Sermon Tone Analysis

*John 6:35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life.

Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

*

*~*Call to Worship*

Psalm 34: I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad.

O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.

*~*Hymn # 341 *Let’s Enjoy God Together

*~*Invocation* ~/ Lord’s Prayer                Almighty God, you who have made all things for us, and us for your glory, ~/ sanctify our body and soul, our thoughts and our intentions, our words and actions, that whatever we think, speak, or do, may glorify your name.

Let our body be servants of Jesus Christ.

*Lord’s prayer - sins*

*~*Gloria Patri*

*Responsive reading *Psalm 130

1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD.

2 *Lord, hear my voice!

Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!

*

3 If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?

*4 But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered.

*

5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;

6 *my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning.

*

7 O Israel, hope in the LORD!

For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem.

8 *It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities.*

*Young’s Peoples Moment *    \\ There was a Benedictine community to whom nobody came.

As the monks grew old, they became more and more disheartened because they couldn't understand why their community was not attractive to other people.

Now in the woods outside the monastery there lived an old rabbi.

People came from all over to talk to him about the presence of Yahweh in creation.

Years went by and finally the abbot himself went into the woods, leaving word with his monks, "I have gone out to speak to the rabbi."

(It was of course considered humiliating that a Christian community had to go back to the synagogue to find out what was wrong with them.)

\\ When the abbot finally found the rabbi's hut in the woods, the rabbi welcomed him with open arms as if he had known that he was coming.

They put their arms around each other and had a good cry.

The abbot told the rabbi that his monks were good men but they spread not fire, and the community was dying.

He asked the rabbi if he had any insight into the work of Yahweh in their lives.

The rabbi replied, "I have the secret and I will tell you once.

You may tell the monks and then none of you is ever to repeat it to one another."

The abbot declared that if they could have the secret, he was sure his monks would grow.

\\ So the rabbi looked at him long and hard and said, "The secret is that among you, in one of you is the Messiah!"

The abbot went back to this community and told his monks the secret.

And lo! as they began to search for the Messiah in one another they grew, they loved, they became very strong, very prophetic.

"From that day on, the community saw Him in one another and flourished!"--Story told by Joan D. Chittister, OSB, Living the Rule Today: A Series of Conferences on the Rule of Benedict (Erie, Pa.: Benet Press, 1982), 98-99, as quoted on pp.

82-83 of Wolff-Walin \\ Call to Prayer               The fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

( James 5:16)

Prayer Hymn                # 436 Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying (refrain)

*Pastoral Prayer          *“Lord, I am awed that there never was any god before You and there never will be any after You.

I rest in the fact that no one is more powerful than You are.

Nothing and no one can take us out of Your hand.

Thank You that there is no Savior but You.

We cannot save ourselves, no matter how good our behavior is.

Forgive us for thinking that because we’re doing better than someone else is, we’re OK.

Only You are holy.

Only You are sinless.

Our own efforts are empty, but Yours are full.”

*Prayer response*

*Offertory sentence  *For the next seven days, write down the times when you grumble, and the times when you give thanks.

*offering*                       Doxology

*offertory prayer *

*Hymn # 273                *I Stand Amazed in the Presence

*Scripture Text            */Ephesians 4:25-5:2/

So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another.

Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,  and do not make room for the devil.

Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy.

Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear.

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption.

Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

*Sermon                       *allthereness

 

*Thankfully, most of us do not deal on a daily basis with the most profound issues of morality and ethics.

What we do face every day, however, are small matters (should I keep my word?

should I honor my commitments.)

Caught up in the big newsmaking issues (murder, abortion, war) of ethics, these small matters sometimes go by the wayside.

The church needs to be aware that its role is as the one "hosting the Host," and act accordingly.*

\\ Our society moves at an incredible pace.

It bombards our senses with baffling amounts of stimuli.

In a world so shrunken by satellite feeds that we are capable of simultaneously feeling a part of events in the Mid-East, Russia, and the American West, it is hardly surprising that courtesy and Christlikeness are in danger of becoming casualties of technology.

\\ It is precisely those seemingly minute matters that determine the quality of our lives, the integrity of our existence.

Few of us personally confront on a daily basis the issues of murder, or political corruption, or nuclear responsibility.

We do, however, continually face such ethical questions as, "Shall I keep my word?" or "Can I honor my commitments?"

\\ As Christians we should be able to reflect a distinctive attitude which sets us apart and distinguishes us from the rest of society.

We should hear Jesus over and over again asking his disciples: "What do you more than others?"

~/~/ We know society has lost transcendent sensitivities when the most considerate encounter we have all day is an automatic teller machine personally thanking us for using it.

In a day where the last place one expects "service" is at a "service station" (unless it is in Wickford), individual concern and attention is so exceptional that its presence functions as an advertising "hook."

Hence General Motors has distinguished a whole genre of mechanics as "Mr.

Goodwrench," claiming they are unique and special because they provide fair, quality, efficient service with politeness thrown in.

\\ Etiquette is protocol, rules of behavior that you memorize and that rarely bend to encompass individual concerns and needs.

Manners embrace socially acceptable behavior, but are much more than that.

They are an expression of how you treat others when you care about them, their self-esteem and their feelings.

Manners are under your control, because they come from your heart.

In a chaotic world, they can make order out of disorder and give you the power to bring pleasure into other people's lives.(4)

\\ In the absence of strong ethical guidance and guidelines it has become the role of mannerists to teach us "good character." in her syndicated newspaper column, "Miss Manners," Judith Martin has attempted to present an overarching code of personal integrity and conduct.

In both her columns and her books Martin conducts a type of remedial instruction for the American public in the subjects of honesty, kindness, compassion, attentiveness, and selflessness.

Yet as insightful and sometimes painfully precise as Martin's critiques of modern manners may be, her basic commitment is to a general body of "manners from the heart" not to any uniquely Christian principles.

\\ One of the most consistent and deceptively casual expressions of the attitude urged by Paul to the Ephesians is found in the personage of Public Television's "Frugal Gourmet."Jeff

Smith, a.k.a the Frugal Gourmet, is an ordained minister who has moved his pulpit into his kitchen.

He exudes the joy of Christian love as he mixes a generous dollop of practical and poignant theology in with his recipes.

His faith delights in extending invitations of hospitality to all he addresses.

To a culture where something as basic as cooking has now become a matter of choice, not necessity, Smith creates an atmosphere that welcomes and accepts all who tune in to his recipe~/sermon.

Sure, it's "just" a cooking show.

But the spirit that Jeff Smith succeeds in making tangible in his kitchen, is the same Spirit that Paul insists that we seek to imitate as we act as representatives of Christ's body here on earth.

"When you ask someone to share a meal, it is the ultimate compliment" (65).

~/~/~/~/~/

Paul initiated this message in verses 4:17-19, drawing a dismal portrait of the lives of those untouched by the knowledge of Christ.

Christians are to renounce all marks of a Christless culture, "bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice."