RESOURCES FOR FATHER'S/MEN'S DAY

Third Sunday in June

 

If you illustrations, stories, prayers, web links, sermons, whatever appropriate for

Father's/Men's Day, please send them to me at bass.mitchell@homiliesbyemail.com

and they will be added here with due recognition. God bless.

 

Stories & Illustrations

If Men Wrote the Rules

Worship Resources

Why Men Love Being Men

Sermon Starter: Pass It On

Sermon: The Sons of Zebedee

Ideas for Honoring

American Men Most Pagan?

news article

Fishing: A Father's Day Reflection

But God Looks on the Heart:

A Sermon

A Father's Day Sermon

Fodder's Day?

The Best Gift for Dad:

A Puppet Skit

 

 

 

 

STORIES, ILLUSTRATIONS, QUOTES

Father's/Men's Day

 

#1

My dad also loved me.  I've known that from my earliest moments of

awareness.  I'm told that when I was a small child, perhaps three years of

age, we lived in a one-bedroom apartment. My little bed was located beside

the bed of my parents.  Dad said it was not uncommon during that time for

him to awaken at night and hear a little voice whispering, "Daddy?  Daddy?"

He would answer quietly, "What, Jimmy?" Then I would reply, "Hold my hand!"

My dad would reach across the darkness and grope for my little hand, finally

engulfing it in his.  He said the instant he encompassed my hand, my arm

would become limp and my breathing deep and regular.  I had gone back to

sleep.  You see, I only wanted to know that he was there!

—Dr. James Dobson, Straight Talk to Men and Their Wives

 

#2

While Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman was conducting a prayer meeting a man gave this

testimony: "I got off at the Pennsylvania depot as a homeless person, and

for a year I begged on the streets for a living. One day I touched a man on

the shoulder and said, 'Mister, please give me a dime.' As soon as I saw his

face, I recognized my father. 'Father, don't you know me?' I asked. Throwing

his arms around me, he cried, 'I have found you; all I have is yours.' Think

of it, that I, a homeless person, stood begging my own father for ten cents,

when for eighteen years he had been looking for me to give me all he was

worth!"

 

#3

A father was watching his young son trying to dislodge a heavy stone.  The

boy couldn't budge it. "Are you sure you are using all your strength?" the

father asked. "Yes, I am," said the exasperated boy. "No, you are not," the

father replied. "You haven't asked me to help you."

 

#4

Perhaps you've seen the poster that pictures a dad and his seven- or

eight-year-old son in an old rowboat on a little lake.  It's early in the

morning, there's a faint mist still on the lake, and the father and son are

sitting there, quiet and still.  They're each holding little bamboo fishing

poles, and the two corks attached to their lines are floating motionless on

the placid water.  Underneath the picture are two words: "Take Time."

 

#5

A young boy was driving a  hayrack down the road, and it turned over right

in front of a farmer's house. The farmer came out, saw the young boy crying,

and said, "Son, don't worry about this, we can fix it.  Right now dinner's

ready.  Why don't you come in and eat with us and then I'll help you put the

hay back on the rack."  The boy said, "No, I can't.  My father is going to

be very angry with me."  The farmer said, "Now don't worry, just come in and

have some lunch and you'll feel better."  The boy said, "I'm just afraid my

father is going to be very angry with me."  The farmer and the young boy

went inside and had dinner.  Afterwards, as they walked outside to the

hayrack, the farmer said, "Son, don't you feel better now?"  The boy said,

"Yes but I just know that my father will be very angry with me."  The farmer

said, "Nonsense.  Where is your father anyway?"  The boy said, "He's under

that pile of hay."

 

#6

Fatherhood isn't brain surgery. I say this in defiance of the new

conventional wisdom that being a father is breathtakingly difficult, that it

creates tough dilemmas, and that fathers need a strategy for carrying out

their duties. I don't think so. Most men I know have an instinct for

fatherhood that is triggered the day their first child was born. They

instantly recognized the number one requirement of fatherhood: to be there.

—The New Republic

 

#7

Illinois Bell reported not long ago that the volume of long-distance calls

made on Father's Day was growing faster than the number on Mother's Day. The

company apologized for the delay in compiling the statistics, but explained

that the extra billing of calls to fathers slowed things down. Most of them

were collect.

 

#8

A church in Florida had been having monthly family events for the whole

community in an effort to reach new people. They were having a problem,

however, with some parents dropping off children but not coming themselves.

To combat this problem, they issued the following announcement: "The Magic

of Lassie, a film for the whole family, will be shown Sunday at 5 P.M. in

the church hall. Free puppies will be given to all children not accompanied

by parents."

 

#9

Carlyle Marney says that we need to take three trips home. First, we need to

go home to ask forgiveness for what we have done wrong. Second, we need to

go home to forgive our parents for what we feel they have done wrong. Third,

we need to go home and ask our parents to accept us the way we are.

 

#10

"The thing that impresses me most about America is the way parents obey

their children."

—Duke of Wellington

 

#11

Nervously preparing to meet her boyfriend's parents for the first time, a

young woman noticed that her black pumps looked dingy. So she gave them a

fast swipe with the paper towel she had used to blot her breakfast bacon.

When she arrived at her boyfriend's impressive home, she was greeted by his

parents and their much-beloved but rotten-tempered old poodle. The dog got a

whiff of the bacon grease on her shoes and followed the girl slavishly. At

the end of the evening, the pleased parents remarked, "Cleo really likes

you, dear, and she is an excellent judge of character. We are delighted to

welcome you into our little family."

—"Off the Record," Detroit News

 

#12

Parents often talk about the younger generation as if they didn't have

anything to do with it.

 

#13

Often, the difference between an emotionally strong child and a weak one is

how well parental expectations match the child's capabilities. A mismatch

can leave a child naked to misfortune. Psychiatrists Stella Chess and

Alexander Thomas studied a group of middle-class children from birth to

maturity. One child, Tim, could not do what his father wanted—stick to a

task for hours on end. "You have no character," the father raged, "no

willpower." Finally, the boy decided his father was right—he had no

character, nothing. So he simply gave up, dropping out of school and

drifting as an adult.

 

#14

Police received a complaint of a man and woman fighting. Officers questioned

the couple, who said they were arguing about which justice of the peace to

use when they got married.

—Democrat Herald

 

#15

When Lauritz Melchoir, the great Wagnerian tenor, was a young man studying

music, he was sitting in the garden of his boarding school in Munich.

Practicing a certain passage of a song he was learning, he sang out one of

the lines. It went, "Come to me, my love, on the wings of light." Scarcely

had he sung the words, when a young lady literally dropped out of the sky

and landed at his feet. The young lady was Maria Hacker, a Bavarian actress

who had been doing a stunt for a movie thriller. Part of her act was to

parachute from a plane. The winds had changed and she landed far from her

mark. Instead she landed in the garden of the music school. In a short time

Lauritz and Maria were married.

 

#16

When a couple come to see me about their wedding, they are always filled

with excitement and hope. They are so much in love! Do I ever say, "Come on,

settle down.  People get married every day!"?  Never! People do get married

every day, but for this couple it is new. Similarly, a couple always rejoice

at the birth of their first child.  Do I say, "Aw, settle down, children are

born every day!"?  Of course not.  Children are born every day, but for this

couple it is new!  So with the gospel.  Whenever this old, old gospel is

heard and believed, for the believer it is new.

