Sermon Illustrations
PARADOX
A PARADOXICAL VOCATION
by James W. Fowler
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The entire thrust of the Christian understanding of the human vocation gives it, in the eyes of most of the world, a decidedly para
doxical character.
Strength, in this perspective, requires a self-emptying that to the world looks like weakness. Leadership, in this perspective, involves the purity of motive required in servanthood. Fulfilling one’s life means losing one’s life in the costly expenditure of love. Wisdom, from this standpoint, means fixing one’s navigational instruments on the promise and vision of a commonwealth of love,
the contours of which — dimly visible to the eyes of the world — seem to be rank foolishness.
Cooperation with the liberative and redemptive action of God, therefore, decisively shapes the way persons seek positions, use resources, and make themselves available in the domains represented in the creative and governing action of God. Put most simply, it means an active, generative, initiating love for those whom God loves, which transvalues images of power, value
and success and which is ready to spend and be spent in God’s work of fulfilling an inclusive commonwealth of love.
Christianly speaking, then, the human calling — the human vocation — is to partnership with God in God’s work in the world.
(pp. 91-92), JAMES W. FOWLER, "Becoming Adult, Becoming Christian."
Quoted in Presbyterian Outlook, 4/12/85
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PARAMENTS
PARAMENTS AND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE
by Hazel Townsend
Paraments are often used in the sanctuary to add color and interest to worship. They can be placed on the pulpit, lectern,
communion table, or other focal points. A stole, worn by the minister, can have similar significance.
Paraments can help the worshiper focus on a particular point of our Christian faith through the use of color and symbols. The sense of sight is used to aid in the worship experience.
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The colors most often used are those related to the Christian Year - purple, white, red, and green. These may be changed seasonally, or the same color used all the time. There is usually a symbol, often a cross or monogram of Christ, on the parament that illustrates a significant belief.
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The CHRISTIAN YEAR and the symbolism of color help us remember the mighty act of God, especially as they are seen in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. On the back of the UPCUSA Program Calendar the dates and colors for the seasons are given.
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ADVENT (purple) is the season we remember Christ’s coming. It is observed the four Sundays before Christmas.
CHRISTMASTIDE (white) begins with Christmas Eve and lasts for twelve days. Christ’s birth is celebrated.
EPIPHANY (white) is the revelation of God’s gift to all. It. is celebrated until Ash Wednesday.
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LENT (purple) begins with Ash Wednesday and continues for forty week days and six Sundays. It culminates with Holy Week when the church remembers, proclaims, and responds to the death of Christ.
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HOLY WEEK (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday - purple; Maundy Thursday - white; Good Friday - red) is the week prior to Easter. The passion and death of Christ is remembered.
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EASTERTIDE (white) is fifty-days beginning with Easter Day. The resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is celebrated.
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PENTECOST (red) commemorates the gift of the Holy Spirit and how God's people live under its guidance. It continues until Advent.
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TRINITY SUNDAY (white) is the first Sunday after Pentecost and the following week.
SUNDAYS AFTER PENTECOST (and weekdays - green).
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Beautiful paraments can be purchased, but a congregation who designs and makes their own has something uniquely theirs. It can be an opportunity to study the symbolism of color and design as it relates to our faith. Paraments become a lasting part of a congregation; therefore, the planning must be done carefully and with the approval of session. They will be enjoyed by young and old alike for many years.
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PARENTING (12 Steps)
THE 12 STEPS OF PARENTING
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Step 1: Admit powerlessness over your ability to protect your children from pain and become willing to surrender to your love and not your control.
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Step 2: Find hope in the belief that parenting is possible through faith and willingness to work on yourself.
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Step 3: Reach out for help and acknowledge that you are not alone.
Step 4: Take stock of yourself as a parent.
Step 5: Learn to share your parenting issues with others without self-recrimination.
Step 6: Become ready to change by giving up the demand to be perfect.
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Step 7: Make conscious changes in your parenting by identifying specific strategies for healthy parenting.
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Step 8: Take responsibility for the effect your parenting has had on your children and learn self-forgiveness.
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Step 9: Make amends to your children through healthy parenting without over-compensating.
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Step 10: Model being honest with yourself and your children and create acceptance in your family for imperfection.
