Sermon and Worship Resources

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3151. For Someone Who Will Be Terribly Missed

Isaiah 43:1-5 · Job 19:23-27

Eulogy

Richard E. Zajac

... many who will visit Hillcrest cemetery, Tessie Gornikiewicz will be a name on a mausoleum wall. But to all of us present today, Tessie Gornikiewicz is more than just a name. And if we were to rub our fingers across that name, it would conjure up all sorts of memories; it would bring to mind all the indelible marks Tessie left upon our souls. There would be the memory and the mark of someone who exuded compassion, who exuded kindness like no one else could. Someone whom you couldn’t help but love. Talking ...

3152. For Someone Who Played a Background Role In a Successful Life

Mark 1:1-8 · John 1:6-9

Eulogy

Richard E. Zajac

... in school. It was determined that one of them would get some menial job to support the other. When one became a success, then the other would be able to study. Since Albrecht seemed the more talented of the two, his friend spent the next year at all sorts of hard labor. In the meantime, Albrecht completed his studies and began to sell his art and was finally in a position to help his roommate. By that time however, the hands of that self-sacrificing young man were so gnarled and scarred from the hard jobs ...

3153. The Mother of All Yard Sales

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... of stuff to get rid of. We decided to have a yard sale. Not just any yard sale, mind you. This, our kids proudly announced, would be the mother of all yard sales! It would be a yard sale that would demand an unfailing ruthlessness from us as we sorted what would be kept and what would be sold, what we really needed and what we could live without. I’m not embarrassed to say that I took the lead in this effort. I was relentless in my pursuit and identification of unnecessary stuff. Tears did not deter me ...

3154. The Main Thing

Luke 12:32-40

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... main thing the main thing. It’s one of those seemingly self-evident rules that is absolutely essential if you want to succeed at anything. My Uncle John had a colorful way of illustrating the essential truth of it. Uncle John, my mother’s youngest brother, was sort of the bad egg of our family, the prodigal, the miscreant, and a man about whom will you probably hear many stories in my sermons. He was an alcoholic and a roustabout. He bragged that his poor choices had never landed him in prison and he ...

3155. Last Things First

Matthew 24:36-44

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... . This is the last installment, the episode of our favorite series, the final book that we are reading first before we read the others. Every series, no matter how popular, comes to an end, and when it does, the approaching series finale looms, with all sorts of speculation. Will everything be tied up in a neat bow? Will everything be left in shreds and tatters? With wars and rumors of war, many people are asking, when it comes to our planet, are we approaching the series finale? We know that when Jesus ...

3156. In Those Days: The Voice Of The Time Keeper

Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... ). The rising and the setting of the sun (yes, we know it is the earth that is turning, but that’s the way it looks to us mere mortals who live on the planet) mark days, while the phases of the moon correspond to months. The solar year is 365 ¼, sort of, while the lunar year is 354 days, kind of, with an extra month added to make up for the spare change of the days missed in order to make that lunar year keep time with the seasons. While we think of time as something that can be measured precisely ...

3157. What’s In a Word?

Luke 2:1-14, (15-20)

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... shouting the tagline, “Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!” In the sketch the inquisitors subject their victims to torture devices like “the comfy chair” or the “soft pillow.” If people didn’t expect a Spanish Inquisition they certainly didn’t expect this sort of treatment either. But the Spanish Inquisition was no joke. It had free license to torture and maim anyone it chose in order to determine if they were guilty of a crime heinous enough to burn people alive! In 1584, a professor ...

3158. To Be Set Free

Luke 13:10-17

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... her progress, but they also acknowledged and freed up her drive, her initiative, her zeal, and her success. Their very presence encouraged her onward and kept her going. They provided a kind of companionship out there on the sea, a “safety net” of sorts. She knew they were there, and this helped her to focus on what she wanted to do. Just knowing they were there made all the difference for her mental, spiritual, and physical strength, endurance, and resilience.This time, she reached her goal. This ...

3159. Calculated Christianity

Luke 14:25-35

Sermon

Jill J. Duffield

... Increase giving this fiscal year by 5%. Specific, measurable, perhaps attainable, relevant, of course, timely, yes. How’s that, Jesus? Intentional, informed, no one will ridicule us, they may well look to us as one of those “best practices” places; discipleship: sorted. We can be gritty, determined, and SMART and therefore surely counted among Jesus’ followers, right? But what do we do about that troublesome language about hating those closest to us, the very ones we’d lay down our life for? What ...

3160. Where's the One?

Luke 15:1-10

Sermon

Jill J. Duffield

... opportunity to get a glimpse of the city where I was doing some work. I was enjoying being in the shadow of Vanderbilt, blissfully unaware of the looming football game, by the way, when I saw a dog, skinny, dirty, and sniffing around a trash can. It looked like some sort of golden retriever mix and as I got closer, I saw it had a chain collar on, but as far as I could tell, no tag. I guess he was lost or abandoned; clearly, he’d had a home at some point. I tried to get closer to him, called ...

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