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5th Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 9
Lectionary 14
Mark. 6:1-13
2nd Corinthians 12:2-10
Illustrations
Proper 9
Lectionary 14
Mark. 6:1-13
2nd Corinthians 12:2-10
Illustrations
A writer expressed this idea about weakness: "Let your weakness be what it will; one of the strangest paradoxes and, at the same time, one of the most encouraging facts in human if e is that your weakness can be your greatest asset. Men, like kites and airplanes, rise against and not with the wind."
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Listening
The story is told of Franklin Roosevelt, who often endured long receiving lines at the White House. He complained that no one really paid any attention to what was said. One day, during a reception, he decided to try an experiment. To each person who passed down the line and shook his hand, he murmured, "I murdered my grandmother this morning." The guests responded with phrases like, "Marvelous! Keep up the good work. We are proud of you. God bless you, sir." It was not till the end of the line, while greeting the ambassador from Bolivia, that his words were actually heard. Nonplussed, the ambassador leaned over and whispered, "I'm sure she had it coming."
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Traditional Story
"My power is made perfect in weakness."
This applies not only to individual experience but indicates the method which God consistently uses in revealing himself. When he chooses a nation to be the carrier of his revelation, he passes by the glory and might of Egypt and Babylon, of Greece and Rome, and selects the despised little nation o Israel.
And when he sends into the world his only begotten Son. "the brightness of his glory and the express image of hit person," he allows him to assume the form of a servant who had "no comelines and we esteemed him not."
The supreme disclosure of God's sovereign love is through the shame of the Cross and when the Messienic nation, the church, is formed to be the body of Christ on earth, "not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God hath chosen the foolish, the weak, the base, the despised."
The same applies to those transcripts of lost documents by which the faith once delivered to the saints has come down to us, the Scriptures, of which St. Chrysostom said, "They are all human as well as all divine."
Our theology therefore, as Luther insists, must be a theology of the Cross, not a theology of glory. We cannot speak about God as he is in his divine majesty. We can speak of him only as faith sees him "in the Virgin's lap, on the cross, and in the Word."
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A pastor says one cold, stormy day, as he was looking out the window of the parsonage, he noticed a lady struggling down the street carrying several packages. He quickly put on his coat and hat and went out to offer help. She gratefully accepted and he took her packages and carried them to her home. She was a lady he had never met before and in the course of their conversation he invited her to attend church.
When Sunday arrived and the people had gathered for worship, he noticed that this lady was present, though sitting toward the back and quite alone. Later, at the meeting of the Official Board, he was questioned as to why that lady was in "our" church. He told his story. Then he was told by the board, "We don't want her in our church. Don't you know that she is a prostitute?"
How terrible — to begin to feel something of the love of God through the compassion of a concerned pastor, and then to be shut out by a proud and exclusive church!
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One of the things that all of us have in common is our inconsistency. We have our ups and downs, our good days and bad days. And because we continue to be both saint and sinner, we are not consistent in our response to God's grace. Sometimes we feel strong, sometimes weak. Too often we need to admit with Saint Paul that "what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing" (Romans 7:19).
Only God is perfectly consistent. He does not have ups and downs. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The psalmist reminds us that God's steadfast love endures forever. In the giving of His Son, God made a commitment that will never change. He has sealed His promise with the blood of Jesus.
We fall alseep on the job at times. Love cools and commitment wavers. Not so with God! He does not vary between strong times and weak times. Nor does He ever fall asleep on the job. There is no moment or situation when we are beyond His care -- not because we are so strong in holding on to Him, but because He is strong in holding us. He who keeps us will neither slumber nor sleep.
From Daily Devotions at devotions@...
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Little Rodney, 4 years old, walked down the beach, and as he did, he spied a matronly woman sitting under a beach umbrella on the sand. He walked up to her and asked, "Are you a Christian?"
"Yes." she replied.
"Do you read your Bible every day?"
She nodded her head, "Yes."
"Do you pray often?" the boy asked next, and again she answered, "Yes."
With that he asked his final question,"Will you hold my quarter while I go swimming?"
from Illustrations@...
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