—Dr. C. A. McClain

 

#17

Two ladies attended a fashionable brunch in Boston, where the local minister

gave an inspiring speech on the beauties of married life. The ladies left

the church feeling uplifted and contented. "That was a wonderful sermon,"

one of the ladies said. "Oh yes, it was," said the other. "I just wish I

knew as little about the subject as he does."

 

#18

A house without a roof would scarcely be a more different home, than a

family unsheltered by God's friendship, and the sense of being always rested

in God's providential care and guidance.

Horace Bushnell

 

BACK TO TOP

***************************

 

Subject: If Men Were to Rewrite the Rules

 

Rule # 1 - Anything we said six or eight months ago is inadmissible in an argument. 

All comments become null and void after seven days.

 

Rule # 2 - If we say something that can be interpreted in two ways, and one

of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other way.

 

Rule # 3 - It is in neither your best interest or ours to make us take those

stupid Cosmo quizzes together.

 

Rule # 4 - You can either ask us to do something OR tell us how you want it

done - not both.

 

Rule # 5 - Whenever possible, please say whatever you have to say during

commercials or time-outs.

 

Rule # 6 - Christopher Columbus didn't need directions and neither do we.

 

Rule # 7 - When we're turning the wheel and the car is nosing onto the off

ramp, you saying "Is this is our exit?" is not necessary.

 

BACK TO TOP

********************************

 

From: Bass Mitchell bass.mitchell@homiliesbyemail.com

Worship Resources

Father’s/Men's Day

 

PRAISE SONGS

Father, We Adore You

God and God Alone

Honor Him

How Majestic Is Your Name

I Give All My Life to You

Lord of All

Love Runs in the Family

Love Will Be Our Home

 

HYMNS

Where Charity and Love Prevail

When Love is Found

Help Us Accept Each Other

Gift of Love

Happy the Home When God Is There

O Lord, May Church and Home Unite

Our Parent, By Whose Name

Children of the Heavenly Father

For the Beauty of the Earth

Faith of Our Fathers

 

GREETINGS/CALLS TO WORSHIP

LEADER: May the mercy and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be

          with you.

  PEOPLE: And with you also and with all who would call Christ

          Lord. 

  LEADER: Our God is merciful and loving and seeks only what

          is best for us.

  PEOPLE: Even when we were yet in our sin Jesus died that we

          might know God's love.

  LEADER: Then let our hearts be joined in praise for God's

          loving grace.

  ALL:    Blessed be the name of the Lord!

 

OR

 

L: We have gathered here to honor the One who created us.

P: The One who gave us life.

L: The One who sustains our lives each day.

P: The One who is our constant companion.

L: The One who loves us more than a father and mother.

ALL: The One who is worthy of our praise and of our service all the days of

our lives.

 

OPENING PRAYERS

O God, You are the power that moves and shapes the universe,

     yet You are so gentle and kind to us. Touch us, Lord,

     and use us, for we would be Your loving servants. in

     Christ we pray. Amen.

 

OR

 

Lord, how good it is to come together with our sisters and

     brothers, mothers and fathers, your great and wonderful

     family - all here to praise and thank you. Help us this

     day to be reminded of all your many blessings,

     especially the special people you bring into our lives

     to bless and love us. In the name of Jesus, your

     greatest blessing, we pray. Amen.

 

OR

 

We sing praises to you, O God; we raise a psalm in your

     honor. You clothe us in all goodness; we are draped in

     accordance with your design. As you have sent Jesus

     Christ to make your will known, you promise your Holy

     Spirit to guide us along your path. As your holiness

     fills this place, hear us as we worship your name.

     Amen.

 

PRAYER LITANY

(Silent prayers may follow each petition)

 

For our fathers, who have given us life and love,

 that  we may show them respect and love,

we pray to the Lord...

 

For fathers who have lost a child through death,

 that their faith may give them hope,

 and their family and friends support and console them,

we pray to the Lord...

 

For men, though without children of their own,

 who like fathers have nurtured and cared for us,

we pray to the Lord...

 

For fathers, who have been unable to be a source of strength,

 who have not responded to their children

 and have not sustained their families,

we pray to the Lord...

 

God, in your wisdom and love you made all things.

Bless these men, that they may be strengthened as Christian fathers. Let the

example of their faith and love shine forth. Grant that we, their sons and

daughters, may honor them always with a spirit of profound respect. Grant

this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

OR

 

Pastoral Prayer for Father's Day

 

Loving and Merciful God, whose power is beyond our scope

and whose wisdom is beyond our understanding,

We turn to you in faith assured that know our every emotion

and are aware of our every need. 

 

Our thoughts and prayers today are turned towards our fathers.

For those whose fathers have increased the joy in their lives,

  we give you thanks.

For those whose father's presence is greatly missed

  may we take time to gratefully recall all they have given to us,

  providing for us in our growing.

For those whose fathers have recently lost

  or who are facing the imminent loss of their own fathers,

may they find comfort in their grief, hope in their despair,

 courage in the love that their fathers have given them.

We give thanks, God, for these good men

  who sustain and support us in our living, who love us no matter

  what!

What a blessing they are to all who know them!

We give thanks to you, O God,

  for all those whose gift for fatherhood is so strong

  that their have allowed their caring to spill over into the lives of

  others providing the guidance and stability, the nurture and the

  love needed.

 

How distressing it is for us to consider

 that not all fathers have been good fathers. 

We pray, compassionate God, for those whose father has been

  a source of hurt and pain,

for all those for whom one or more members of their family

  has caused them to suffer. 

May their wounds be healed. 

May they find in you, in us, in others,

  the nurturing, sustaining love that is needed

  for their growth and well-being.

We recall with sadness fathers who are separated from their children

  though life choices made by them or others.

Give them the insight and wisdom, the courage and perseverence

  to parent in whatever creative and life-giving ways are open to

  them. 

Give them the courage to make the decisions which allow their children

to

  prevail.

We remember to you single fathers and mothers who struggle to be both

  parents to their children

  --to provide all the emotional, physical and spiritual needs without

  the constant support of a spouse. 

May they find the strength, the courage and wisdom for their task.

 

We pray for those fathers whose relationships with their children have

been

  difficult or disappointing. 

We pray, too, for those who have been denied a chance to be fathers,

  and for those whose years of parenting have been cut short by the

  loss of a child. 

We turn to You, most holy God, knowing trusting that you can console

where

  consolation seems impossible.  May these  receive comfort for their

  soul and peace and hope for living that their gifts may not be

  denied to others.

 

Finally, O God, we rejoice with you, O God, at the many fine men, who

in spite

  of confusing roles in a rapidly changing society, have taken their

  place as fathers with open hearts, with willingness and joy.

And we join all fathers everywhere in praying that their children may

be well

  and happy, a source of joy for years to come. 

Hear our prayers this day, O God,

  and give to us such assurance of your love

  that your love may spill forth from us into the lives of others. 