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Step 11: Learn to accept your limits in life and find your true spiritual path while allowing your children theirs.
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Step 12: Reach out to other parents in the spirit of giving and community.
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-UNKNOWN
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PARENTING MODEL
from the book: How to Speak to Children Fluently
by: Erma Bombeck
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When does parenting end?
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It all depends on how you regard your children. Do you see them as an appliance that is under warranty to perform and when they start to cost money, get rid of them?
Are they like an endowment policy you invest in for eighteen years or so and then return dividends through your reclining
years?
Or are they like a finely gilded mirror that reflects the owner in every way and one day when you see a flaw in it, a distortion or one tiny idea that is different from your own, you cast it out and declare yourself a failure?
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I said to my husband one night, "I see our children as kites. You spend a lifetime trying to get them off the ground. You run with them until you're both breathless...they crash...you add a longer tail... they hit the rooftop...you pluck them out of the spouting...you patch and comfort, adjust and teach. You watch them lifted by the wind and assure them that someday they'll fly... Finally they’re airborne, but they need more string and with each twist of the ball of twine, there is a sadness that goes with the joy because the kite becomes more distant and somehow you know it won’t be long before this beautiful creature will snap the lifeline binding you together and soar as it was meant to soar - free and alone.”
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"That was beautiful,” said my husband. "Are you finished?”
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"I think so. Why?"
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"Because one of your kites just crashed onto the garage door with his car... another is landing here with three surfboards with friends on them, and the third is hung up at college and needs more string to come home for the holidays."
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PARENTS
Medical professionals laud advice to teens
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DEAR ABBY: As medical professionals who have worked with children for more than 24 years, we truly appreciate current, informative material presented in a non-judgmental fashion with a dash of humor, aijd seasoned thoroughly with honesty, love, warmth and concern for our children of today.
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Don’t we all as parents wish we could protect and shield our children from adversities and pressures of living in the fast lane of the ’80s?
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However, unless we put our children in protective plastic bubbles, the realities and pressures of life and living will eventually touch them.
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As much as we want to protect our children and their innocence, it may be to our advantage and theirs to “arm” them with some concrete informative ammunition with which to deal with the pitfalls of the ’80s.
With the information contained in your booklet, “What Every Teen Should Know,” a young adult may come to realize that there are always consequences to pay for one’s actions.
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On the last page of your booklet is “A Letter to Parents.” I think those words are so important they should be engraved on a plaque and positioned where parents can read them often to remind us how to achieve a healthy relationship with our children. Will you please print it in your column?
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Abby, you are to be commended. You did a fantastic job.
— BOBBIE ELDRIDGE, R.N., J.M. TARLE,M.D., SANTA MONICA PEDIATRIC MEDICAL GROUP
DEAR NURSE ELDRIDGE AND DR. TARLE:
Thank you for your kind letter. Here’s “A Letter to Parents”: Dear Parents: I know this is a booklet for teen-agers, but there’s something that needs to be said, and I’m going to say it.
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Sociologists and psychologists have interviewed teen-agers on the subject of what’s bugging them. Here is whatour youngsters have said they wanted:
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LOVE. We want parents who will love us no matter what happens or what we do. We want our dad around more often. We want him home in time for dinner, so we can discuss the day’s happenings with him.
UNDERSTANDING. Maybe we don’t even understand ourselves. But we want parents who DO, who will listen and at least let us explain.
TRUST. We want to be put on our own. We want our parents to expect the best of us . . . not fear the worst.
JOINT PLANNING. We want parents who will stand BESIDE us, not OVER us. We appreciate guidance in important matters, but after we’ve proven ourselves to have fairly mature judgment, we don’t want to be nagged about every little thing.
PRIVACY. We need a room of our own to retreat to, and a place to pursue our hobbies — and store our junk. We don’t want our letters read, or our phone conversations listened in on.
RESPONSIBILITY. We want our share of family tasks. But we’d like to know who’s to do what, and why.
FRIENDSHIPS. We want the right to choose our own friends. And unless they have reputations for being “bad” company, such as boozers or dopers, we want them to be welcome in our home.
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So ends the Teen-Age Bill of Rights. How much of it applies to your home is for you to decide.
