PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
Delivered July 17,2005
First-St. Andrew’s United Church of Canada
London, Ontario, Canada
http://www.fsaunited.london.on.ca/
Worship/20050717.html
Pope John 23rd was one of God’s great saints. He was a deeply humble man with a great sense of humour. He was born into a farming family of thirteen children and once said that the family was so poor that there was no wine for the children.
"There are three ways to ruin your life," he once told the press with a twinkle in his eye, "gambling, loose women, and farming. My father chose the most boring."
Every evening he would end his prayers by asking himself, "Who governs the church? You or the Holy Spirit?
Very well, then, go to sleep, Angelo."
Angelo Guiseppe Roncalli, Pope John 23rd
from a sermon by the Rev. Dr. David E. Leininger:
WHOSE CHURCH IS IT ANYWAY?
Delivered 7/14/96
First Presbyterian Church, Warren, Pennsylvania
http://www.presbyterianwarren.com/
whose.html
Perhaps you are familiar with the name Angelo Roncalli. You may know him better by the name he took late in life, Pope John XXIII. It is safe to say the John XXIII made more of an impact on the life of the Christian church than anyone since Martin Luther. It was John XXIII who was responsible for the sweeping changes brought about by Vatican II - a less legalistic approach to faith, worship in the language of the people, an openness to non-Catholic Christians, to name just a few.
It is said that Pope John's bedtime prayer was routinely the kind of conversation between himself and the Lord that prayer ought to be. As he reflected on the events of the day, the trials and tribulations of leadership, he heard, "Whose church is it anyway? Yours? or Mine?" There would be no need to respond. Then he would hear, "Very well then. Go to sleep, Angelo. Go to sleep."
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