 

Amen. (FROM Gayle)

 

OR

 

Newspaper columnist Abigail Van Buren has composed a "Parent's Prayer" in

which she stresses the practical side of raising children. Says "Dear Abby":

"Oh, heavenly Father, make me a better parent. Teach me to understand my

children, to listen patiently to what they have to say, and to answer all

their questions kindly. Keep me from interrupting them or contradicting

them. Make me as courteous to them as I would have them be to me. Forbid

that I should ever laugh at their mistakes, or resort to shame or ridicule

when they displease me. May I never punish them for my own selfish

satisfaction or to show my power. Let me not tempt my child to lie or steal.

And guide me hour by hour that I may demonstrate by all I say and do that

honesty produces happiness. Reduce, I pray, the meanness in me. And when I

am out of sorts, help me, O Lord, to hold my tongue. May I ever be mindful

that my children are children and I should not expect of them the judgment

of adults. Let me not rob them of the opportunity to wait on themselves and

to make decisions. Bless me with the bigness to grant them all their

reasonable requests, and the courage to deny them privileges I know will do

them harm. Make me fair and just and kind. And fit me, O Lord, to be loved

and respected and imitated by my children. Amen."

 

OR

 

Let us pray:

 

Dear Lord, we who are fathers and mothers need your help.

 

You have placed in us the care of each other and of our children.

 

Give us the strength and patience to cope with the many ups and downs of

family life.

 

Grant us the grace to be deeply thankful for its laughs, joys and blessings.

 

Let our children come to know of your love through our love for them.

 

Help us as we try to make ours a home where love dwells, a home like that of

Jesus, Mary and Joseph in Nazareth.

 

When we fail each other and when we hurt each other, soften our hearts so

that forgiveness and reconciliation comes quickly and easily.

 

Protect this family, Lord, and let it flourish in your light and in your

love. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen..

 

OR

 

Lord,

Keep my parents in your love.

Lord,

bless them and keep them.

Lord,

please let me have money and strength

and keep my parents for many more years

so that I can take care of them.

(Prayer from a young Ghanaian Christian)

 

BENEDICTIONS

Let us leave this place to go to our homes and live there the love of God.

Let us be God's love for and to one another. Let love dwell in our hearts

and overflow into God's world.

 

OR

 

Go, knowing God goes with you.

Go, knowing Jesus goes before you.

Go, knowing the Holy Spirit is within you.

Go, knowing that we, your brothers and sisters, walk beside you.

 

<><  <><  <><  <><  <><  <><  <><  <><  <><  <><  <><  <><  <><

Bass Mitchell, Hot Springs, VA

HOMILIES & BIBLE STUDIES BY E-MAIL

Check out my web site at http://www.homiliesbyemail.com

bass.mitchell@homiliesbyemail.com

 

BACK TO TOP

 

****************************

(Some of these you can use and others not!)

WHY MEN LOVE BEING MEN

 

1.  We know stuff about tanks.

2.  Only one suitcase required for a 5-day trip.

3.  We can open our own jars.

4.  We can go to the bathroom without a support group.

5.  The same hair-style lasts for years -- maybe decades.

6.  We can leave a motel bed unmade.

7.  We can kill our own food.

8.  We get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness.

9.  Wedding plans take care of themselves.

10. If someone forgets to invite us to

    something, they can still be our friend.

11. Underwear is $10 a three-pack.

12. If you are 34 and single, nobody notices.

13. Everything on our faces stays the original color.

14. Three pairs of shoes are more than enough.

15. We don't have to clean the house if the meter-reader is coming.

16. Car mechanics tell us the truth.

17. We can sit quietly and watch a game with a friend

    for hours without thinking "He must be mad at me."

18. Same work -- more pay.

19. Gray hair and wrinkles add character.

20. We can drop by and see a friend without bringing a gift.

21. If another guy shows up at a party in the same outfit

    you just might become lifelong friends.

22. Your pals will never trap you with: "So, notice anything different?"

23. We are not expected to know the names of more than five colors.

24. We almost never have a "strap problem" in public.

25. We are totally unable to see wrinkles in our clothes.

26. We don't have to learn to spell a new last name.

27. We don't have to show below the neck.

28. Belches are expected and tolerated.

29. Our belly usually hides our big hips.

30. One wallet, one pair of shoes, one color, all seasons.

31. We can do our nails with pocketknife.

32. We have freedom of choice concerning growing a moustache.

33. Christmas shopping can be accomplished for 25 people

    on the day before Christmas and in 45 minutes.

34. We know nothing about "dust" and we don't care.

 

BACK TO TOP

*****************************

 

From: Bass Mitchell <bassm@va.tds.net>

Pass It On

Psalm: 78:1-4

 

Key Verse: We will not hide them from our children; we will tell to the

coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and God's might, and the

wonders that God has done (Ps 78:4).

 

(I use a ruler below. You could use something that belonged to someone

special in your life who passed along much that helped make you who you

are).

 

Laying on my desk right now is an old extension ruler. It's made of wood

with metal brackets holding it together. It extends to six feet. Some of the

markings and numbers are faded and others missing from years of use. Some of

the joints are loose, almost worn out. It belonged to my father who was a

carpenter. I saw him use it so many times on so many projects. It was the

only thing I have really asked for that was his. I think of him each time I

see it and wonder if I will ever measure up to the man he was, if I will

ever make as good a use of the tools God has given me as he did.

 

As a pastor, I have seen so many families torn apart after the death of a

parent because of arguments over the inheritance. Someone thinks they

deserve something but someone else gets it. Jealousy. Anger. Old sibling

rivalries come back to the surface. Why? Over things! We let things - pieces

of wood and metal - divide us, keep us from the best thing of all - love for

one another. To sacrifice a brother or sister for a clump of wood or glass

or even money does not make a lot of sense.

 

Yes, Dad's ruler is special to me, but if my brother or sister wanted it, I

would gladly give it to them. For the greatest inheritance I have received

will never be things but his love, his example, his gentle spirit, his

wisdom, his faith - all these and more live within me. He passed along a lot

of who he was to me. This I value above all material things. These no one,

not even time, can take away. You can't put them in a bank but they have

made me wealthy. And he also passed along a brother and three sisters who

mean the world to me, so that I will not let things come between us. He

would not want that.

 

I know. This is not the experience of everyone, perhaps even you. What you

inherited from your father or mother - internally - you may well wish you

could get rid of. But like it or not, our parents brought us into the world

and are a part of us. They passed along much of who they were to us - for

good or ill. I hope it was for  good, at least some of it. But they were not

perfect and neither are we. God help us to forgive them as our children may

well need to forgive us.

 

I pray today that I might pass along more good than ill; more wisdom than

foolishness; more faith than fear; more love than neglect; more pride than

judgment; more understanding than impatience. I pray that when they see a

ruler, or a book, or a sermon, or a pen left to them from me, that they

might have more good memories than bad. I will work hard to pass those

higher things along to them, those things that matter more than money and

material things.

 

What are the most meaningful "possessions" that have been passed down to

you - material and spiritual? (Share them or ask people in the congergation

to do so).

 

What are you passing along to your children and grandchildren?

