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Click on http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com
to read selected Sermons from
over 50 years of Rev. Wyrick's ministry. Below...other recent Sermon Titles
To view Rev. Wyrick in 4 of his highly
acclaimed One Man Dramas ABRAHAM
LINCOLN, BEN FRANKLIN CHARLES WESLEY, MARTIN LUTHER (NBC Special) click on the link
below
Below
the thoughts below read a quote from Rev. Wyrick's applauded 9th book THE
SPIRITUAL ARAHAM LINCOLN
+++++++++++
Do you
ever feel like you are about to jump out of your skin? Your nerves raw and driving you half
crazy? You respond to a small irritation
as if it were a major interruption?
It's holiday time and instead of the holiday
spirit you just feel stressed out and spiritless.
What to do?
Well...
We both know that
the list of what adds stress is long.
There is that last minute gift you
couldn't find or forgot.
There are the
parties (sometimes too many of them) and if two parties are the same night how
do you pick and choose without hurting someone's feelings.
Are you going to a party? If so will you be the first to arrive and the
last to leave? And when yo get back home
the tiredest.
The decorations
are delightful but they don't put themselves up and some manage to get lost or
misplaced in a year's time. Some things
you just can't plan for in advance. So
plan for the unexpected.
If you are a woman there is a meal that
has be cooked. It certainly isn't going
to cook itself.
Then there are
the gifts to be wrapped, the paternal and maternal grandparents and who to
visit first, maybe having to spend Christmas alone, missing loved ones who have
passed away, ...and the list goes on.
All of this
is not new...remember Martha... “Martha
was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made.” (Luke 10:40)
Well, in a sense
Jesus gives you the same advice as he did Martha.
Pick your priorities.
First things first and when the list gets
too long chop some items off the list.
You've always put
up the tiny village that takes everyone back 100 years but this year you're
really running behind time and it would mean burning the mid-night oil...
And make you
terribly tired and irritable.
Then don't
put up the village this year...put it up next year...that isn't
procrastination...it's facing facts rather than letting facts weigh you down.
Yes, everyone always enjoys those special
cookies you always bake or that special pie...but this year...time has just run
out...will they enjoy a less irritable you even more?
Same with
whatever else you cannot seem to find the energy for this year...I'm 84 now
I've given it several names...calendar consciousness...potent pauses... and the
prayer comment "thank you Lord for all I still can do if not at warp
speed."
Pure and simple...Shake hands with common sense and invite he or she to share your
Christmas Day with all of you.
Remember...Christmas
is for the Christ child...and family...and patient loving memories...
It is not for
the celebration of overload.
Christ came to
bring peace to this old world...and it begins with you and it begins with me.
Have you been overspending? Why? So you can worry about paying the bills
in January? Well, it's a little late to
do anything about it this year...but next year don't pack pride in with your
credit cards.
Give with joy but not with financial
underplanning.
"Silent
Night, Holy Night
All is calm, All is bright..."
All is calm, All is bright..."
Maybe it
would do you good to sing just these first two lines a couple of times. With a
crescendo on the word CALM.
"God is our refuge and strength, an
ever-present help in trouble."
(Psalm46:1) When Martin Luther
was surrounded by enemies those 500 years ago he read that Psalm once again and
then sat down and wrote "A Mighty Fortress is our God."
This year in
the midst of singing Christmas carols maybe you should also sing "A Mighty
Fortress is Our God."
"Rejoice
in the Lord always, delight, gladden yourselves in Him. Again I say
rejoice!" (Philippians 4:4)
Speak to yourself
about your faith more often than usual during this CHIRSTmas season. Repetition about such a holy happy
relationship can't do anything else but make you feel better and less stressed.
A man named Paternus wrote these words to
his son: “First of all, my child, think magnificently of God. Magnify His
providence; adore His power, pray to Him frequently and incessantly. Bear Him
always in your mind. Teach your thoughts to reverence Him in every place for
there is no place where He is not. Therefore, my child, fear and worship and
love God; first and last, think magnificently of Him!”
What have you
been telling your son or daughter or yourself about your God?
AND!...Have you considered turning your
phone off for an hour...maybe even for a
day...during this Christmas time...how long can you go without looking
at your Internet?
Just asking?
How long during this season of the
celebration of Christ could you go survive without your Face book?
Just asking?
We humans do
continue to find reasons to add reasons to feel stressed. One is our inability to handle change which
becomes a particular holiday problem.
The way we celebrate
Christmas changes year by year.
For
some of us those little children of ours in the 20th century who grew older and
now have their own children (and for some of us great grand children).
Well, it changed Christmas morning. In size, in the happy noise factor, in the
different Christmas music which does not include Bing Crosby (Bing who?) in new
traditions at the expense of old traditions sometimes.
Perhaps your children need to stay at
home for Christmas in their own house and can come to you their parents house
the next day.
Accept this need for change.
Don't ruin it for everyone by throwing a
hissy fit.
Maybe they've moved to far away and there
really isn't time and air plane tickets for a family of 4 or 5 is just to
much.
Be understanding.
Whatever
makes everything better for everyone...do it...don't undo everything by making
it our way or the highway statements.
Stress can be handled and handled best by
never giving it a chance to get a toe hold.
Learn to say
"No." You want to earn
the reputation of being cooperative and helpful. Fine...but you will be no good to anyone if
you are totally exhausted. I know I
wrote about this earlier in these thoughts but it needs repeating.
Avoid
overindulgence...food or otherwise...enough said.
