Posts Tagged ‘9-27-2020’

Walk Your Talk 9-27-2020

Sunday, September 27th, 2020

There are two important themes that are very clear to me in our gospel. I’d
like to share them with you.
First. Do what you say. Walk your talk. Connect what we do here in worship
with our words to our everyday lives and our actions.
A chaplain on a battlefield came across a young man who was lying in a
shell hole, seriously wounded. Would you like me to read you something from this
book, the Bible he asked? I’m so thirsty; I’d rather have a drink of water, the
soldier said. Hurrying away, the chaplain soon brought the water. Then the
wounded man said, “Could you put something under my head”?
The chaplain took off his overcoat, rolled it up, and gently placed it under
the man’s head for a pillow. Now, said the suffering man, if I just had something
over me, I’m cold.
The chaplain immediately removed his jacket and put it over the wounded
man to keep him warm. Then the soldier looked the chaplain straight in the eye and
said, “If there’s anything in that book that makes a man do for another all that you
have done for me, then please read it, because I’d love to hear it.
What affects people most is often caught rather than taught. Having God on
our lips is not enough we need God in our heart. Second Theme: Even if we have said NO to God it is never too late to say yes to
change.
A man turned to drink. He also turned from God and his family. One day while
walking along, thinking about how his life turned out, he saw a bent, rusty nail in
the gutter. It reminded him of himself and his life. So he picked it up and took it
home. Placing the nail on an anvil, he began to straighten it out and clean it up. An
hour later, it looked almost new again. Then it occurred to him. He could straighten
out and clean up his own life in the same way. That thought triggered his
conversion. He turned away from drink and back to God and his family. Today, he
keeps that nail, Straightened and cleaned, in his wallet. Was there a time when I
was almost like that bent, rusty nail? It is never too late to change.
I close with this story. Someone once called a pastor to say he wanted to join
the parish. He went on to explain, however, that he did not want to have to go to
Mass every Sunday, study the bible, be a lector or an usher, visit the sick, or help
out with CCD classes.
The pastor commended him for his desire to be a member of the parish, but
told him that the church he wanted was located across town. The man took the
directions and hung up. When he arrived at the address the pastor gave him, he came face to face with his own apathetic attitude. For there stood an abandoned church and several other buildings, all boarded up and ready for demolition.
1) Walk your talk 2) It is never too late to change 3) Live your faith