But don’t ever say that you don’t understand what your children want. Right or wrong, I think they’ve made it pretty clear. Don’t you?
Also a Parent, ABBY
Universal Press Syndicate
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PARENTS OF TEENS
Outlining Parents' Big Concerns
By Evelyn Petersen, Knight-Ridder News Service
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You get a wide variety of questions about teenagers. What are the ones parents ask most often?What do you think is the biggest
problem for parents and their teens?
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There are many types of questions but all reflect three major areas of concern. Parents’ questions pertain to their children’s
self-esteem, to improving or preserving good relationships, or to skills they know their children need to survive the teen years and eventually to become independent.
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I feel that today’s biggest problem for families with teens is indulgence. When parents make excuses for kids, bail children out of
problems the youngsters create for themselves and give them lots of unearned freebies and material things, the parents are likely to end up with troubled teens.
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Teenagers need responsibilities linked to every privilege. They need to learn what they want and to know the difference between
wants and needs. They need firm and loving guidance. They need to learn how to make choices in their best interest and to live with their mistakes. All of this promotes self-esteem, good relationships and strong life skills.
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But parents want more than the answers to specific questions. They want to know that they are not alone, that what they are going through is normal and that it’s going to get better. They want to know that it’s OK to tell their kids how they feel, set limits they believe in and change the rules when necessary.
Most of all, they want and need to know that no one is a perfect parent. We all make mistakes. We do the best we can, and we keep on learning how to do it better, year after year.
Evelyn Petersen at the Detroit Free Press, Box 828, Detroit, MI 48231, in the Philadelphia Inquirer 1/21/90
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PASTORATE START UP
Sermon by Jack Kurtz
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The first and most significant thing I want to communicate to you all is simply, "Thank You." I am frustrated that there is no way that I can thank, individually, all of you who worked so hard to put the. manse in its present excellent condition, all of you who had food in the manse when we arrived and kept coming by to add to the collection, who contributed towels and sleeping bags and
maps, etc., etc., etc. All of you who have made so many excellent suggestions on adapting to a new community, and all of you who have so quickly and convincingly offered us your friendship.
Since I cannot thank all of you individually, I guess I’ll just have to respond by trying to be the best minister that I can be for you and Bush Hill Presbyterian Church and Jesus Christ. (Note that 1 did not say I will try to meet all your expectations or be able to meet all of Christ's expectations.)
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Now then, what's the new minister going to be doing right away? Right at the first my priorities go something like this:
1. I've already made a number of hospital, calls, but It bothers me that the only person I've called on Is a "friend of a friend" of a congregation member. It doesn’t bother me to call on a non-member, and It doesn't bother me that none of our members are In the hospital at this time. What bothers me Is the {ear that some of our members might be In the hospital at this time and I don't know about It. Especially during these first few months, I will need all the help I can get from you In knowing who In the congregation has special, needs.
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2. In about a month I want to invite you to our home. Not all at once. I’m hoping to plan two or three evenings a month when I can have a reasonable number of you over for dessert and conversation. Don’t feel bad If you don’t get invited in June. I expect this to run well into the fall. This is one small way that Betsy and I can say "Thank you." It gives us the opportunity to get to know you and vice versa, and it gives me the opportunity to start to get a feeling for what you want from the church.
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3. I am considerlng "programs" we want to begin. I am reluctant, however, to begin anything very elaborate this summer. The various committees will need to consider several suggestions I want to make, and summer schedules make it a bad time to begin much in the way of Bible study, marriage enrichment, etc.. The one exception to this is a college/careers young adults group which we are going to try to begin right away for the hopefully obvious reason that there will be more our college students available during the summer than the fall.
I know that many o£ you have waited two years for a "regular minister” to suggest or lead opportunities for growth and mission, but I’m hoping you're willing to wait three more months. (If you aren't, tell me. I'm willing to begin any kind of special Bible study group, sharing group, or general study group any old time. I'm not going anywhere this summer.)
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4. I am beginning to do some thinking about fall congregational retreat, which is being planned by the Evangelism and Outreach Committee. I will probably be taking a major leadership role In this retreat. Your new pastor is totally "sold” on congregational retreats. They were a big part of the church’s life together in Warrensburg. I want to ask you to reserve the dates of October 31 through November 2 right now. I believe It is very important, that as many of the members of our congregation as possible participate in this retreat.
