Sermon Tone Analysis

*Call to Worship (from Psalm 103, NRSV)*

/Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name./

*Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits.*

/Who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases./

*Who redeems your life from the Pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and*

*mercy.*

/Who satisfies you with good as long as you live, so that your strength is renewed like the/

/eagle’s./

*The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.*

/He will not always accuse, nor will he keep his anger forever./

*He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our*

*iniquities.*

/For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those/

/who fear him./

*As far as the east is from the west, so far he removes our transgressions from us.*

/As a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who/

/fear him./

*Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers that do his will.*

*/Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion.

Bless the Lord, O my/*

*/soul./*

Thy Word                                # 178

Exodus 32:1-14

Acts 20:35  It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Gracious Lord, may the gifts of this local church be combined in harmony with the gifts of other churches for the glory of Jesus Christ.

*Children's Sermon*    Waiting is never easy.

Gather the children in the front of the sanctuary.

After they have gathered, tell them that you need to do something important, but will be back real soon.

You may even leave one of the kids in charge.

Leave them by themselves while you continue on with the service.

Although you might want to have a ringer in the crowd that stimulates the children to do something they know they shouldn't, it might really be interesting to see how the kids react to being left alone.

After some time has passed, rejoin the kids to hear about their experience.

Of course, you may have to rejoin them sooner than you expected.

Tell them the story of how Moses left the people of Israel by themselves when he went up the mountain to get the Law from God.

It will be interesting to see how the kids' behavior is similar to or varies from that of the children of Israel.

*Prayer for the Day *Abba, Father.

Thank you, O God, for bringing us together again.

We are fearfully and wonderfully made in your image.

You have created us in this place and time to continue your earthly ministry.

Thank you for the incredible, humbling honor it is to be considered your ambassadors.

We especially give thanks this day for the men and boys you have blessed us with.

Fathers, grandfathers, sons and grandsons, uncles and nephews in the Family of God.

Young men and boys full of promise and potential; grown men and sages with wisdom and patience.

Today again we affirm the Image of God stamped on each one of us.

O Lord, when we consider the vastness of your creation, the complexity of your plan, the work you are about that transcends time and space, how it makes us even more grateful that you would craft each one of us individually, give your Son Jesus to cover our sins, and fill us with your

Holy Spirit.

Our prayer today is for courage to delve deeply into your heart, O God. May we continually

subtract ourselves and our ambitions to make way for your will and your presence.

For in emptying  ourselves and being filled with you, we discover who we are made to be.

In the name of our Savior, Amen.

I’d Rather Have Jesus               # 294

*Sermon *Pouring On Oil and Wine: Healing the Male Soul

*Text: *Luke 10:34

*Theme: *Mentoring is one way to address the wounds men and boys experience

/Note: This year’s ABMen Sunday sermon is graciously contributed by the Rev. Steve Hudder, pastor of Christ Congregational United Church of Christ in Miami, Florida.

We use Rev. Hudder’s sermon in a spirit of ecumenical cooperation./

*/“He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them.

Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.”—Luke

10:34/*

The room was quiet save for the whisper of waves along the shore of the retreat center on Long Island Sound.

Henri Nouwen had just returned from Holland, where he had shared with his beloved mother her last painful weeks with cancer.

Emotionally and physically spent, Henri hunched intently over a sheaf of blank white paper, pen in hand.

He was beginning the story of his mother’s final struggle, later published under the title “In Memoriam.”

With his mother’s death he had lost his emotional sea anchor—the stabilizing force in his energetic, far-flung life.

A friend asked him why he was writing this manuscript.

“Because,” he responded, “I always try to turn my personal struggles into something helpful for others.”

The spiritual journey of men has much in common with the story of the Good Samaritan.

What it means to be a man is to be on a journey and to be wounded on that journey.

Henri Nouwen helps us begin to understand the process of healing our wounds.

In truth, to be human is to be wounded.

There is so much within us that needs to be healed.

We need healing of negative memories and negative self-images.

We need healing of dysfunctional images of God.

Sometimes we need healing of mistaken perceptions that cause pain.

We need healing of anger, relationships, a sense of purpose, our bodies, and our social systems and environment.

We need healing of expectations and we need to learn to better balance work and family and play.

As the weight of injury settles upon us, our wounded heart becomes a furnace of  resentment and

revenge, ready to inflict pain in return for what it has suffered.

But there is another possibility.

We can take our wounds and our pain and become what was a central theme in Nouwen's life: wounded healers.

Our hearts, wounded by the boundlessness of human agony, can grow tender and alert to the wounds of others.

Then our wounds can become portals of vulnerability through which the pain of others can enter our lives.

This can awaken us to a more generous sense of our common humanity and we can discover in

turn refuge, consolation, and healing.

And discovering it for ourselves, we can then turn around and offer it to others, becoming mentors to other men, young and old, and to boys, who so desperately need us.

Where do we find our healing?

The story of the Good Samaritan teaches us that we find our healing in the most unlikely of sources.

The first two people to pass the wounded man were those expected to be sources of healing: a priest and a Levite.

Good men.

Religious men.

Pillars of the community.

But they don’t help.

They have no healing for the man.

It is the third traveler, the Samaritan, who brings the healing, pouring oil and wine on the man’s wounds.

Now remember Jews and Samaritans had nothing to do with one another.

As far as Jews were

concerned, Samaritans were always up to no good.

You locked your doors when they passed on

the street.

If you were walking on the street and one approached you, you crossed to the other side to avoid an encounter.

It’s like telling the story to a group of Jordanians and saying, “A third man came down the road and he was a Israeli, a no-good, murderous Israeli.”