Sermons 1-24-16 - A Person's a Person No Matter Ho

1 1A Person S A Person NO Matter HOW SMALLLuke 4:14-21I Corinthians 12:12-31aSunrise Presbyterian ChurchJanuary 24, 2016 Martha MurchisonWednesday afternoons at God s Kids arespecial times forSunrise. One reason for this are the marvelous story books JackieThompson introduces to our children. Jackie pairs children s storybooks with the lectionary scriptures for the week. The children hearthe story and discuss it. Theymake crafts which help interpret month they heard a marvelous story about a teacher in Honduraswho helped a village learn to compost and terrace their soil so thatthey could grow then planted tomato seeds sothat they could experience growing vegetables. (The book is in Addie sCorner. You can check it out!)The kids and I and many of us are happy for Jackie that she ismoving but we are also very sad because her teaching and nurturinghave beenincrediblyimportant for our children.

2 I ve been thinkingabout the many books Jackie has introduced to me and others but myfavorite, and I think a favorite of the children is a ,Horton Hears a Who!Perhaps most of us have read the story about Hortontheelephant who hears a small noise while he drinks at his pool. But incase, we can t quite recall the story in the middle of his drinking andsplashing in the pool at Nool Horton hears a small noise just a faintyelp perhaps a cry for help. And Horton stops his splashing to listenand is a small speck a bit of dust too small for his elephant eyesto see but he hears the cry,and he stops to care because the speckis some poor Person who d shaking with fear that he ll blow inthe pool2 with no way to steer. So Horton says, I ll just have to save , after all, a Person s a Person , no Matter how small. Horton cares for the speck and discovers thatit is not just oneperson in the drop of water instead, it isan entire town withbuildings and people churches and schools.

3 The people of WhovilledependonHorton for life,and Horton wants to save the monkeys, the kangaroos,andthe black-bottomed eaglethink Horton is daft they think Horton is loony an absolute loserbecausethey say heis talking to Whoswho arenot! They laugh athim poke fun at him call him names and the black-bottomed eaglemakes off with theWhosto boil them all in a hot steaming kettle ofBeezle-Nut oil! Horton searches high and low for his friends because herepeats A Person s a Person no Matter how small. TheWhostry toshoutso thatthe kangarooscanhearthem tostop the plot to boilthem in oil--but no Matter how loud they cry it s just Horton yet it isthe smallestwhoofall just a small boy who s offin his room paying no attention to the imminent doom it s his voicethatis needed to make thecry heard not just by Horton but by thewhole herd and that cryprovesthat theWhosarepeople no matterhow people non-important people losers poor people oppressed people play a large part in many stories in the Bible.

4 Paultalks about them in the letter he writes to the church at Corinth. Hesays that the church is like a body with eyes and ears hands andfeet. The members of the church have different gifts which God givesus not for ourselves but for the good of the whole body. The eyesare important but so are every other part of the body even theparts of our bodies we think arenot important Paul reminds us arecritically necessary. Try breaking alittle toe and soon we ll discoverhow important toes are!God gives us all gifts to use for the commongood because a Person s a Person no Matter how small. And a personhas gifts no Matter how ,likewise,speaksin our morning readingabout people wemight think are not the reading,Jesus returns home toNazareth where he grew up goes to the synagogue, unrolls the scrolland announcesby usingthe words of Isaiah that he has come to bringgood news to the poor.

5 He has sent me to proclaim release to thecaptives and recovery of sight to the blind,to let the oppressed gofree. Jesus has heard the cries of theWhos in Whoville he s heardthe worries of his own people in Nazereth he hears their struggleagainst occupation and Roman imperialism and he announces hismissionto the prisoners, the oppressed, the blind because aperson s a Person no Matter how small. And not unlike Horton hisneighbors and friends his relatives and others call him names pokefun and chase him from yet, Jesus calls us to listen with him for the sound of thosewho struggle to the pleas of the prisoners tothe cries of those whoneedfood and housing clean water and jobs. Jesus calls us to listenwith him just as Horton listens to theWhos. But Jesus also calls usto realize the gifts we have been given for the good of too often we fail to act because we imagineour words willhave little impact.

6 All too often we don t volunteer to teach because we think no one would listenand we would not know what to too often we may not lift our voices in song because we might beoff key. All too often wesit back and wait on others whom we thinkare more gifted more talented than we are. All too often we fail touse our as we celebrate our God s Kids program and the manygifts of adults and children which make that program great Horton isa good reminder to us to listen no Matter how small a voice nomatter how minor because after all a Person s a Person , no matterhow small. Alleluia! Amen.