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5. I have begun meeting with committee chairpersons and others in leadership roles in the congregation to acquaint myself with what’s happening and what’s planned for Bush Hilt. Quite frankly this process is going much more slowly than I had hoped. My calendar is now completely booked for all weeknights for the next two weeks with committee meetings and calls on non-members.
6. Before too long I hope to begin making personal calls on some of you, but I'm not making any promises on this. I have already begun making calls in nursing homes and on members of our congregation who find it difficult to get out because of age or health. These will be the first calls I will make, and, quite frankly, I expect it to be a rather, long time before I have called in the homes all the members. This is one of the reasons that Betsy and I are going to be asking you to visit us.
There are a number other things your new pastor is doing and a number o other things I'd like to say to you, but I don’t want this
column to get as long as Sunday's worship service.
It's great to be here. Yours in Christ,
Jack Kurtz
June 1986 TEMPO church newsletter, Bush Hill Presbyterian Church, Alexandria, VA
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PK's
By Paul A. Corcoran
My friend over at the Church of the Free Spirit believes in stories and he told this one in a sermon on the power of the Word.
It’s about a PK (preacher’s kid) who at the beginning of Advent launched a campaign to get a wristwatch for Christmas. He had an older brother and sister who had watches, but his parents had told him repeatedly that he was too young to have such a valuable object.
Nonetheless, all through the days of opptunity to bring up the subject of a watch, promising that he would not ask for anything else for the next two Christmases if he could just have a watch. His father finally got so tired of it that he ordered him to drop the subject or face severe discipline. “I don’t want to hear that word again,” he declared.
For the remainder of that week there was silence on the subject. At Sunday dinner, it was the family custom for each one to give a verse of Scripture after the blessing. Father, mother, sister and brother each gave his or hers, then all turned to the boy for his selection. He looked slowly around at each one of them and then calmly announced, “Mark 13, verse 37, ‘And what I say to you I say to all: Watch!’”
PREACHER’S KIDS have always been an ingenious lot. They have to be.
They’re suspected of having been immaculately conceived. This includes being born already toilet-trained, tantrum-proofed and equipped with a rudimentary knowledge of Scripture.
Some of them accept the patina of purity that seems to be their fate, but most find ways to dispel the myth pretty early in life. In fact, it seems to be the first ambition they develop. While other youngsters want to be firemen or cowboys or movie actresses, PKs start out wanting to prove they’re not angels.
Clergy parents learn to live on the brink of disaster, waiting for their offspring to unveil the next convincer. Like the preacher father who glanced over at his wife in the choir and realized that she in turn was staring with horror at their 3-year-old sitting in the front pew slowly undressing himself.
Eventually, little PKs grow up to be big PKs and a surprising percentage of them seem to be happy with the whole thing and bear no serious grudges against the ministry. In fact, some of them have even become preachers themselves and have little PKs of their own; and thus is the line continued.
IT’S A VERY SPECIAL LINE, too. It includes some of the church’s steadiest members and some pretty famous Americans.
William Williams, for instance, was a PK signer of the Declaration of Independence. (John Witherspoon signed it, too, but he was a P, not a PK). Henry Ward Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe were brother and sister PKs. Grover Cleveland and Woodrow Wilson were PKs who went from the manse to the White House. Walter Mondale and George McGovern were PKs who didn’t.
Reinhold Niebuhr and Richard Niebuhr were PK brothers who could obfuscate by the time they could walk. Martin Luther King Jr. was a PK and so were Pearl Buck, Agnes Moorehead, gospel singer Mahalia Jackson and country singer Glenn Campbell. Also Horace Fletcher, who taught us to chew each morsel 32 times and always said, “Nature will castigate those who don’t masticate.”
It’s a star-studded genealogy, a heroic company of overcomers, a noble alumni of one of America’s unique institutions, the
Protestant manse, the only school where they teach domesticated theology.
PKs know Christianity in its underwear. They understand faith with its heart broken. They see the prophet using a plunger on the toilet, stretching dollars to educate children and putting the tithe ahead of new clothes. And more than once they have witnessed the miracle of the five loaves and two fishes feeding a multitude in their own dining room.
