Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 2726 to 2750 of 4997 results

Matthew 3:1-17 · John 1:1-34 · Mark 1:1-8 · Luke 3:1-38

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... of invisible waves. In our scripture for this Trinity Sunday, the Holy Spirit of God descends upon Jesus at his baptism, not as a dove but “like a dove,” engraving forever in John the Baptist’s mind and in ours not only that Jesus is the Messiah, but what kind of Messiah he is! He is the Son of God, and together with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, he has come with all of the power, yet the grace of God to re-establish God’s bond with humankind. The dove is the symbol of relationship, of ...

2727. A Taxing Encounter

Matthew 9:9-13, Mark 2:13-17, Luke 5:27-32

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... in life doesn’t point to Jesus, it’s NOT that important! We do the same thing in our churches sometimes. We have all kinds of things we think are SO important, don’t we? We think the way we set up our sanctuary is important. We think quiet ... ! He’s celebrating, drinking, making merry, laughing, having a great time. It’s a feast! And he’s not observing any kind of fasting or respectable “Pharisee-like behavior.” And Jesus tells them, “when the bridegroom is at the wedding, you don’t ...

2728. Do you need a Pharisectomy?

Matthew 9:27-34, Matthew 9:35-38, Matthew 12:15-21, Matthew 12:22-37, Matthew 12:38-45, Matthew 12:46-50

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... the outlining of the orderly rules of the Pharisees, ever since Jesus with his disorderly crew began stirring things up! Religion has become CHAOS since this Jesus guy showed up!! The Holy Spirit is not your orderly, impassive, unruffled, keep-everything-the-same kind of God! The Holy Spirit makes things messy! Stirs the pot! Challenges the status quo! The Holy Spirit messes up your life. It you want an orderly, safe, predictable life, don’t follow Jesus. There’s a line in the movie “Moonstruck” in ...

2729. Soul Food

Luke 9:10-17, Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:30-44, John 6:1-15

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... the story of the Exodus is told. In fact, the Jewish tradition calls the coming kingdom the “new exodus!” Jesus IS the messianic Bread, and he demonstrates the power of God in feeding God’s people with the symbols of the kingdom to come. Soul food. What kind of food is in your diet? Are you content with the mere “fast foods” of life? The “eat and run” version of relationship? That may get you by, but it won’t get you the “soul food” you need to flourish in your faith, and nourish others ...

2730. Syrophoenician Lives Matter!

Mark 7:24-30, Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... again. It is not the manmade laws that matter, but a relationship with God. It is not laws for their own sake that matter. But kindness, love, mercy, loyalty to God and walking in God’s ordinances. Loyalty in fact –faith—and reliance on God and only God is the ... are so vast (as are the heavens….as are the descendents promised in the Hebrew scriptures by God to Abraham and his kind –more than the stars and the sand)! God’s “bread” of Life yields enough for all….with much leftover! What falls ...

2731. Trust in Me

Matthew 1:18-25, Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... “trust” in Jesus when the rational and suspicious part of our brain whispers to us that this whole thing called faith is some kind of imaginary hogwash? How can you be that gullible, we ask? It’s not the just who live by faith, really. Isn’t ... faced another woman accused of suspicious morals, the answer was not stoning. The answer was love. We are told that Joseph is a kind and compassionate man. He didn’t want to bring Mary into public disgrace, so he schemed to break it off with her quietly, ...

2732. Grounds for Blessing

Matthew 13:1-23, Luke 8:1-15, Mark 4:1-20

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... all of you beautiful mustard trees, we need YOU to teach people the difference between an idol and Jesus, to show people the difference between a decision that will take them into a chokehold and one that will make them grow and thrive. You are our guides, our kind up-lifters, and our seers. You are our shepherds and our harvesters and our prophets, so grounded in Jesus that you can see Him everywhere –where He is and where He isn’t. And then at last, Jesus tells us, some of you are ready. Some of you ...

2733. The Great Dinner

Luke 14:1-14, Luke 14:15-24

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... supper, your church budget, your lawn, your means to those who need to know Jesus even more than you, you have already entered the gates of the heavenly kingdom. This is hard for us. We don’t mean to be cruel, and we think of ourselves as kind and good people. Perhaps so did those around Jesus’ table that day during dinner. But Jesus’ table is filled with those you would never want to let into your doors, into your lives, into your homes, let alone take the best you have to offer. Jesus’ lessons ...

