This sermon was preached by Bishop Arthur Walmsley. The occasion was “Scout Sunday” and a number of scouts and leaders were present.
Isaiah 58:9b-12
Matthew 6:24-34
Once upon a time, an eleven year old boy thought he had lost his father. There was a war on, and his dad who was in the army had been sent overseas. With his mother and a younger brother, he had to move to a distant city know where they crowded into his grandparents’ apartment. Going to an unfamiliar school was a real challenge; he was a scrawny kid, he was small for his age, he wore glasses, and he quickly became the butt of a gang of bullies which controlled his fifth grade classroom. Luckily he could run faster than them, and mostly he paid no attention to the bullying. Except that he was very lonely.
Someone suggested he might find friends at a boy scout troop located in a church up the street from his grandparents’ house. He swallowed hard and went to a meeting, and to his surprise he found himself hooked. He joined the troop, the scoutmaster took a real interest in him, and he discovered a world he had not known in the family or in school before then. He belonged.