Christmas should be a holy happy time and
this can be best achieved when we have left ourselves enough time to pray a
prayer of thanks.
If we don't have time for such a prayer
then we have put our finger on the pulse of the matter right there.
++++++++++++++
TO GO TO
COLUMNS WRITTEN ON go60.us BY NEIL...CLICK ON THE URL BELOW
http://go60.us/
THEN CLICK ON "VOICE" AT THE
TOP OF THE PAGE...THEN CLICK ON "MEET OUR WRITERS."
++++++++++++++
Below is a quote from Rev. Wyrick's 9th book
THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
It is little wonder that once the war was over,
wretched memories fed anger loud and long.
Neither side could be proud of some things that happened during the war
or at their many prison camps. The
meanness in some men had multiplied.
They felt their uniforms allowed it.
Andersonville, or Camp
Sumter as it was officially known, in
southwest Georgia
is remembered as one of the worst.
By the end of the war, it had held 50,000
prisoners on a piece of land no larger than twenty-six acres.
Some men had called pits in the ground
their home. During its short
fourteen-month existence, 13,000 soldiers who had survived in battle died in
captivity under the most terrible conditions.
When the war was over the superintendent
was hanged.
++++++++++++++++++++
WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT THE BOOK
"Positive,
powerful utterances...skillfully enhancing our understanding and appreciation
of Lincoln
while revealing the Divine source of his strength."
Lt.
Colonel C.A. Olsen (Ret.) Asbury
College (Professor Ret.)
"The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln is
an extremely well written book that investigates what might be
termed the spiritual side of President Lincoln. It's both scholarly and very
readable. I came away impressed at Mr. Wyrick's portrayal of the President and
with an altered and enlarged vision of the man:'
William Hoffman, Award winning fiction writer; author of Blood and Guile, and
Wild Thorn
"Wyrick has authored a wonderful
examination of the spirituality of one of American history's most devoutly
religious leaders...a pleasant and readable book that has a rich depth of
information."
Maynard Pittendreigh Presbyterian
minister
"When it comes to invoking religion in
support of any of their decisions, politicians need to sit at the feet of
Abraham Lincoln. Reinhold Niebuhr once called him 'America's greatest theologian.' Why
so great? Because he invariably distinguished between human works and the works
of the Almighty. As Wyrick says, 'He wore the mantle of humility
easily: because he was more impressed with what God was doing in the world than
with what he, president of the United States in the midst of an awful crisis,
was doing. That is why in his last major speech he distinguished between both
human causes in the Civil War and the Almighty's 'own purposes.' Lincoln would have agreed
that it is better to leave God-talk out of politics than to decorate human
proposals with divinity. This is a book for our American time. Through his
careful study of Lincoln's
career, Wyrick compels us to remember that piety belongs in politics only when
piety transcends politics."
Dr.
Donald W. Shriver
Emeritus professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Author of An
Ethic for Enemies: Forgiveness in Politics
"V. Neil Wyrick's fine work allows the reader to appreciate Abraham
Lincoln's Christian commitment and his prophetic role in American history.
Should have a wide readership."
James
H. Smylie Professor
of Church History (Ret.) Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Virginia
"Neil
Wyrick's The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln should be read by anyone attempting to understand the man who was probably
the most complex person to ever hold the office of president of the United States.
Dr. Wyrick is intent on demonstrating that the spirituality so often expressed
in Lincoln's
writings and speeches was not merely lip service to a Deity, but rather
expressions of a profound faith in a real God. It was this faith that provided
the wisdom, compassion, insight and sometimes steel that Lincoln would need in full measure as he led the United States through the Civil
War. Dr. Wyrick's clear and unpretentious style of presentation is very much in
keeping with the character ofhis subject, and in so doing, Wyrick makes his
point very well that Lincoln,
his beliefs, and the faith that formed them, are as relevant to a troubled America in 2004
as they were in 1863."
Daniel Allen Butler, author
of "Unsinkable"; The Full Story of the RMS Titanic, The Lusitania and The
Age o f Cunard
++++++++++++++++++++++
Neil also writes for go60.us to check out his writings...
click on
"Voice" on the home page and then on the list of authors click
on Neil Wyrick
Recent articles Rev. Wyrick has written for this web site are:
REFLECTIONS
·
Here Comes Summer (July 2012)
·
Spring
(May 2012)
·
Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow (April 2012)
·
Wayward and Windy (April 2012)
++++++++++++++++++++++
Some of the sermon titles
posted recently on Wyrick's Writings
+++++++++++++++++++++
BELOW ARE MORE QUOTES FROM NEIL'S RECENTLY POSTED SERMONS
on Wyrick's Writings
++++++++++++++++++
A QUOTE FROM THOUGHTS POSTED ON MY
OTHER BLOG WYRICK'S WRITINGS ENTITLED
Two stores faced each other across a very
busy street. Their owners were in constant competition
with each other. One day, the owner of
one store put out a sign that read – If
you want it, we have it!
Almost immediately the other owner put out a
sign –If we don’t have it, you don’t
need it!
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Click on the URL below to WATCH NEIL IN
HIS WORLD FAMOUS ONE MAN DRAMATIZATIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, BEN FRANKLIN, CHARLES WESLEY AND MARTIN LUTHER
To
Order and Read
Neil's 9th book THE
SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN
GO TO amazon.com
QUOTES ABOUT THIS WONDERFUL INSPIRING INFORMATIVE book
STILL RECEIVING RAVE
REVIEWS 8 YEARS AFTER IT'S PUBLICATION.
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