 

Prayer: God of love, you give us so much. You pass along so many blessings

that we cannot count them all. Thank you for our parents, imperfect as they

are. Thank you for those who have been like parents to us. Help us to daily

pass along to our own children and to children we have adopted as our own,

those things that matter most, that last for all time. Amen.

 

Might use the chorus, "Pass It On," as part of this.

 

<><  <><  <><  <><  <><  <><  <><  <><  <><  <><  <><  <><  <><  <><

Bass Mitchell

HOMILIES BY E-MAIL/BIBLE STUDY BY EMAIL

bassm@va.tds.net

visit our web site at

http://www.homiliesbyemail.com

toll free number 1-877-681-3349 (for USA, Canada)

 

BACK TO TOP

****************************

 

Here's a wonderful and moving sermon which I think is most appropriate for

Father's/Men's Day. Thanks to Peter for allowing me to share it with you.

Bass

 

From: Peter K. Perry

<pkperry@cableone.net>

 

Sons of Zebedee

Mark 1:16-20

January 22-23, 2000

Prescott United Methodist Church

 

(Mark 1:16-20)  As Jesus passed along the

Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and

his brother Andrew casting a net into the

sea--for they were fishermen. [17]

And Jesus said to them, "Follow me and I

will make you fish for people."

[18] And immediately they left their nets

and followed him. [19] As he went

a little farther, he saw James son of

Zebedee and his brother John, who were

in their boat mending the nets. [20]

Immediately he called them; and they

left their father Zebedee in the boat

with the hired men, and followed him.

 

James and his brother John were called by

Jesus to become fishers of men.

They were part of the inner circle of

disciples.  They were close to Jesus.

The tradition says that they were

tempestuous, like when they tried to

summon fire from heaven as punishment for

a village that rejected Jesus.

They sometimes seemed selfish, like when

their mother sought a special

position for them in Jesus’ kingdom.  But

they were faithful disciples,

present along with Peter at the

transfiguration and the crucifixion.

John was the beloved disciple, the

traditional writer of the fourth gospel.

And James was the first of the twelve

martyred for the faith, executed by Herod

Agrippa about 44 AD.  There is a lot more

we could say about James and John.

But today I want to lift up simply that

they were the sons of Zebedee.

 

"As Jesus went a little farther, he saw

James son of Zebedee and his brother

John, who were in their boat mending the

nets.  Immediately he called them; and

they left their father Zebedee in the

boat with the hired men, and followed

him."

 

James and John we know, but who was this

Zebedee, and why does Mark bother

to say anything at all about him?  Is he

important?  Is he significant in

any way? Was he famous?   Maybe some of

those who heard the gospel story

told by Mark and Matthew, Luke and John,

maybe some of them might have known

Zebedee.  Maybe they bought their fish

from him.  Maybe he was a member of

their synagogue.  Maybe they were related

by marriage.  Maybe not.

 

On January 5th of this new year a man

died in Fullerton, California.  His

name was Thomas Clifton Perry, and he was

my father.   Not many here in Prescott

had met him.  You knew him only through

his son, and maybe you knew him better

than you might because Dad made for some

pretty good sermon illustrations over the

years.  He wasn’t famous, though he had

many friends. He worked hard all his

life, and in his own way he made the

world a better place.  And I am proud to

be his son.  You see, here in Prescott

Tom Perry is just the father of Peter…but

back home Peter is just the son of Tom

Perry.

 

Zebedee.  In Hebrew tradition, one was

known as the son of one’s father.

James and John were the sons of Zebedee.

James bar Zebedee.  John bar Zebedee.

One’s last name was the name of one’s

father.   I would be Peter bar Thomas.

Centuries later in our European

tradition, I would still bear my father’s

name and I would be Peter Thomason.

Today, I almost wish we still followed

those naming customs, for those I believe

reminded people of from where they’d

come.

 

I wonder if James and John looked like

Zebedee.  Or did they more closely

resemble their mother?  I wonder if they

sounded like Zebedee?  I wonder if

they walked like him, shook hands like

him, laughed like him?  While Zebedee

was teaching his sons to mend the fishing

nets, what else did he teach them?

Did he tell them about how a man should

love and honor a woman?  Did he

instruct them in the wise use of money?

Did he encourage them to believe in

themselves and live for a high purpose?

Did he ever talk with them about

God?  Did Zebedee have any daughters?

What lessons did he teach them?  What

gifts did he give them?

 

What does a father give to his children?

What lessons do we learn from our

fathers?  In the Proverbs of Solomon, it

is written…

 

"Listen, children, to a father's

instruction, and be attentive, that you

may gain insight; for I give you good

precepts: do not forsake my teaching.

When I was a son with my father, tender,

and my mother's favorite, he taught

me, and said to me, "Let your heart hold

fast my words; keep my commandments, and

live. Get wisdom; get insight: do not

forget, nor turn away from the words of

my mouth." (Prov.4)

 

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, grew

up, and God in Christ called them

away from their father and his life’s

work.  When Jesus called, Mark says

they immediately dropped their nets and

followed him.  But I guarantee you

that the lives of James and John were

shaped by the life of Zebedee, just as

my life has been shaped by my father, and

your life has been shaped by your

father.

 

Not everyone has a loving father.  Was

Zebedee a loving father?  I don’t

know.  No father is perfect.  Zebedee was

a just a man, with all of limitations

that go along with being human.  So too

with my father.

 

Tom Perry had his share of problems in

life.  He had a horrible childhood,

abandoned by his father, passed off by

his own mother as her little brother,

raised alternately by his mother, his

aunts, his grandparents…he never had a

stable family.  And so that became my

father’s driving purpose in life…to

create the kind of family he never had,

to provide for his children the kind

of father he only dreamed of having.

Most of the time he did a pretty good

job of doing that.  And two weeks ago,

all five of his children gathered

together to say by our presence together

as a family, that he had succeeded

in instilling in us the importance of

family.  Each of us has left home,

followed our dreams, created our own

families, and without realizing it, we

have furthered our father’s ambition.

 

As you sit here today, I want you to

think of your own father.  I hope you

knew him.  I hope you loved him.  I hope

he was a good father, as mine was.

But even if you didn’t know your father,

even if you didn’t love your father, your

father has still helped make you,

negatively or positively, who you are

today.   Some people spend years in

therapy trying to figure out if

that’s a good thing or a bad thing. :-)

But good or bad, it is true.  James

and John and Zebedee, Peter and Thomas,

even Jesus and Joseph.  You and

your father.  There is a bond between

father and child that nothing can

break, not even death.  And I think I’ve

learned that the process of grief

somehow makes that bond even stronger.

 

Several years ago, on Father’s Day, a

friend gave me a book called Letters

to My Son (Kent Nerburn, new World

Library, 1993).  In the first chapter of

the book, the author writes these words:

 

None of us can escape this shadow of the

father, even if that shadow fills

us with fear, even if it has no name or

face.  To be worthy of that man, to

prove something to that man, to exorcise

the memory of that man from every

corner of our life - however it affects

us, the shadow of that man cannot be

denied…we all labor under the shadow.  It

makes us who we are and shapes the

[person] we hope to be.