PK should be a degree one writes proudly after one’s name. I’m pretty sure that’s how it already appears in the Lord’s Book of Life. It marks those for whom God will always have a special smile.
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In the Presbyterian Outlook, 1987
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POLLUTER (Poem)
A POLLUTER’S DREAM
There's a rumor now current, though strange it may seem
Of a polluter’s terrible dream.
Being tired of polluting, he laid down on his bed
And, amongst other things, soon dreamt he was dead.
And, in a deep coffin, lying in state
With his cold, waxen features frozen with hate,
He wasn’t long dead ’till he found to his cost
That his map and passport to the next world were lost.
So hurrying forth, to Heaven went straight,
Striding right up to the good Pearly Gate;
But the Lookout Angel, in a voice loud and clear
Said, "Begone a polluter, we don’t want you up here.”
"Gosh,” thought a polluter, "that’s mighty uncivil
Does he mean that I should go straight to the Devil?”
He turned on his heel and off he did go
Running full speed to the regions below.
But when he got there, he was filled with dismay
For while waiting outside he heard Satan say
To his imps, "Now look here, I’m giving you fair warning
I’m expecting a polluter down here this morning.
Don’t let him in, for to me it is clear
We’re far too good for that mongrel down here.
If he gets in, there’ll be the dickens to pay
For, bad as I am, he’s much worse any day.”
"Oh Satan, dear Satan,” a polluter cried,
"Excuse me for listening while waiting outside.
If you won’t let me in, where can I go?”
"Indeed,” said the Devil, "I really don’t know.”
"I’ll teach you new tricks,” a polluter did whine,
"Where I came from we had the old Brandywine -
A stream of beauty, all sparkling a clear,
The people were happy, it filled them with cheer.
In the water the children would paddle and swim
And the cattle would wade right up to their chin.
’Twas the anglers’ delight - they were really content.
Yes, all was serene where the Brandywine went.
So I filled that stream with old paper pulp,
And put in some acid to make the fish gulp.
Then to add some color - don’t ask me why -
I fiendishly dumped in all colors of dye.
That soon made all the good people sore;
So, to add to their woes, I’d dump a lot more.
Now you can see what a help a polluter would be
In these regions below, where our work would agree.
Please let me in, I’m feeling quite cold.
If it’s money you want, I’ve got plenty of gold.
Just give me a corner, no matter how hot.”
"Indeed,” said the Devil, "Most certainly not.
We don’t let apartments for riches or pelf,
Here’s some matches and sulphur, make Hell for yourself.”
Then he kicked a polluter out, and vanished in smoke,
And just at that moment a polluter awoke,
He jumped out of bed in a shivering sweat
And said, "Gosh, that’s one dream I shall never forget.
That I won’t go to Heaven, I know very well
But it’s awful tough luck to be kicked out of Hell.”
Fred C. Dutt - (1943)
NOTE: A drive to eliminate pollution from the Brandywine Creek was started in March 1935 by Fred C, Dutt of West Chester, Pa., through a petition circulated in this area calling on the Sanitary Water Board, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, Pa. to start proceedings against the polluters of this stream. Roland Grubb of Kennett Square and Clarence Miles of West Chester, together with Fred Dutt, then formed a group, Friends of the Brandywine” to carry on the anti-pollution drive. When the West Chester Fish & Game Association was organized June 24, 1947 both groups combined to carry out the Brandywine cleanup.
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PRAISE - CRITICISM
Quotable Quotes
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Praise can give criticism a lead around the first turn and still win the race.
—Bern Williams in National Enquirer, Reader's Digest, March 1986
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PRAYER PRACTICES
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AN APPROACH TO PRAYER: THE FIVE "P’S"
Now some practical suggestions: It's said that some of us are reluctant to let God act in us because we doubt it will work. But
it will work if we give Him a chance. What can we do to let Him communicate Himself more fully and freely to us?
