He authored over a dozen books and converted hundreds of Hindus in India to Christianity. He is the only person of which I am aware who was voted in abstentia to become a bishop. When he received the news, he turned it down. One day E. Stanley Jones came to Emory University and spoke to a Systematic Theology class. One of the students asked him why he turned down the episcopacy. He laughingly replied that if he became a bishop he would have to retire at age 70. "I am now 82," he said, "and I am still going strong."
Then someone asked him: what do you think of the Beatitudes? Several students picked up their pens expecting something profound and they got it. Here's what he said: "At first sight, you felt they turned everything upside down. At second sight, you understand that they turn everything right side up. The first time you read them they are impossible. The second time you read them, nothing else is possible. The beatitudes are not a chart for Christian duty. They are a charter for Christian liberty.”
Brett Blair, www.Sermons.com
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Orphans Can't Eat Souls
C. H. Spurgeon preached once a each year for his orphans. At that great meeting many would come to hear the famous preacher, and an offering would be received for the orphanage. After one of these meetings he was leaving the sanctuary when one of those "super spiritual," narrow-minded, nitpicking individuals accosted him with the charge, "Why, Mr. Spurgeon, I thought you preached for souls and not for money!"
Spurgeon gravely replied, "Why, Mr. So-and-So. Normally I do preach for souls and not for money. But my orphans can't eat souls and if they did, my brother, it would take at least four the size of yours to give one of them a square meal!"
Brett Blair, ChristianGlobe Illustrations
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Forgiveness Heals a Thief
There was a Zen school in Japan. They were training young boys in the discipline of meditation. The boys had been taken into seclusion. Among the boys there was one who kept stealing. So the boys finally put together a petition and brought he thief to the headmaster and stood there and said, "We are threatening right now to leave because we can't stand this kid any longer." With wisdom the Zen master approached them, looked at them, and said, "You are wise brothers. You are very wise. You are wise because you know the difference between right and wrong. You may go somewhere else to study if you wish, but this poor brother does not even know right from wrong. Who will teach him if I do not? I am going to keep him here even if all the rest of you leave." The story goes that a torrent of tears cleansed the face of that boy who had stolen, and the desire to steal was banished from him forever in that decisive moment.
Richard A. Wing, Deep Joy for a Shallow World
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Generosity
Professor John Killinger in his book "Letting God Bless You" relates the story of a beautiful woman who is ninety years old and has always been extremely generous with everything she has. He says, "She helps foreign students who want to come to this country to study. She sends flowers and food to people who have had a distressing time of any kind. She gives frequent dinners and parties in order to be able to introduce people to one another. Often she sends theater and concert tickets to people she knows would appreciate them but can't afford to buy them. She is always doing something nice for somebody or giving somebody something he or she needs. Everyone loves her because of her selflessness and generosity."
"I said to her one day, "You are so good to everybody." "Oh no," she said, "it is God who has been good to me. He has given me so much more than I can ever use. The more I give away, the more I have. It is wonderful!"
Brett Blair, ChristianGlobe Illustrations
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Forgiving Enemies
In the Old Testament I like the story of Joseph, particularly its outcome. Joseph is the favored one. The older brothers say, "Dad always liked you best." In this case it was true. The brothers go out and fake Joseph's death. They bring back some bloodied clothes and say to their father, "He is dead." In actuality they have sold him into slavery in Egypt. Time passes. Famine comes to Israel. These brothers are forced to go to Egypt and ask the king for food. Traditionally, the king has been their enemy. Can you imagine the drama of that moment when they lift up their eyes and see their brother? There is an exchange and the very last line is the most important. Joseph looks upon them with the eyes of forgiveness and says, "You intended what you did to me as something that would create evil, but God and I were able to bend it into something good." You see, the noblest revenge is to forgive your enemy, and it is perhaps the last of the lessons that we learn from Jesus.
The words of Jesus that we would like to duck most are the ones in front of us, the ones about forgiving enemies. They are so difficult. Fred Craddock, a good teacher of New Testament and preaching, was teaching an undergraduate course in Oklahoma on the Gospels of Jesus. He was taking the simple writings of Jesus and putting them plainly in front of his students. There was a girl sitting in the back of the class, and as he came to the part about loving your enemies, she stood up and started slamming her books all around. She started mumbling, "Jesus and the losers. I hate Jesus and the losers. I can't stand this." She stuffed her bag and went out still mumbling, "Jesus and a bunch of losers, forgiving their enemies."
Richard A. Wing, Deep Joy for a Shallow World
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Forgiveness Means Freedom
Frederick Buechner said: When somebody you have wronged forgives you, you are spared the dull and self-diminishing throb of a guilty conscience. When you forgive someone who has wronged you, you are spared the dismal corrosion of bitterness and wounded pride for both parties. Forgiveness means the freedom again to be at peace inside your own skin and to be glad in eachother's presence.
Richard A. Wing, Deep Joy for a Shallow World
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Love Your Enemy
Corrie Tin Boon survived the Holocaust, but her family did not. They were Dutch Christians caught by the Nazis for hiding Jews in their home. She watched the horrors of the genocide from Auschwitz, and barely survived.
Following the war, she became famous for her book "The Hiding Place," which shared the story of her family. The popularity of the book gave her the opportunity to share her faith with thousands of people on speaking tours.
One such evening, after she had spoken about the forgiveness of Christ, a man approached her whom she recognized as one of the guards from Auschwitz. She immediately felt all of the horror, pain and hatred from those years of persecution.
He told her that he had listened to her talk, and informed her that he had been a guard at the death camp. She told him that she recognized him. Crying, he asked if he might receive the forgiveness of Christ of which she had spoken. She thought to herself that she could not, but she remembered the command of Christ to love your enemy and to forgive seventy times seven the person who has wronged you.
She prayed that Jesus might give her the strength to forgive the man, and as she prayed, she felt a sensation begin in her heart and flow through her hand as it touched his. Then she heard herself saying, "In the name of Jesus Christ, I forgive you."
The man collapsed to her feet and wept a prayer of thanks. She later discovered that he had become a minister of the gospel, and that many people had come to Christ through his ministry.
We never know how far God can spread the love that we give. Indeed, we have perhaps received love from someone that was born from such an act of loving forgiveness in someone else. We love our enemies because we recognize that Christ died for them, too. We love our enemies because we know that the power of love is stronger than any depth to which we can fall.
Tim Carpenter