 

To become a father is to understand that

power of that shadow from the other

side.  You realize that the touches you

make upon your son will shape him,

for better or for worse, for his entire

life.

 

And who can know which touches have

meaning? A word here, a glance there, a

time together, a time apart - which will

be the moments that will rise up in

memory and shape the child that looks

without judgment on all you do and

say?

 

Friends, I wonder if we realize the

strength of the bond that exists between

father and son, between mother and

daughter?  Do we understand that the

things that have happened in our

families, and are happening in our

families, indelibly imprint the next

generation with a story, with an

understanding of life, and shapes the

future for better or for worse?

 

The death of my own father has helped me

better understand the role each of

us plays within our families.  I rejoice

that years ago, I was able forgive

my father for the pain his alcoholism

caused me.  I rejoice that that I was

able to see my father as a man who loved

and needed love.  I rejoice that I

found the courage to speak words of love

to him, and to discover that he

loved me.  I am lucky.  The words that

needed to be said were said.  I said

them again a few days before he died,

when we thought he was going to get

better from his pneumonia.  I stood his

bed in the hospital and I said, “I

love you, dad.”  And he said, “I love

you, son.”

 

Brothers and sisters, it is never too

late to make amends if we have wronged

another.  It is never too late to offer

forgiveness to those who have

wronged us.  It is never too late to say

“I love you” to another, or to hear

another say “I love you” to us.  Whether

you are a father, or a son, a

mother or a daughter, it is never too

late to touch and be touched by those

with whom our lives in are forever

inextricably bound.

 

James and John were disciples of our

Christ, but they were forever the sons

of their fathers and their mothers.  The

lives they chose when the dropped

the nets and followed the Christ took

them far from their places and people

of origin.  But deep down inside, they

were still the Sons of Zebedee.  That

’s the way God made us, and God would

have us nourish the relationships that

bind us one to another.  In the days

ahead, find ways to speak words of love

to your children and your parents.

 

BACK TO TOP

 

****************************

 

Ideas for Honoring Father's/Men

 

#1

My power supply, therefore my computer, was down for a week.  I just bolted

it on and am parsing through the old mail.  Thought you'd be interested

that I stopped my sermon about 1/8 of the way, after a story, and took a

huge tray of very large chocolate chip cookies off the altar and walked

down the center isle asking all the dad's and who would be dad's to come

forth for a cookie!   I said that, for any reason whatsoever, they could

munch on a cookie during my sermon.  I passed the extras out as folks were

leaving the church.  Our service lasted about 1.5 hours and many visitors

said that our hospitality and spirituality was something they'd like to

take home with them to their home church [an ultimate compliment!].   Best

in Christ to you. 

Rev. Martin R. Fors

 

#2

This Sunday, we're going to recognize some special fathers: the one who has played the most golf in the last week, the one who has attended the most activities of his children (ball games, graduations, etc.), and the one who has given his children the most money.  These are not my suggestions, mind you, and the last one is so WASP it isn't funny.  But we finally (and thankfully) grew tired of honoring the oldest, youngest, and most childrenest.  For Mother's day we honored the mother who had ironed clothes that morning for their children (five mothers held up their hands!), the one who had been through drive-thru windows the most in the past week, and the one who had a child farthest away (Germany).  It worked well and so my creative layfolks came up with the Father's Day categories.  At least, in the event of the deaths of my older women, it stopped folks from saying "Well, now that so-and-so is dead that makes so-and-so the oldest mother to get the rose on Mother's Day!"

 

#3

There will be a display in the narthex with photographs and momentos honoring the oldest father in our congregation. We will then honor him by taking up a special offering which will then be given in his name to the United Methodist Homes' Good Samaritan Fund - a fund that helps make it possible for persons to enter our United Methodist Homes who might not otherwise be able to afford it.

 

#4

Our worship committee is given bedding plants to everyone.  Everyone has a

father.  Plants may be planted in honor of dad or may be given to dad to

plant.  The plants will be on a table in the foyer and everyone will be

invited to pick up a plant on their way out.  We did the same thing for

mothers day and it worked pretty well.  The left over plants were planted at

the church in planters that will be moved into the sanctuary on some Sundays

during the summer.  Presently those plants are blooming and grace the

outside of the church building.

 

If I had my way I would give everyone a tree to plant.  I would give apple

trees.  John Chapman is a hero of mine.  A peacemaker, a planter, and a down

to earth sort of guy that the world needs more of.  Come to think of it, a

Johnny Appleseed illustration has to be woven into the sermon this week.  I

intend to use lots of stories on Sunday that illustrate the significance of

little things, since little things grow into something else.  A TREE FOR

PETER is another story that illustrates that point.

 

John Otto

 

#5

Regarding how fathers can be honored on Father's Day, we are giving each

Dad a small gold-plated lapel pin that is a cross with "Special Dad" in

letters across the bottom part of the vertical post.  The come attached to

s small card with a scripture verse or a poetic thought on it.

 

They are inexpensive (12-49 for $1.49 each, 50-99 for $1.19 each, 100+ for

$.99 each.  We ordered them from an outfit called CTA (1-800) 999-1874 in

Missouri.  They accept credit cards and if asked, might be able to Fed Ex

the stuff to you.

 

We also had small lapel pins for Moms too from the same people.  It went

over well, and was something different from the flower thing we have done

for Moms on previous years.

 

BACK TO TOP

 

****************************

 

Subject: News briefs from Associated Baptist Press

American men 'most pagan' on earth, researcher says

 

 

            OXNARD, Calif. (ABP) -- American men "represent one of the most pagan

subcultures on earth today," according to the Barna Research Group, a leading

surveyor of religion in American life.

            "There are 94 million adult males in America. Unfortunately, the church does

not have much influence in the lives of most of them," notes the

organization's president, George Barna, in the latest edition of its

newsletter, The Barna Report.

            One third of adult males claim to be born-again Christians, the Barna

Research Group discovered in a 1996 nationwide survey. That means

non-Christian American males outnumber Christian men by a 2-to-1 margin.

            Barely one in four adult males (28 percent) attends church services on a

typical weekend. And just 29 percent of American men read the Bible other than

at church each week.

            "The trend lines show that there has been little positive change recently

within the male population," Barna reported. "Since 1991, church attendance,

Bible reading, Sunday-school attendance, volunteering at church and donating

to a church have all declined among men. The proportion of born-again men has

remained unchanged.

 

Associated Baptist Press (written on Mon, Feb 10, 1997 at 12:00 pm)

 

BACK TO TOP

***************************

 

Fishing: A Father's Day Reflection

by Hugh Strickland

 

 

My Father was born in 1906 in a little rural area outside the little

south Georgia town of Glennville.  His life reflected a rural touch.  Let

me tell you about my Father, two of his gardens and the mysteries of God.

 

Not far from our home was the St. John's River and Blue Springs.  Much of

this area is now preserved as State Parks and wild life refuges.  In the

twinkle of an eye, it changed.  It is a preserved garden that we are can

never be really sure about how it grows or why it's there. 