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Try to be faithful to at least 40 minutes to an hour daily of being alone with God. Try to make room for this at regular times each day. God wants time to be alone with each of us and communicate with us; and what God wants, God deserves. I suggest these five "P’s" of prayer:
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1. PASSAGE from Holy Scripture (pick one). Before beginning a prayer period, choose a short passage from the Bible. Do this before your prayer period, either the evening before or in the first few minutes before you begin to pray. Select a passage you want to listen to and relish. It may be a favorite Psalm or Parable or Miracle Story or section of one of our Lord’s Sermons. Let it fit your mood and need. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you to the passage He prefers for you. Read it, put a marker in the page, and keep it ready. You may or may not come back to it before your prayer period ends.
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2. PLACE. Find a private spot where you can be alone with God. It is good to be in the sanctuary of a church (any) but if people are in the chapel with you and you feel like stretching out your arms, or sighing or complaining or crying or dancing or singing, you will not do it. But you can and should feel free to do this when you are alone. You must not be inhibited when you respond to God’s presence. So, pick a quiet place where you are alone and can uninhibitedly speak and react to God’s presence without drawing attention from others.
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3. POSTURE. At the beginning of private prayer, take time to settle or compose yourself peacefully. We do not pray as angels or disembodied spirits or as intellects, but as humans. Men and women have bodies and bodily posture is important in prayer. Do you pray better when kneeling? Then kneel. Do you feel more receptive and open to God’s presence when sitting? Then sit. Saint Ignatius of Loyola was a mystic who seemed to prefer lying down during his prayer and he recommends that we try it.
Experiment with various postures till you find one most conducive for responding to God's presence. This may vary from day to day and within the same prayer period. Try, for example, lying propped up in bed or sitting in a comfortable chair with feet on a stool and arms resting on an armrest or on your lap with palms up; or sitting in a chair with your back straight or sitting at a table or desk or kneeling with arms resting on a support or outstretched, etc. Different postures fit your different moods and needs.
4. PRESENCE of God. Respond to God’s presence. Peacefully remind yourself hoiv present He is to you, e.g. feel the desk, or your pulse, see colors and hear sounds and admit to God: "Yes, You love life and feeling into me and texture into it. You love hearing and sight into me and sound and color into it. You love life into me. You are in me. Thank you for living in me, for loving goodness and sonship/daughter hood into me."
This takes time but it should always be done. Never hurry that part of prayer, even if it takes up the whole time. You may feel like saying, "Thank You. I love You, too." In these moments God's special communication may come with a deep personal sense of His presence. Sometimes He makes His presence felt (experienced) by us, and when He does, let it continue; let this experience hold or carry you just as water holds up a floating body. Stay with it until it fades. Do not move away from it or change or rush the experience or over-react with too many or unnecessary words. Perhaps a simple repetition of "Ply Lord and my God," or "Abba" (Father) will do. If it fades, continue the reminders that you have of His presence.
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5. PRAY the Passage from Scripture by returning to it, reading it aloud, listening to it. There may be no time left to read the Scripture passage you selected. If so, fine, but when you try to respond to God's presence in a grateful, loving and adoring way and nothing seems to happen, if you feel dry and desolate, do not be discouraged or judge this as a sign of failure. Rather, the dryness may be God inviting you to listen to Him as He speaks to you in Holy Scripture. Always have the Scriptures available when you are at prayer. If you hunger to hear the Word of God, or when nothing seems to happen after you try patiently and peacefully to respond to God’s presence, when you feel He is not communicating Himself, or if you feel restless and distracted, then turn to the place you selected in Scripture and let Him communicate Himself to you. Listen while He talks, because Scripture is the living Word of the living God. It is living now because God is alive now and hasn't changed His mind in what He said through the inspired writers. It is more important to listen this way to God than to speak. Remember, God is present in His inspired Word in the Bible.
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Very slowly with attention whisper or read aloud (not silently) God's words. Pause between the phrases so that the echo and meaning of the words can sink into you slowly like soft rain into thirsty soil. You may want to keep repeating a word or phrase. If you finish the selected passage before your prayer period ends, go back and slowly repeat it over and over, just as we repeat the chorus of a favorite song.
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Why whisper or speak aloud the words of Scripture? Because this engages our attention more fully through eyes, ears and voice. Often when I read something in silence, my eyes focus on the words while my imagination and attention wander far away. To listen to God’s word spoken is a special sacramental experience.