2734. Lazarus

Luke 16:19-31

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... room. As adults, one escaped to reveal the location of the others. But in the meantime, one of the young women died of sepsis, from having given birth under unsanitary conditions. While all three were given food and water, they were deprived of human love and kindness, of living a life among others, of medical care and proper living conditions. Abused by their kidnapper for over 20 years, the women were given no care except the basics to keep them alive. We treat our dogs better than that. Now let me tell ...

2735. Elohim

John 1:29-34, Genesis 1:1-2:3

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... ! You couldn’t tell by the first picture I showed you. It simply didn’t give you enough information about your world to help you understand what I was showing you. The blue could be anything. The pool however is a familiar object in your frame of understanding. What kind of water is in the pool? That’s another matter entirely. But we can identify it definitely as a pool. I could do the same thing with snow. Do you see white? Or do you see the snow-capped mountains of the Alps? It’s not that the snow ...

2736. The Plank

Matthew 5:38-48; 7:1-6

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... want to see clearly what’s going on with your brother, so you can HELP your brother. Help remove the speck that is plaguing him ---or her in a way that is loving and merciful and understanding. Help him or her restore a close relationship with God in a kind and loving way. Wow! That really IS a different story, isn’t it? It’s like the plant you saw up here –the unhealthy one. If you see that the plant is withering….what do you do? What will you do? [Allow people to answer.] Of course! When you ...

2737. Lady of the House / The Practice of Joy

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... presence with God’s people in the holy tabernacle. The keeping of the commandment to dwell must above all be a beautiful thing, an experience of great joy. This is most important. There are a few important things about getting ready for Sukkot: 1) you gather the four kinds of plants for the waving of the four species 2) you prepare the menus and food for the meals for the feasts 3) you build the sukkah 4) you pray, be aware of God’s presence and the presence of the great cloud of witnesses before you as ...

2738. The Infiltrator

John 10:1-21, John 10:22-42

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... s worth of oil, the light lasted for 8 days, until more could be prepared. Therefore, the festival is an 8 day festival of light. The Light has returned to the Temple of God –God’s presence and people. Jesus would go on to describe a new kind of Temple, one that doesn’t require a physical building and would run on eternal light. It’s relevant that before these discussions, or rather in the midst of them, Jesus heals a man born blind and restores his darkness to light –spiritual light. After this ...

2739. Three Wise Women

Luke 1:39-45, Luke 1:46-56

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... Women, imagined that their sons would be killed still in the prime of their lives. None would have believed that to save Israel, Jesus would have to die. It would take Mary until Jesus’ moment on the cross, perhaps even until after the resurrection, to realize the kind of Messiah her son was meant to be. Even she did not fully understand God’s mission for her. She only knew, there was one. And she trusted God with all of her heart. Mary spent three months in Elizabeth’s and Zechariah’s home, where ...

2740. Sim Lev!

Mark 13:1-31, Mark 13:32-37, Matthew 24:1-35, Matthew 24:36-51

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... Him. And there are so many other reminders too. You can see Jesus in the cry of a baby, in the first buds of a spring fig tree, in the joy of relationships, in the solitude of silence. You can see him in the faces of loved ones, in the kindness of a neighbor, in the generosity of a stranger, and even in the dawn of yet another day. When your heart is rooted in Jesus, you will always find your way home, your truth, your steady rock, your love, your true identity, …your way to God. Pay attention. Keep your ...

2741. The Promise of Prayer

Luke 1:5-25

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... down around us. And all of that takes a heavy dose of humility. For in prayer, we bow in humble acknowledgment of a God who is far more able than we, and far more loving than we can ever imagine. Only in the aftermath of that kind of humility, and that kind of silence, comes the realization that says, “Wow! Oh good Lord, this is real!” And our heart erupts in praise! Sometimes we need the silence in order to appreciate the praise. Or perhaps in order to realize there is something to be praised! For when ...

2742. Lazarus Rising

John 11:1-16, John 11:17-37, John 11:38-44, John 11:45-57, John 12:1-11, John 12:12-19

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... “professional” values, that she lost touch with her love for her own daughter. She lost touch with the miracle of life she herself birthed. Wow! we say. This in a sense is what’s going on in the story of Lazarus. Lazarus is apparently some kind of well-known guy in Jerusalem. We can guess from scripture that he’s undoubtedly wealthy, probably funding Jesus’ ministry to a large degree, and yet has connections in Jerusalem. The priests know him. He lives only 2 miles away in Bethany. Like Jesus, he ...