 

Once my Father began what I called his water garden.  There was, down on

the river, a long old steam boat dock for ghost sidewheel steam boats

from an age my Father could remember but not show me.  We, and lots of

other folks fished from this dock for food.  It was not an imaginable

thing to see bass boats with huge motors racing off to fish.  Those that

rented a boat or owned one rowed or used a small motor to get a few miles

into the back water of swamps and logging canals.   There we fished for

hours.  How did we fish?  We caught what we could eat that day and then

went home.  Sometimes we caught more than we needed and gave away what we

wouldn't need that day to someone who was going to need food that day. 

 

Once I remember that My Father collected all the stale bread ends and

moldy pieces for a while and put them in a medium sized burlap bag when

the bag was full he took it fishing with us down to the dock.  He tied a

string around to and a piece of brick and threw it  just about in the

middle of under the dock.  It was out of the way and yet  it was as I

called it a secret water garden. 

 

The next few months, all the people who fished for small bream, a

delicious kind of sun fish, were feed by what they all called the great

fishing that was to be enjoyed from the dock.  The amazing thing about

bream is that they are not big fish, they are fun to catch and sweet  to

eat.  What a crop of the mysteries of God were harvested by everyone who

came and never knew why the fishing were so  plentiful and good.  Many

people remarked in years after how it was funny how there just seemed to

be certain times when there were plenty of beam to catch and to eat.  God

in the same way throws burlap bags under our dock every day and we wonder

how the fishing and eating are so good.  Usually we say how lucky we are

and isn't it a mystery.

 

In the small town I grew up when the two lane road through town was four

laned. There a large muddy lake was dredged out to hold the run off water

from the road.  It was an old lake full of mud, yet as they dredged it

out, the white sand of ancient seas began to line it's banks.

 

The sand transformed the lush green lake banks into a white hot desert

next to standing water that seemed devoid of life.  The lake was located

in a section of town that had been the community of black people who

lived separately among us.  I knew many of them, and played with most of

the children.  I t was not exceptional for me to wave and speak to black

and white people alike as I road and went with my Father all around town.

 It was not what white people usually did or how they behaved.

 

One day he showed me a small patch of sand, that had been rowed up and we

spent time talking about growing a garden.  I though he was nuts, to

plant a garden in the sand.  So we froze the seeds to improve germination

rates, I read this later in a horticulture book and my Fathers crazy idea

was transformed into knowledge.  We planted in the sand mostly Okra, a

very southern vegetable.  Some other things we planted I do not remember.

 I do remember the okra.  it grew amazingly well, and soon there was a

stand of okra five feet high with bright green pods and more and more

yellow flowers.  I notice that our okra was being harvested by others and

I ask.  My father only said "we have enough".  So people ate from our

garden, we never saw them I only saw the signs of missing vegetables.  On

that white sand desert a marvelous garden grew for underneath was the

forgotten fertilizer of past life, and put into the ground was the hope

of life restored and multiplied. 

 

The kingdom of heaven is like a man who puts a  burlap bag of bread under

a dock and feeds people to their amazement and the kingdom of heaven is

like a small garden planted in what looks like desert that can grow into

a rich community supporting place.

 

So our Father gives us the potentials of the Kingdom of heaven.  Look

around you and look for the place that you could raise a garden of

amazement for others or start a community of life where non exists.  This

is the possibility in the Kingdom of God.  Thanks to my father the Gospel

came alive.

 

Peace and all good,

Hugh Strickland, St. Martin's Episcopal University Center

814 West Maple, po box 1190, Fayetteville, Arkansas,72702, USA, North

America, Earth, solar sytem, Milky Way Galxay, Cosmos, all the stuff  we

don't know

 

BACK TO TOP

 

***************************

 

From: Denzel Nonhof

 

June 15, 1997

11th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Father’s Day Sermon

Text: 1 Samuel 16:7

Ezekiel 17:22-24

2 Corinthians 5:6-10

Mark 4:26-41

C.S. 

 

But God Looks on the Heart

      1 Samuel 16:7 “But the LORD said to Samuel, 'Do not consider his

appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look

at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the

LORD looks at the heart.’”  NIV

 

      Many years ago my brother Martin gave me an old office chair.  It was all

in pieces, and at that time I was in woodworking class in high school.  Two

things stood out on that chair.  First, the arms were the smoothest of any

wood I had ever worked with.  On the flip side, the underneath portion of

the seat was totally rough.  It had never been sanded.

      One mark of old furniture is the fact that the underneath parts are always

rough.  Who wanted to spend time sanding and finishing stuff which really

didn’t matter, anyway, especially when it had to all be done by hand?   It

was important to work on what really counts!

      Have we missed that?  Do you spend time on what really matters?  Life is a

series of decisions, and I like the one quote I heard a while back which

really puts things into perspective: “In a hundred years, will this

decision really matter?”

      This last week I read and reread this one little sentence in 1 Samuel

16:7, which tells us that we need to look at God looks.  God does not look

on the outside of a person, but on the heart.  What is important to God, is

character.  Character counts!  Character matters to God, and it needs to

matter to us.  It is as though God is saying, “What most of you are

concerned about, is like the bottom of an old chair.  Who cares?  What you

need to work on is what is really important!”

      I know many of you listen to Dr. Laura Schlessinger on the Radio.  She has

been a counselor on the radio for many years, but she says in her book, How

could you do that? that her radio show really took off when she started

talking out honor, integrity, and ethics.  We know instinctively, that what

matters the most is often what we have tended to the least.

      This last week, I have been thinking about what matters to God?  Back in

the Old Testament days, a King was elected by one vote — God’s.  God had

elected Saul to be King, but later God rejected him.  I wondered why?  Why

was God electing a new King, David?  What had Saul done that he should

become abandoned by God?

      I have to admit that I like Saul.  The first time we ever meet Saul in the

Bible, he is out looking for donkeys.  He is a donkey wrangler.  He is not

a rich man.  He is not a poor man.  He is your average young man who is

working for his dad.  Some donkeys were lost and he was looking for them

when he comes to Samuel.  When Samuel caught sight of Saul, the Lord said

to him, “This is the man I spoke to you about; he will govern my people.”

      What is important is not your job — but your calling.  God calls a donkey

wranglers to be King.  God calls farmers and housewives, sellers of purple

and fishermen, all to go and do his work and tell his story.  Saul is

anointed with oil.  Being anointed with oil is kind of like receiving a

baptism which sticks, (or should I say a sticky baptism?)!  Surely Saul is

struck by this, wondering, “Can this really be happening to me?”  Samuel

tells him three things which are going to happen to him, to prove that he

has been called to serve in this way!  He is to meet two messengers with a

message from his father.  He is to meet three men who will offer him food.

And he is to meet some prophets.  Samuel said to him, “And you will

prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person.”

      When we become Christian, we are anointed with the Spirit of the Living

God.  We are changed by the Holy Spirit.  We become different from what we

once were.  I have heard the arguments from a variety of people, trying to

state their case about what is the most important.  What is most important,

is that God calls you into his kingdom?  Calvinists like to put emphasis on

this call — unfortunately not enough put emphasis on the fact that Calvin

also wanted us to persevere until the end. 

      Some want to put emphasis on baptism, a kind of spiritual anointing which

enters us into the Kingdom.  Is baptism enough?  I have argued with people

saying that if all God wants is for us to be baptized and that is God’s

only concern, please lets slip into hospitals and baptize all the babies

before they leave that place.  God cannot be manipulated, and baptism and

anointing are not acts of magic.

