blog-maryBlog - Joyful Curmudgeon - Blog
A Mary T. Hoffman Commentary from All-Creatures.org

 

"Joyful Curmudgeon" An oxymoron?
No! I see all the beauty of God's creation and I'm joyful.  At the same time, I see all the suffering and corruption going on in the world, and feel called to help expose and end it so that we may have true peace and compassion.

 


Memorial Day (observed) – 29 May 2006
By Mary T. Hoffman

As I’ve mentioned in a previous Blog, on Sundays we’ve been publishing, on our web site, Frank’s sermons given in past years. The sermon we published yesterday was one that Frank gave on Memorial Day, Sunday May 30, 1993. The title of this sermon is “We Should Remember We Are Not Islands Unto Ourselves,” and was originally delivered in a local church, The Federated Church of Athens.

If you haven’t read it, see:
http://all-creatures.org/sermons97/s30may93.html 

In this sermon, Frank refers to scriptures in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) as well as in the New Testament. It’s amazing how human nature remains the same throughout the history of this world.

The Apostle Paul, in speaking to the Corinthian Church about cooperation among the church members, has this to say:

Corinthians 12:14-20

14. For the body [of Christ] is not one member, but many.

15. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body.

16. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body.

17. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?

18. But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired.

19. And if they were all one member, where would the body be?

20. But now there are many members, but one body.

Here are some of Frank’s comments taken from his sermon, in reference also to Numbers 16 of the Hebrew Bible, the passage describing the rebellion against Moses and Aaron, when the Israelites were in the wilderness:

“…just because a leader, or several leaders, or even many leaders and people of renown, decide to do something, doesn't necessarily make it the proper thing to do.”

“We must remember that disunity is not from God.”

“The masses of the people don’t really want to think for themselves; they want to be led around by someone else.”

“But when the tide seems to be changing, they flow with the new tide.”

“This is not the way God wants us to be. He has given each of us the ability to think for ourselves, and He has given us the Holy Spirit to be our guide.”

“And we are to extend this love to the members of our community, and our political subdivisions, and to our whole nation, and even to the whole world, until it all becomes the body of Christ, not by force, but because of our love and compassion.”

“It takes only one person to stir up trouble and problems; but we must remember that it will never spread, unless others go along with it.”

“With our love and compassion, we can comfort and redirect those who have gone astray, and protect the innocent.”

“With our love and compassion, we can truly mold and form a viable, living body that is useful to God and to ourselves.”

Go on to: Memorial Day (traditional) – 30 May 2006
Return to: Decadence – 28 May 2006
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