Praying with Scripture this way is listening to God. You need not make applications or search for profound meanings or implications or conclusions or resolutions. Be content to listen simply, attentively and openly as a child who climbs into its Papa's lap and listens to a story.
When the time is up, thank God for being with you. Realize that Father, Son and Spirit live on in you as you continue the rest
of your day. Even if we have lived long years of half-distracted, half-tepid, half-hearted attempts at praying, it is never too late. Try
it. Taste and see for yourself. If you give Him the opportunity and remain faithful to it, within a very short time, God will make
a real mystic out of you—a normal, healthy, everyday sort of mystic, graced with the kinds of prayer that God longs to give us.
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PRAYER RELATIONSHIP
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The Rev. John H. Wright, a professor at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, Calif., wrote “A Theology of Christian Prayer,” asserted, “God knows our needs before we ask, and if God is unwilling for some reason to do what we ask, it is absurd to think that we can persuade Him to do otherwise.”
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But theologians like Father Wright compare asking God’s help to what people do when they say “I love you” or “I am sorry.” Spoken sincerely, those words express a personal relationship that already exists — and may even be obvious. But everyone
knows that actually voicing the sentiments can dramatically clarify and reinforce the relationship.
“Prayer is neither informing nor persuading God, much less is it a kind of magical spell compelling the divinity to satisfy my needs,” Father Wright said.
“But prayer always expresses symbolically a personal relationship through trust, confidence, praise, appreciation or repentance.”
NY TIMES NATIONAL Saturday, January 19, 1991 in "Beliefs" by Peter Steinfels
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PRAYER
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"Prayer," as someone has said, "is not a matter of trying to persuade God to adopt our point of view, rather, it’s using God's help in pulling ourselves around to his point of view."
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When a sailor throws his boat hook ashore, asked the preacher of old, is he trying to haul the land to the boat, or trying to haul the boat to the land?_
One of the reasons why prayer is sometimes so difficult is that it’s a reversal of the ways to which we've been so accustomed. The computer salesman, for example, must persuade undecided customers to adopt his product line. The lawyer is committed to the task of persuading the jury to see things her way. The advertising industry spends millions persuading us to buy what they think we need.
And so we often carry the same mood into our prayers, as if it were necessary to persuade God to do what we think He should do. But, as someone has noted, "Prayer is not a matter of persuading God's reluctance; it is rather a question of making ourselves available to His willingness."
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Prayer makes us more sensitive to what God wants to do in and through us and for us - unless we are too intent on telling God what we think He should be doing for us.
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Gracious God, make us sensitive to the
guidance of thy Spirit in our daily
walk. And teach us to. say with our
Lord, "thy will be done pn earth as it
is in heaven." Amen.
Your Pastor,
Bob
by Robert W. Battles, Pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Mt. Clemens, MI, Pastor Page of The Herald church newsletter
August 24, 1988
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PREDESTINATION (Joke)
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Two farmers standing at the fence, always arguin' about predestination, one said, "You mean that before all creation, before
time began, God knew that on Jan. 6, at 10 a.m. I'd take this tobacco out of my pocket and have a chew?" "He sure did!"
He put it back in his pocket and said "Well, I fooled him."
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PRESENCE (of God)
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Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit 'round it and pluck blackberries.
From Aurora Leigh (poem) by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
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PRIDE
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Pride is the most peculiar disease known to the human family;
it makes everyone sick except the person who has it.
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-Unknown
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PRINCIPLES
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TUESDAY MORNING
I Have My Principles, But ...
By R. DAVID STEELE
I’m a sucker for people with strong principles. I love to hear stories about folks who stick to their guns no matter what. I would like to be remembered as “a man of principle.” It has a John Wayne ring to it. Periodically, I set out to reformmy life. I decide I will do thus and so — come heaven or high water.
My most recent resolve concerns weddings. As a school chaplain in Hawaii in the ’60s and ’70s, I performed literally hundreds of them. The chapel at the old school was a romantic place for matrimony. Often, arrangements for the nuptials were conducted via mail from the mainland. My contact with the couple was limited to one or two premarital sessions and often I never saw the folks
again.
I began to be dissatisfied with that arrangement.
