Soup From Stones

This Sunday there is no manuscript to post, but here are some of the elements that went into the sermon.

The stone soup story: 

"Many years ago three soldiers, hungry and weary of battle, came upon a small village. The villagers, suffering a meager harvest and the many years of war, quickly hid what little they had to eat and met the three at the village square, wringing their hands and bemoaning the lack of anything to eat. The soldiers spoke quietly among themselves and the first soldier then turned to the village elders. "Your tired fields have left you nothing to share, so we will share what little we have: the secret of how to make soup from stones." Naturally the villagers were intrigued and soon a fire was put to the town's greatest kettle as the soldiers dropped in three smooth stones. "Now this will be a fine soup", said the second soldier; "but a pinch of salt and some parsley would make it wonderful!" Up jumped a villager, crying "What luck! I've just remembered where some's been left!"

Listening and Hospitality

Sermon notes for United Church of Acworth, Acworth, NH, Sunday, September 23, 2012.

There's an unforgettable scene in Victor Hugo's novel Les Miserables, when Jean Valjean, recently released from serving almost 20 years in prison for theft, having wandered the streets for the four days since his release, knocks on the door of Bishop Myriel. He thinks that he's coming to yet another inn whose innkeeper will turn him away on account of the yellow passport he has to carry and show which states that he's a former convict. To his surprise the Bishop welcomes him in saying, "Sit down, sir, and warm yourself. We are going to sup in a few moments, and your bed will be prepared while you are supping." The man realizes that this is no innkeeper and soon finds out that he is in fact in the home of a bishop. During the evening, Jean Valjean is treated to a warm room, gentle care and kind conversation. The bishop calls him brother and treats him as if he were.

“This is not my house;” the bishop says, “it is the house of Jesus Christ. This door does not demand of him who enters whether he has a name, but whether he has a grief. You suffer, you are hungry and thirsty; you are welcome. And do not thank me; do not say that I receive you in my house. No one is at home here, except the man who needs a refuge. I say to you, who are passing by, that you are much more at home here than I am myself. Everything here is yours.”¹

Jean Valjean wakes up in the middle of the night and, unable to get back to sleep, gets to thinking about the six sets of silverware he had seen during dinner.

Cultivating A Life Together

Sermon notes for a sermon given at the United Church of Acworth, Acworth, NH on September 16, 2012.

We are united in cultivating Christian sympathy in feeling, justice in our dealings, and courtesy in speech.

Cultivating

“And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”

in April and May when we're sowing seeds, we're paying close to attention to the words on the seed packets. Perhaps we're even, the more diligent among us, consulting other books on the particularities of the seeds that we're planting. We want to know how to get it just right. We want to know how to create the conditions for tasty, sweet, cherry tomatoes. Not only that, but we recognize that the food will be tastier and more healthy the better the soil conditions are for the seed. So we take good care prepare our soil so that we might have a good harvest.

It's hard work. You have to take out the rotatiller or rent one or borrow one or – if we're ambitious enough – grab a spade and spend a few days doing it by hand.

Death, Birth, and a Wedding: A Sermon on Baptism

Given on the Surry Mountain Lake beach, Surry, NH, for the baptism of William and Sheila Brodne at the annual church service and picnic on Sunday September 9, 2012.

Romans 6:1-11

The Message rendering: “That is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace – a new life in a new land”

“That's what baptism into the life of Jesus means. When we are lowered into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus; when we are raised up out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus. Each of us is raised into a light-filled world by our Father so that we can see where we're going in our new grace-sovereign country.”

Shawshank redemption narrative:

• Shawshank Redemption
  • “In... The Shawshank Redemption, the main character, Andy Dufresne, who has been wrongly accused, convicted, and imprisoned for the murders of his wife and her lover, finally finds his chance at escape. In one of the most exciting scenes, Andy breaks into a sewage pipe inside the bowels of his high-security correctional facility during a thunderstorm and crawls through the muck with a new suit wrapped in a plastic and tied to his leg. Upon emerging in the open air outside the prison facility, he lifts his arms in crucifix form and allows the pouring rain to clean him. Now he begins life as a new man, with a new suit and identity.” Brian Brewer in “Distinctly Baptist”

Like Dufresne we have all found ourselves at one time imprisoned.