Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 226 to 250 of 4508 results

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

The heroes of this little narrative certainly seem familiar to us. Each year we all receive at least one Christmas card with their picture on the cover. Every card depicts them exactly the same way: long flowing robes, beards, and big turbans. They are always in one of two poses: either kneeling at Jesus' crib or sojourning across the desert on camels. In our carefully carved nativity sets, they r...

227. Where Is He?

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

One thing is for sure about Christmas. When it’s over, it’s over. Down come the decorations. Away go the songs. Good cheer is bottled up for another year and goodwill is put back in the attic. It’s like all this festivity is good for a little while but we wouldn’t want to risk making it a way of life. But the Church says slow down, you move too fast. Today is the 10th day of Christmas. Epiphany S...

228. Gifts For The Christ Child

Sermon

David E. Leininger

The three wise men. "They opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense (or frankincense, from the King James Version) and of myrrh" (Luke 2:11b). Simple words, but if we analyze them carefully (as an email that my wife forwarded to me attests), we discover an important, yet often-overlooked, theological fact: There is no mention of wrapping paper. If there had been w...

229. Grand Opening

Sermon

Robert J. Elder

Carefully the plans are laid. The property is purchased, the foundations are poured, the combination of bricks and sticks are put in their proper places, so that, after weeks of work and waiting, the building begins to take shape. Then, when the building is completed, a merchant makes his appearance on the scene, having long since made his purchasing plans and placed his orders for the first selec...

230. Jesus Makes All the Difference

Sermon

Cynthia Cowen

Our gospel reading for this Epiphany Sunday is a marvelous story about confrontation. The wise men — more commonly known as the three kings today — were teachers of science and truth. They had been watching the heavens, searching for a sign of God's activity in the world, when they were confronted by a star. The poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, was confronted while reading their story in the gos...

231. Get Up and Go

Sermon

Mark Trotter

Matthew borrowed heavily from the Old Testament, especially from the prophet, Isaiah. That may come as a word of comfort to writers, and especially to preachers, who borrow heavily from other sources and hope nobody finds out about it. You can get in trouble doing that. In some places it is called "plagiarism." It is at the least embarrassing, and perhaps even expensive, if the material you borrow...

232. Prophesy Your Way Forward

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

The worst thing about January 1? Not that it marks the “official” end of the holiday season. Not that it means school starts the next day. Not even that it signals we all just got a year older. The worst thing about January 1 is that we are immediately inundated with two of the most depressing messages imaginable. First, we are barraged and berated online, on tv, on buses, with the fact that ...

233. The Seekers

Sermon

Theodore L. Yewey

It was January 6, "Three Kings Day," and our house was buzzing for this was a special day. It was the time when the final characters would be added to our scene of the Nativity. And it was also a time that we would observe by the giving of some very special gifts. Our "Three Kings" had waited patiently in their boxes filled with shredded paper until this important day and then they made their lon...

234. Why Were the Wise Men Wise?

Sermon

James Merritt

Go back in time 2,000 years, and imagine that you are one of the most respected scholars in the city of Babylon, perhaps even a professor in the university. You are getting your camel ready for a trip; one of your students comes by and says, "Teacher, where are you headed?" You reply, "I'm going to Palestine." He says, "Why, that is several months journey from here. Why are you going to Palestine...

235. Advent 3: Won't You Let Him Into Your Gift-Giving?

Sermon

James W. Moore

This sermon is based on Matthew 2:7-12. Not the Luke text above. Many of you will recognize the name of Robert Fulghum. He is the author of the popular book, “All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten.” In a later book, he told a wonderful story about his daughter Molly. When Molly was seven years old, she liked to help pack lunches each morning for her brothers, her dad, and herself. ...

236. What a Star Can't Tell You

Sermon

William G. Carter

“Hi, Pastor! How are you?” She waved a glove from the other end of the parking lot. Pushing her shopping cart back to the front entrance of the supermarket, she wore a red parka from L. L. Bean. Her hair was pulled back in a hair band and her cheeks were flushed. “I’m sorry I haven’t been to church this winter,” she said. “I bought a ski pass, and the lines are the shortest on Sunday morning.” I s...

237. The Star Thrower

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

O Star (the fairest one in sight), We grant your loftiness the right To some obscurity of cloud – It will not do to say of night, Since dark is what brings out your light. Some mystery becomes the proud. But to be wholly taciturn In your reserve is not allowed. Say something to us we can learn By heart and when alone repeat. Say something! And it says "I burn." -- Robert Frost, "Choose Something L...