Upon entering the pastorate, I noticed my habits changing. I found myself recommending other preachers when strangers called for a wedding. Finally, I felt ready for a principle. A few months ago, I defined it carefully. It went like this: “I am tired of being a functionary. I will henceforth marry only folk who are tied in with this congregation . . . people I know and with whom I can have a continuing relationship.”
I fantasized about the result. I could hear folks saying, “You know, sometimes Dave seems kind of cranky and stodgy about weddings; but you must say this for him: he sticks to his principles.”
And then Eddie called.
I FIRST MET EDDIE in connection with the death of a good friend. During the lingering illness, I often met Eddie at
his bedside. When my friend died, his ashes were scattered on a mountain peak. Afterward, Eddie invited the relatives to
the mountain chalet of which he was manager. I remember that dinner at which Eddie was cook and host — it was
warm and healing.
A few months ago, I called Eddie. (I had forgotten his name, just remembered the place where he worked.) I needed assistance. I recalled scattering ashes on that peak. Now my mother was dead. Could Eddie help me find that beautiful spot again? I wished for my mother’s ashes to rest there.
Without hesitation, he agreed. When would it be? We changed times twice; no problem for Eddie. On that evening when Jim, Joan, Marcy and I drove to the mountain top, Eddie was there to meet us, to lead us along a trail and to stand respectfully at one side while we entrusted mother’s ashes to the elements from which she came.
Later, we joined Eddie on the veranda of that chalet. We sipped tea he had prepared for us and watched the most magnificent sunset since the day of creation. He was our host at this perfect ending on the day of our mother’s remembering.
So, when Eddie called and asked me to perform his wedding, I was in a quandary. We met: Eddie, his beloved, and I. Sure enough, their plans outlined the scenario I had resolved to avoid. The wedding was five days away, outside in a meadow. The bride-to-be wanted her horse nearby. Both lived too far away from our church to attend regularly. Both worked on Sunday. My principle indicated a clear “No” was in order.
“Why me?” I asked, “Why not a judge? Why have something religious?” And then Eddie began to talk with me about things he had felt inside, by a bedside, on a mountain top, times when he and I had been together. As he shared what he had felt, I was reminded of feelings within me. And so I said to this companion in the shadow — to this one who at age 13 had vowed to become a Catholic priest but now at 33 was alienated from institutional religion — I said to him, “Sure!”
WEDDING MORNING, I walked with the bride and groom and her parents through the horse pucky to the spot beside the redwood tree in that country corral. There the six of us, with the horse tied to a tree nearby, entered into holy matrimony.
There was a voice within me saying, “Dave, what are you doing here?” But as I embraced that teary-eyed groom and his beloved, I knew I could be nowhere else.
Yes, I cringed when the announcement of their wedding arrived by mail. It listed my name as the marry-er and the horse as witness. It validated my principle. And my principle still stands. I am not going to do that kind of wedding again!
It’s a good principle, a sound one. I am sure such principles would strengthen the church and add depth to human life.
So, I’m all for principles. But, I must admit that, even with 20/20 hindsight, if Eddie called today, I’d do the same danged thing.
A principle is fine until you get to talking with people.
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THE PRESBYTERIAN OUTLOOK, June 10, 1985, pp 17-18
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PSALM 16 (Prayer activity)
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I say to the Lord, "You are my Lord;
all the good things I have come from you."
How excellent are the Lord's faithful people!
My greatest pleasure is to be with them.
You, Lord, are all I have,
you give me all I need;
my future is in your hands.
How wonderful are your gifts to me;
how good they are.
I am always aware of your presence, Lord;
you are near, and nothing can shake me.
You will show me the path that leads to life;
your presence fills me with joy
and brings me pleasure forever.
(Adapted from selected verses of Psalm 16, Good News Bible)
Directions for leading this activity:
1. Present selected verses of Psalm 16 one line at a time with participants repeating the line.
2. Invite persons to select a line or a verse to be the focus of their prayer.
3. Instruct them to memorize the line or verse.
4. Tell them to close their eyes and to repeat the line or verse prayerfully, silently.
5. After a minute of silence invite persons to speak their lines or verses aloud, one at a time; it is alright to repeat lines or verses and for more than one person to speak at the same time.
6. Close by praying the Psalm in unison.
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(A Bible reading and praying activity prepared by Donald L. Griggs, Livermore CA © 1987)