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A young American engineer was sent to Ireland by his company to work in a new electronics plant. It was a two-year assignment that he had accepted because it would enable him to earn enough to marry his long-time girlfriend. She had a job near her home in Tennessee, and their plan was to pool their resources and put a down payment on a house when he returned. They corresponded often, but as the lonely weeks went by, she began expressing doubts that he was being true to her, exposed as he was to comely Irish lasses.

The young engineer wrote back, declaring with some passion that he was paying absolutely no attention to the local girls. “I admit,” he wrote, “that sometimes I’m tempted. But I fight it. I’m keeping myself for you.”

In the next mail, the engineer received a package. It contained a note from his girl and a harmonica. “I’m sending this to you,” she wrote, “so you can learn to play it and have something to take your mind off those girls.”

The engineer replied, “Thanks for the harmonica. I’m practicing on it every night and thinking of you.” Continue reading “Sermon: Easter 5 RCL A – “The Old Argument””

An armed hooded robber bursts into a little bank in South Louisiana, and forces the tellers to load a sack full of cash. On his way out the door with the loot one brave Cajun customer grabs the hood and pulls it off, revealing the robber’s face. The robber shoots the guy without hesitation! He then looks around the bank to see if anyone else has seen him. One of the tellers is looking straight at him and the robber walks over and calmly shoots him also. Everyone by now is very scared and looking down at the floor. “Did anyone else see my face?” calls the robber. There are a few moments of silence, then Boudreaux looking down tentatively raises his hand and says: “I think my wife, Chlotile, peeked.” There’s an opportunist in every crowd. Continue reading “Sermon: Easter 4 RCL A – “The Opportunist””

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A woman’s car stalled in traffic. She looked in vain under the hood to identify the cause, while the driver behind her leaned relentlessly on his horn. Finally she had enough. She walked back to his car and offered sweetly, “I don’t know what the problem is with my car. But if you want to go look under the hood, I’ll be glad to sit back here and honk for you.”

If we were to go around the room, I suspect we would discover that there are very few of us who have no plans for the rest of the day. Not many will head back home, prop their feet up, and enjoy. Instead, if we were to go around the room, I suspect that there are many who are only waiting for the last candle to be snuffed out on the altar before taking off to the next event on the calendar. We are very busy people and I suppose that is OK, we can enjoy the busyness just as much as the quiet, but that busyness has a way of changing the way we think. We can begin to believe that if we aren’t doing something, if something isn’t happening, then we are wasting time, and if we believe that we are wasting time, then we will lay on the horn until that idiot gets the heck out of our way, or if there is no idiot, we will invent something to fill the time. Continue reading “Sermon: Easter 3 RCL A – “A Waiting Soul””

For three years Jesus ministered on earth. Scripture occasionally tells us that He went off by himself to pray, but for the most part, from the very beginning of his public ministry, there was always the crowd.

There was the crowd at his baptism in the river Jordan, at the wedding in Cana, and at the Sermon on the Mount. The crowd was constantly pushing in. At one point the disciples almost seem amused at the crowd. You’ll recall the woman who had the flow of blood for twelve years. She touches the hem of Jesus’ garment and he says, “Who touched Me?” Peter responds, ”Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’”

At another point the disciples rebuke the crowd for pressing in upon Jesus and bringing their children for a blessing. It is here that we receive that beautiful saying of Jesus, “Let the little children come unto me and do not hinder them, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” Continue reading “Palm Sunday RCL A – “The Crowd””

Clotile would haul Boudreaux to church every Sunday morning and make him sit on the front row with her, because, as she liked to remind him on a regular basis, “It was probably as close to Jesus and heaven as he was ever going to get.”

Well one Sunday, as the preacher of the First Atchafalaya Church of the Redeemer was getting his second wind about 30 minutes into the sermon, wouldn’t you know it, but Satan appeared. Seeing who it was, the preacher, Clotile, and all the parishioners were crawling out windows and trampling one another in a frantic effort to get out of there. All except Boudreaux who just sat there calmly staring up at the Devil with a very disinterested look on his face. Continue reading “Sermon: Lent 4 RCL A – “Mark””

When he was about thirty, Napoleon Bonaparte became a part of the First Consul of the French government. Five years later, he became the Emperor, crowned by Pope Pius VII at the cathedral in Notre Dame. It was about this same time when the Napoleonic Wars began to rage across Europe and would not end for over a decade. It is estimated that up to 6.5 million people died as a result of those wars.

Throughout these wars, various coalitions would form in an attempt to resist the French invaders, but it was not until the seventh coalition that they were successful in defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. Continue reading “Sermon: Lent 3 RCL A – “The Blessed Virgin Mary””

King Frederick II, an eighteenth-century king of Prussia, was visiting a prison in Berlin. While there, the inmates tried to prove to him how they had been unjustly imprisoned. All except one.

That one sat quietly in a corner, while all the rest protested their innocence. Seeing him sitting there oblivious to the commotion, the king asked him what he was convicted of. “Armed robbery, Your Honor.” The king asked, “Were you guilty?” “Yes, Sir,” he answered. “I entirely deserve my punishment.” The king then gave an order to the guard: “Release this guilty man. I don’t want him corrupting all these innocent people.”

Today, as we continue to look at the witnesses of the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord, I would like for us to consider the Apostle Peter, but I would like to begin by recalling the few episodes we have of Judas Iscariot during this same timeframe. Continue reading “Sermon: Lent 2 RCL A – “Peter””