For those of us whose service is centered around the Eucharist; there is a liturgy of the Word which includes a homily generally 6 to 10 minutes tops, then comes the liturgy of the Eucharist. Other churches the service centers around the sermon which can run longer.
This question got be to dig into our DVDs for a movie I haven't seen in years. It is one of those that came out of the Dance movie era. "Do You Wanna Dance?" takes place in Greek Town Chicago. Billy Duncan has meet failure after failure. He lost his dance studio and steals a car for money to get it back. He gets caught and sentenced to 500 hours of community service. Fr. Chris the pastor of St. Basil's takes him on much to the disgust of some of his parishioners.
Billy gets Fr. Chris Black Hawk game which happens to fall on a Sunday. Fr. Chris is the biggest Black Hawk fan evah! and will not miss the whole game. The Divine Liturgy may be the fastest ever. In the Divine Liturgy the sermon is at the end. Here is the text of Fr. Chris' sermon:
"In the Gospel according to St. Matthew we are told not to use meaningless words. The Clergy, myself included, often forget this. So I say to you; Faith, Hope, Love; and the greatest of these is Love."
This and one other thing that Fr. Chris tells Billy make watching this movie again worthwhile. It was attributed to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. but actually was Dr. Benjamin E. Mays
"Whatever you do, strive to do it so well that no man living, dead, or yet born can do better."
Dr. Benjamin E. Mays was an inspiration and advisor to his students, including Julian Bond, Andrew Young, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who referred to Dr. Mays as his "spiritual mentor."
Perhaps the student did say it as well.
Thanks, hrmjustin, for leading me to rewatch this film.
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