2743. Peter the Petulant

Mark 14:1-11, Mark 14:12-26, Mark 14:27-31

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... the future of others. Peter was a disciple. And like all trades and arts, he learned the “way” of faith and followship from Jesus, the master. Peter was an apprentice –that’s what a disciple means. Some of you who work in the trades, in medicine, in any kind of arts know that you don’t learn a “hands-on” art from only reading it in books. You must practice it, try it, experiment with it, do it, in order to learn. You apprentice to a master, versed in the trade, and you learn from that master ...

2744. Over the River and Through the Woods

Luke 2:1-7, Psalm 121:1-8

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... grass was truly greener on the other side! This was the land of milk and honey, and in this ancestral place, the home of David, the two would end their walk. They had arrived. Mary and Joseph arrived perhaps on or about the eighth day and settled into a kind of “third space” at the end of their journey. The “eighth day” was a symbol for God’s intervention plan. It is considered a sign of King David, and a sign of God’s new beginning, in which a new covenant is formed, and God’s salvific plan ...

2745. Knitted Together from the Womb

Exodus 2:1-10

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... mind the risks of playing our favorite sports! We know there are risks involved. In fact, most of us have to sign off on a kind of agreement about taking the risks involved in order to be allowed to be part of the game. But the desire to play overrides the ... basket made of reeds. She weaves it together with her tears and her prayers. She smears it heavily with pitch and bitumen –a kind of tar from the tar pits near the Nile, the same substance used to waterproof reed boats—and when it hardens it creates ...

2746. You Are What You Wear

Luke 24:1-12, Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... clothe you in that Holy Spirit clothing of power! Then go! Do you have on your mission digs? Then GO . . to Be Jesus and Do Jesus in the world. *Note: Just as in Genesis, we try first to clothe ourselves, but then God intervenes and re-clothes us into the kind of relational beings God needs us to be, here too, the apostles must allow God to do the clothing, so they might be prepared to wear the Jesus pants in the world and walk in His shoes. Based on the Story Lectionary Major Text Luke’s Story of Jesus ...

2747. The First Songs of Christmas

Luke 1:39-45, Luke 1:46-56

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... from the Old French “carole.” Since about 1300, the word was used for a joyful, euphoric song sung in a kind of circle dance. Carols were folk tunes, not “high church cantatas and operas” designed for liturgical rituals. Carols were songs of ... pregnant as a single Jewish woman in the first century when such a state was a capital offense, would not seem like the kind of “gift” one would be thanking God for! And yet, here is young Mary singing her heart out for this unexpected gift of life and promise ...

2748. The Crack in the Wall

Joshua 2:1-24

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... her solid trust that her life will be saved when the walls come down around her, and that she will forge a new life, a better life, a beautiful life, in the time that is to come with the people who will become her new community. Change comes in all kinds of forms. And perhaps the greatest symbol in the story is the symbol of flax under which the men are hidden on the roof of the inn. The stalks of flax, drying in the heat of the sun signify a simple and natural truth, unadorned, not yet refined into finery ...

2749. The Physician

Isaiah 38:1-22, Matthew 8:14-17

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... heart and lungs, Jesus reminds us that He is restorer of our heart, and breather of our Holy Breath. He embodies both the Mystery of Life and yet the compassion of a God who walks beside us, puts hands upon us, and seeks to be with us in a kind of intimate and loving relationship that defies all human logic. And no matter how tattered our image of Jesus may become, no matter how we discard him, tear him down, or disdain him….no matter how sin-stained or dirt-soiled our lives can become, Jesus can restore ...

2750. Dream Weaver

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... dream weaver. Not John Lennon. Not Gary Wright. God knew first how to break conventions, break down stress and fear, help us to envision a future of promise, encourage us to move ahead into unknown places. God weaves for us a “dream” and a hope of a new kind of world. And God calls us into action to follow that dream no matter where it takes us. So, the question for all of us this advent must be, “What do you see in your dreams?” Have you ever seen someone weave? Each group of threads are combined ...

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