Sermon competition #2

Originally posted by Nemesio
What's the alphabet game?

First you listen for the person (preacher, teacher, public speaker ... whoever is going to be talking for a while) to say a word that starts with the letter A. Then B, etc., but no skipping or going out of order. It's kept me awake many times.

Originally posted by pawnhandler
First you listen for the person (preacher, teacher, public speaker ... whoever is going to be talking for a while) to say a word that starts with the letter A. Then B, etc., but no skipping or going out of order. It's kept me awake many times.

Did you get stuck on 'X' a lot? I don't think xylophones or x-rays come up too often in sermons.

Originally posted by Mimor
Did you get stuck on 'X' a lot? I don't think xylophones or x-rays come up too often in sermons.

How about x-rated movies.

Originally posted by Mimor
Did you get stuck on 'X' a lot? I don't think xylophones or x-rays come up too often in sermons.

I think there I cheat and go for "ex-"

Originally posted by pawnhandler
I think there I cheat and go for "ex-"

Like in "excommunication?"

Originally posted by rwingett
Like in "excommunication?"

I've actually never heard excommunication mentioned in a homily.

Originally posted by pawnhandler
I've actually never heard excommunication mentioned in a homily.

Maybe the priest was talking about xyr ex?

Originally posted by Nordlys
Maybe the priest was talking about xyr ex?

Nah, the priests I know are all older men who went to high school seminaries, etc. I know that now many religious orders of men and women won't let you in if you haven't had a "real life" first, but for diocesan priests I think they still take youth and bring them up through they system the way they have for a century ... which doesn't bode well.

Originally posted by pawnhandler
Nah, the priests I know are all older men who went to high school seminaries, etc. I know that now many religious orders of men and women won't let you in if you haven't had a "real life" first, but for diocesan priests I think they still take youth and bring them up through they system the way they have for a century ... which doesn't bode well.

Speaking of which, we are a day away from the deadline to enter a sermon for round 2. Why do you think there is such a poor showing so far in this round? Was the first round too rigorous?

Originally posted by kirksey957
Speaking of which, we are a day away from the deadline to enter a sermon for round 2. Why do you think there is such a poor showing so far in this round? Was the first round too rigorous?

Maybe they all got a memo and I didn't, so I will look silly with the only sermon :'(😕 Not that I'm sensitive or anything...😛

Originally posted by kirksey957
Why do you think there is such a poor showing so far in this round?

I can think of several reasons: People were given a lot more time in the first round; maybe KellyJay wasn't the only one who didn't read the thread because it wasn't started by you; and the topic may not have appealed to everybody.

Originally posted by pawnhandler
Nah, the priests I know are all older men who went to high school seminaries, etc. I know that now many religious orders of men and women won't let you in if you haven't had a "real life" first, but for diocesan priests I think they still take youth and bring them up through they system the way they have for a century ... which doesn't bode well.

My parents once told me about a sermon they heard on Christmas Eve. The priest had been divorced quite recently, and his whole sermon was about Joseph, going on about how he was always left out. It was quite obvious that he was really talking about himself, and my parents thought it was rather embarrassing.

He probably didn't use the word "ex" though.

Originally posted by Nordlys
My parents once told me about a sermon they heard on Christmas Eve. The priest had been divorced quite recently, and his whole sermon was about Joseph, going on about how he was always left out. It was quite obvious that he was really talking about himself, and my parents thought it was rather embarrassing.

He probably didn't use the word "ex" though.

I remember a visiting priest from England once who said to us "You have to start thinking of Black people as real people." WTF? And what exactly was I thinking up to that moment then? Then again, this was a church where people would pray for an end to abortion in one petition and a "death to all Arabs" sort of sentiment in the next, so I guess the priest should be excused for thinking there were some really stupied people in the congregation.

Numbers 3:8 And they (those of the tribe of Levi) will keep all the instruments of the tebernacle of the congregation, and the charge of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle.

Tonights message is about those who are to be preists and I have provided the Bible verse mentioned above as my source for the message. Pretty boring verse eh? So to spice it up a bit we will talk about the following. Should preists only be women, should they only be men, should they be women who dress like men, should they be lesbians, should they be men who claim to be lesbians? Who's to say?

To start off with I will regress back into my boring mode and give you all a quick little history lesson. However, it would behoove you to pay attention despite this because I could at any time begin talking about lesbians and cross dressers without warning. Ok, so here it goes:

The nation of Israel was formed out of 12 tribes that originated from the 12 sons of Jacob. Jacob was then later nemed Israel. The tribe of Levi that was mentioned in the verse above just so happened to be one of those 12 tribes of Israel. During the time of Moses and the children of Israel, each tribe was designated tasks and roles to play within the nation of Israel. God then commanded that the priests that were to be appointed unto him were ONLY to come from the tribe of Levi. These preists then carried out their duties in the tabernacle in and around the ark of the covenant and interceeded for the people of Israel.

Wait, you are loosing interest. I can see it. CROSS DRESSING LESBIANS!!!!. Ok, that ought to do it, so where was I? Oh yea.

So God chose the tribe of Levi? Why the tribe of Levi? After all, there were 12 other tribes to choose from. Why not choose them from the tribe of Benjamin, or of Rueban, or of Judah etc or even a mixture of thereof? Were those in the tribe of Levi better than everyone else? Were they all bleessed with the eloquence of speech? Were they more "holy" than everyone else? Was it because God liked the cashual look of jeans that none of the other tribes wore? No, I say and a thousand times no!!! Then again, who am I to say? I mean, what do I know? I did'nt even come close to winning the last sermon competition. Unfortunatly for those of us who have an inquisitive mind, God did not really get into why he chose them even though I am sure he had his reasons. They simply had "roles" to play. It did'nt make them any better or worse than anyone else, rather, they simply had a job to do that they had been selected for, that no one else was appointed to do.

I know, I know so now you think after hearing that I believe we all have specific roles to play that I must believe that God has ordained ONLY men to fill the role of "preist" and not women. No silly, I think you must be a Levite to be a priest. Just kidding. No, I will not say who's role is what, rather, I will let God be the judge just as he was during the time of Moses. God has a plan for all of us and we all have a role to play and a job to do. Therefore, it is up to us to seek God's will in regards to such questions if we want to serve him and be preists to him. Just because I may be male or female in no way dictates that I should be a preist, rather, we must seek God in finding out the purpose for our lives and why we were put here on earth. I could provide you some more verses that might shed some further light in regards to what God may think on the issue of who should or should not be preists today but I am confined to but ONE verse in my sermon. What can I say, blame the judges. 😛

Originally posted by kirksey957
Speaking of which, we are a day away from the deadline to enter a sermon for round 2. Why do you think there is such a poor showing so far in this round? Was the first round too rigorous?

Personally, the topic is of no interest to me, even though I am a Christian. Try as I might I could not muster the will to write anything with the passion a good sermon calls for. Also, the sermon competition, as far as I was aware, was not supposed to be just about Christianity. Even ahosney should be able to jump in here and wax eloquent about Islam, along with atheists and Christians or perhaps even a New Ager or two. Such a constrictive topic prevented such a conglomeration I think...

(However, I do respect the efforts of those who have contributed this round.)