238. Strangers at the Manger

Sermon

Way back in my first semester of seminary (that seems like 30 or 40 years ago, but it was only 1989), in a course titled Introduction to the New Testament, the professor made a comment that stuck in my mind. It hadn’t occurred to me before. He said the Gospel of Matthew was the "most Jewish" of the four gospels. What he meant by that was that the writer of Matthew consistently, tirelessly quotes t...

239. Light From And For The East

Sermon

Mark Radecke

Dear Robert, It was good to spend some time with you over Christmas break. I really enjoyed hearing about your semester in India, and am so glad you had that opportunity. We sometimes tend to pull our worlds in around us like a down comforter on a cold night. There is nothing like living in another country, immersing yourself in another culture, to expand your horizons. I have begun to work on a...

240. The Best Surprises

Sermon Aid

Clement E. Lewis

Instrumental Meditation A Hymn: "Sometimes A Little Surprises" (Let the hymn be played through as meditation music, after which the lyrics may be either sung or read.) Scripture: Matthew 2:9-12 and 4:9-11 (NRSV) When they had heard the king, they set out; and there ahead of them went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw tha...

241. The Lion, The Lamb And Herod’s Rage

Sermon

Erskine White

A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children.(Matthew 2:18) The text I read to you from Matthew’s gospel is surely the least known part of the Christmas story. It’s the part most people forget about or would rather overlook. In fact, in all my years of growing up in the church, I never heard anyone preach an Advent sermon on this "Slaughter of the Inno...

242. A Song, A Star, A Savior

Sermon

King Duncan

In the Family Circus cartoon, the little girl sits her baby brother on her lap and tells him the story of Christmas. It goes something like this: "Jesus was born just in time for Christmas up at the North Pole surrounded by 8 tiny reindeer and the Virgin Mary . . . Then Santa Claus showed up with lots of toys and stuff and some swaddling clothes . . . The 3 wise men and elves all sang carols while...

243. When You Follow A Star and Find A Stable

Sermon

King Duncan

Think of the disappointment these men must have experienced who through the night had traveled many miles by camel to discover that the star had come to rest over a stable. They had followed a star and found a stable. Surely they were expecting a palace. Or perhaps a stately mansion. Think how they must have felt. Their vast disappointment as they look down from some nearby Judean hill and came to...

244. Christmas Brings Us A New Heart

Sermon

John Pugh

Christmas is a hectic time. One writer on the financial page, commented that our society has been racing through its prosperity so fast we have lost sight of any destination. But Christmas is also a special time defined by gift giving. A kindly 90-year-old grandmother found buying presents for family and friends a bit much one Christmas, so she wrote out checks for all of them to put in their Ch...

245. Nightline

Sermon

Eric Ritz

The famous United Methodist Bishop of California named Gerald Kennedy once sent a pastoral letter to all the churches and pastors under his care. He told the story of seeing a very poorly dressed woman and her young daughter looking into one of the beautiful department store windows in the downtown area of a large city. In it was the manger scene, but here Mary was dressed as the Queen of Heaven w...

246. The Other Side of Christmas

Sermon

Eric Ritz

I would fully understand if you told me that the scripture lesson read today is not found in your top ten list of favorite Bible passages. This reading from the word of God doesn't allow us to be "cozy and comfortable" about the reaction of King Herod to the birth of Christ in the drama of world history. We often place all our attention on the three kings who traveled from afar to the birthplace o...

247. Going Ahead Anyway

Sermon

William B. Kincaid, III

Did you notice that bad things did not stop happening through the holidays? And is any warning necessary that bad things will happen in every season of this year? Surely there is better news than that, but we ought to be honest about the bad news. Not even the holidays generate enough good will to stop people from blowing up airplanes and destroying people's reputations and abusing children and se...

248. Sealed and Sanctified

Sermon

Lori Wagner

“And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” (Ephesians 4:30) “When you believed in Christ, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.” (Ephesians 1:13) You’ve heard it said: “the eyes are the windows to the soul.” You’ve also probably heard it said “the ears are the portals to the soul.” Or maybe “if the eyes are the windows to t...

249. You Are Gifted

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Prop: ribbons or if possible small gift boxes tied with ribbons (you can also tie ribbons to a manger….or to the altar or another item, such as a cross) All of us know the talk in our culture today about giftedness. If you go into any bookstore, you’ll find titles such as “The Drama of the Gifted Child,” “Gifted Grownups,” “Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom,” “The Gifted Adult,” and there...

250. Follow the Light

Sermon

Lori Wagner

“Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes in the morning.” --Psalm 30:5 This morning, we are celebrating the birth of the Light that came into the world. Jesus, the Light of God, the Light of Love, the Light of Peace, the Light of Hope. There are high and holy words. But what do they mean for us today? What does it mean for Jesus to be the Light in our world? In your life? In my life? ...

Showing 226 to 250 of 4508 results