      I have heard many put the emphasis on receiving the gift of the Holy

Spirit.  I would never want to put down the importance of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus does his present work in us and through us by the Holy Spirit.  If we

want to please Jesus, we must want the Holy Spirit to live in us and work

through us.  He is the vine, and we are the branches, and without the Holy

Spirit, we are nothing.  Saul had all this — and it wasn’t enough!

Something was lacking — something which drove a wedge between him and God.

 

      When Saul was first introduced to the people as King, some trouble makers

said, “How can this fellow save us?”  Saul held his tongue.  He went back

home and was farming when the need for his leadership arose.  He heard the

challenge of the Ammonites, and the Spirit came upon him and he had

righteous anger!  Saul called an army together.  Saul led the army of

Israel and they defeated their enemies.  Saul was a gracious man and God

confirmed his call before the people with the sound of thunder.  God also

sent rain to confirm Saul’s call to be King and during a time when it never

rained!

      The rain is coming down and thunder is all around them.  In the middle of

this strong confirmation from God, Samuel gives a powerful warning, in 1

Samuel 12:20, “serve the Lord with all your heart.”

      Laura Schlessinger says is plain, “We are what we do.”  (How could you do

that?  Page 21.)   Forest Gump put it another way, “Stupid is as stupid

does.”  As much as we may hate it, our character is defined, not by what we

say, but by what we do.  Whether or not we serve the Lord with all our

hearts is not revealed by what we say, but by what we do.  A time of

testing came to Saul — would he honor the Lord by doing what God commanded,

or would he do what he thought was right?

      I don’t know about you, but this kind of definition makes me a little

uneasy.  This is saying that what is really important is not the crown, nor

the oil, not the Holy Spirit, but simply doing what God has said to do.

Character is defined by the willingness of a person to do what is right

following a code of conduct which is the basis of the community and the

faith.  Saul had been told to sit still.  Samuel promised that he would

come and make the sacrifice, (this was a communal meal seeking the blessing

of God before going out to battle).  Samuel was slow in coming, Saul was

anxious because soldiers were starting to leave, and he knew the only way

to hold them together was to get this meal and sacrifice started.  Saul did

what he thought best — in direct opposition to what God had commanded.  He

had been told to wait!  He failed the test.

      God wants us to use our minds.  God wants us to think, but God does not

want us to be disobedient.  What has God told you in the Bible you should

not do, and it troubles you?  What had God troubled your conscience about

because you know you should not do it - but you have done it?  We might

argue that nobody knows.  We can argue that everybody else is doing it.  We

can try to rationalize our actions, but we have an obligation to God and to

others.  Though it may seem small at the time — disobedience to God does

matter a hundred years from now.  What we do when nobody else sees, is seen

by God, and that matters.

      Saul was chosen, anointed, and had the power of the Spirit of God come

upon him.  But, he disobeyed God.  When another test came to him — he

failed again, and God turned away from him.  Saul was unsuitable because he

lacked character.  He was disobedient and so a new king had to be chosen.

When Samuel went to anoint David as King, Samuel was warned not to look at

his size, age, or appearance.  What was important was what was in his

heart.

      Modern Evangelical Faith has put too little importance on character.

Character does matter.  Jesus said, “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is

perfect.”  Paul says in his letter to 2 Corinthians 3:18, “As all of us

reflect the Lord's glory with faces that are not covered with veils, we are

being changed into his image with ever-increasing glory. This comes from

the Lord, who is the Spirit.”  (GWT)

      This poem by an unknown author helps to show the important of character:

Watch your thoughts; they become words.

Watch your words; they become actions.

Watch your actions; they become habits.

Watch your habits; they become character.

Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

 

      Paul wrote (in Philippians 3:13-17 ), “Brothers and sisters, I can't

consider myself a winner yet. This is what I do: I don't look back, I

lengthen my stride, and I run straight toward the goal to win the prize

that God's heavenly call offers in Christ Jesus.  Whoever has a mature

faith should think this way. And if you think differently, God will show

you how to think.  However, we should be guided by what we have learned so

far.  Brothers and sisters, imitate me, and pay attention to those who live

by the example we have given you.”  (GWT)

      On this Father’s Day, I wish to give a special challenge to all the men

here today.  You are an example to those around you, especially to

children.  Be a person of character and integrity.  The Kingdom is

established not because you were called, nor by the gift of the Holy Spirit

given to you — but through your obedience to God.  Let each of us be

obedient to the glory of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

AMEN!

 

BACK TO TOP

****************************

 

A Father's Day Sermon

I want to wish all of our Fathers out there a Happy Father s Day. When looking back over the 6 years that I have been here at St. Mary s, I realize that each year when Fathers Day comes along, I seem to draw the short straw which means it is my turn to give the homily. I don t really mind, but I hope that the reason I give the homily on Fathers Day, is that I am plodding away in the trenches, and not because I have any unique wisdom on the subject.

I, like most fathers, kind of fell into the job of being a father. None of my children came packaged with an instruction manual, in fact, I still remember some 20 years ago when Yvonne and I brought our first born, Christopher, home from the hospital. We laid him on the bed in our bedroom and just looked at each other with a whole lot of fear in our eyes. Now what do we do? We can t just call a nurse to come and help us out, we have to handle it ourselves. We were scared to death.

Being a father is more than just a biological function. Sure, that was part of it, but that flash of sparks was nothing compared with the relationship role of being a father. And, being a father is hard, but joyful, work. As none of our children came with an installation manual, which I probably wouldn t have read anyway, or with a do-it-yourself video, all I could do is the best that I could do. That is all any of us can do.

While most of the time I was really trying to do my best, I also have to realize that there were times when I fell quite a bit short of the mark, probably when I was concerned more with peace, or what I was going to have to do, rather than being the best father. But, from what I see around me, this is normal, part of being human, so I shouldn t beat myself up too badly.

One thing that I have come to learn the hard way about being a Father over these past 20 years, is that I am not really in control. I am not sure that I want my children to hear this, but they probably already know it anyway, "I can t make them do anything!" No matter what I suggest, no matter what I ask, no matter what I demand, I can t make my children do anything. It is they that have to make the choice to agree or disagree, to get to work, or to just ignore.

We have all heard the quote: "I can t hear what you are saying because what you do speaks so loudly." This is especially true of fatherhood. When I look at my three children (all of whom are opposites if you can have three opposites) I see my wife and myself staring back at me, and I am not just talking about the good stuff. I know that the not so good stuff is not how I told them to be, so I must face up to the fact that "Do as I say, not as I do" just doesn t work.

Several years ago, I had a single parent come in to see me because she was at her wits end, she had two girls and a boy, and the two girls had made the wrong choices which ended up in their getting pregnant. She didn t know how it could, because she was always so strict and constantly telling them that premarital sex was wrong. I asked her how the message was getting through to her girls when she had her boyfriend in for over night visits, and then even living together for a while.

Our God is not just a God of the great, he is also a God of the minute - Not just a God of the universe, he is also a God of the individual heart. His Kingdom is not just made up of universe, worlds, suns, nations and peoples, his kingdom is proclaimed in the unique and personal life of each of us. Our own homes, our own families proclaim the Kingdom of God. When a man and wife choose to enter into a covenant for the whole of life, they provide the ground in which the small mustard seed of the Kingdom can sprout and grow. And just like the mustard seed sprouts and grows without farmer knowing how it happens, so the seed of the Kingdom sprouts and grows in our families without us knowing how it happens.

So fatherhood is more about providing the good soil for the seed to sprout than to provide the rules and demands to make it grow into the tree or shrub that we want it to grow into, so we can harvest what we want to harvest. And, like the farmer, we don t know how the growth happens until one day we are jolted to reality when an aunt or a cousin who hasn t seen our family for a while, is astonished at what our children are becoming.

Even realizing that as Fathers we need to provide the good nurturing soil, and the we aren t in control, we are often concerned about the lack of success which our efforts for our children, for God and for good seem to have. Today's parables encourage us to allow our God to be God! - To work in His mysterious and surprising ways. We can be sure that the harvest time, when He will reap good fruits, will eventually come.

How do we provide this good soil in our families that will nuture each member and provide the growth? Paul, in our second reading, talks about making it our aim to please God in all our life (he uses home as an image for this life or body), but pleasing God is not just something for our minds and lives, our literal homes must also be a place, an arena in which we also seek to please God.

Is God pleased with who we are in our homes, what we are in our homes, what we do in our homes, what values we teach in our homes? Who are we trying to please more than anyone else in our homes? I wonder what a home would look like if pleasing God was the guiding principle, the determining factor for everything there? Or is God something we confine to a church building on Sunday (if that much)? Maybe we need to get back to the first Christians who had the church in their homes.

It seems to me that if the church is not in our homes, it is no place - at least for us. If God is just something we think about on Sunday in a certain place, but not a living Presence we love, honor and seek to please in our homes where we live and move and have our being, then is God real to us?

So fatherhood can be described as pleasing God. If pleasing God is my aim in life, what difference would it make in my marriage? How much more fertile would the soil be to nuture my children and yes my wife and myself as well. If it was my aim to please God above all else, what difference would it make for me as a father or brother or sister or in-law or grandparent? Will this please God? What a tremendous guiding question to ask continually in our homes.

Truman Stevens
E-Mail:  Deacon_truman@religious.com
Personal WebPage:  http://www.mdex.net/~trumans
St. Mary's WebPage:  http://www.mdex.net/~trumans/st_mary.htm

BACK TO TOP

*****************************

 

 

Fodder's Day

 

When watching a ball game or some other sporting event where the camera

sometimes pans the crowd, have you ever seen anyone hold up a sign that

reads, "Hi, Dad"?  Nope, neither have I.

 

Is this a suggestion that women are more likely to be watching

television than men are?  Is the inference that womenfolk are

quite likely to be glued to their Tv screens during important

ball games, whereas it would be pointless holding up signs that

read, 'Hi, Dad,' because the menfolk would be busy struggling to

keep the house and grounds tidy and providing food for the table?

Surely not...

 

Quite possibly the reason is simply that while it is perfectly acceptable

for men to display their affection for their *mothers* in public, some

men are less willing to openly demonstrate their love for their *fathers*

--maybe because their fathers are of the same gender. I long ago came to

the conclusion that women in general have less problems with sex and

with gender-identity than do we men. Even as children, some of us were

encouraged to give Mummy a kiss but to greet Daddy with a handshake.

 

BACK TO TOP

************************

 

The Best Gift for Dad

A Puppet Skit By Bass Mitchell

 

LOUSIE:     Hey, do you know what day it is?

 

THELMA:     Yeah, it’s Sunday, June 15, 1997.

 

LOUSIE:     No, I don’t mean the date.

 

THELMA:     But it IS Sunday, June 15, 1997.

 

LOUSIE:     Okay, but do you know what is special about Sunday, (date)?

 

THELMA:     (Pauses, thinking)  Uhhhh...nope!

 

(Roscoe comes on the stage)

 

ROSCOE:     Hey, guys! What’s happenin’!

 

LOUSIE:     I’ll bet Roscoe knows.

 

ROSCOE:     Knows what?

 

LOUSIE:     What today is? Don’t you?

 

ROSCOE:     (Says proudly) Sure I do.

 

THELMA:     Well, what is it?

 

ROSCOE:     It’s Sunday, June ____, 200___!

 

LOUSIE:     (Groans)

 

THELMA:     (Giggles)

 

ROSCOE:     What? What? It is Sunday, June 15, 1997!

 

THELMA:     (Still giggling) I know...I know...

 

LOUSIE:     You two are impossible! It’s a wonder you made it past the first grade!

 

ROSCOE:     Well, I’m still in the first grade...

 

LOUSIE:     (Groans again)  It’s Father’s Day, Banana brains! Father’s Day!

 

ROSCOE & THELMA: (Together say)   Oh...why didn’t you say so?

 

LOUISE:     I was trying to...

 

THELMA:     Oh no!

 

ROSCOE:     What? Why “Oh no”?

 

THELMA:     I haven’t bought a gift for my dad yet. What can I get for him?

 

ROSCOE:     I’m gonna get some golf balls for my dad. He’s always losing his.  How about some after shave stuff. We men love that kind of thing. Drives the ladies crazy.

 

THELMA & LOUISE: (Together)  Pleeaassee... you drive ‘em crazy without it!

 

ROSCOE:     Why, thank you!

 

LOUSIE:     That’s not what we mean, Aqua Velva breath!

 

ROSCOE: (Looking kind of hurt)  Just tryin’ to be helpful. You got a better idea, smarty pants?

 

LOUISE: As a matter of fact, I do! You don’t have to spend lots of money on your dad. My dad says that to us each year and he also says that’s the only time we listen to him. I’m not sure what that means. But you can get him something that doesn’t cost money.

 

THELMA & ROSCOE: (Together)  What?

 

LOUSIE:     Love!

 

ROSCOE:     Love? Nah, I think he’d rather have some cologne, you know, that stuff that drives ladies...

 

THELMA:     (Interrupting) No. I think she’s onto something here. But how do you give your dad love?

 

LOUSIE:     Lots of ways. Draw him a picture. Sit on his lap. Give him a great big hug. Help him do things. You can show love in all kinds of ways.

 

THELMA: I like that idea. That’s what I’ll do. I’ll give my dad love.

 

ROSCOE: (Reluctantly) Well, I guess I will too…but I hope he’s not too disappointed when he doesn’t get the after shave that drives the ladies…

 

THELMA & LOUSIE: (Together) Roscoe!!!!

 

LOUSIE:Boys and girls, give your dad, granddad, and all those special men in your lives the best gift of all this Father’s Day. Give them your love. In fact, if your dad, or granddad or a special uncle or person is here today, why not go right now and give them all a great big hug!

 

ROSCOE:     But I bet they really would like after shave…

 

THELMA & LOUSIE: (Together)  Roscoe!!!!

 

PUPPETS SAY TOGETHER: Happy Father’s Day, everyone!!!

 

BACK TO TOP

**************************