Broiled FishLuke 24:36-43 Worship Focus A platter with a whole broiled fish fillet or a baked whole fish would be ideal. Someone in the congregation may have a mounted or wooden fish as a wall decoration, and that would be easier to take care of. A piece of comb honey, though not in the newer translations, would pick up the line from Ezra Pound's poem. A Litany For The Tenth Meal Leader: Gracious God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we praise you for the glorious resurrection of the Christ, our Savior. ...
Purpose: To learn that making certain choices in life can make a difference in what happens to us. Material: Four small glasses. In one glass place a small amount of flour. In the next glass place a little baking soda. In the third glass pour some water, and in the final glass add a little clear vinegar. I suggest you identify each glass with a letter or notation on a piece of masking tape. Lesson: Today I would like you to watch a simple experiment. First, notice what I have in these four glasses. In two ...
Invocation Hymn Responsive Dialogue 1 Corinthians 2 P: When I came to you, brothers, I did not come witheloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimonyof God. C: We have not received the spirit of the world but thespirit who is from God, that we may understand what God hasfreely given us. P: For I resolved to know nothing while I was with youexcept Jesus Christ and Him crucified. C: This is what we speak, not in words taught us by humanwisdom but in words taught by the Holy Spirit, ...
Once upon a time there lived a farmer who raised chickens, wonderful, plump, juicy chickens that cooked up beautifully. But one summer a problem arose. It seemed that a fox had found a way to sneak into the pen where the chickens were kept, and it carried off a chicken every night. The farmer tried setting traps, but the fox was too smart to take the bait and get caught in the trap. The farmer tried staying awake and watching over the chicken pen, but he never did spot where it was that fox got in. No ...
For all of his charisma as a leader, his skills as a diplomat, his savvy as a politician, Moses was not the sort for whom making speeches ever came easily. Rhetoric simply wasn't included on his resume, public speaking never being one of his fortes. And of course, back at Sinai before this improbable pilgrimage began, he had admitted as much to Yahweh: "O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue" ( ...
As a mainline church we have been told to the point of weariness what is wrong with us. Many articles have been written about the demise of the mainline churches with their dwindling membership and attendance. Someone has figured out mathematically that if the United Methodists continue to lose members at the present rate, the last Methodist will leave the face of the earth in the year 2037. This is a very sobering thought. The Dilemma Of Decline To borrow a line from Dickens, these are, for the mainline ...
Theme: Decisions For Christ Decisions for Christ are sincere at the moment, but too often actions befitting such a decision are much more difficult to achieve. Using the sports arena as a springboard, these dramas place the struggles of the Christian walk into a teenager's everyday setting where they can relate in a very real way. Scene I Setting: In the church parking lot after a youth meeting fall bonfire Characters:JOHN: Teenage boy, football player, Christian and member of the youth group, leader, ...
Theme: The Wise Men's Visit; King Herod's Anxiety; John's Preaching; Jesus' Baptism. The beginning of Jesus' journey to the Cross and Empty Tomb. THE EKKLESIA GATHERS TO CELEBRATE Pastoral Invitation If your people have no idea of the meaning of ekklesia, explain it. The ekklesia is the evangel (small e); God's Spirit is the Evangel (large E). We will discover the meaning of that truth this Epiphany Season. I invite you to keep a record of what you learn about Epiphany as we proceed. Declaration of Joy ( ...
Theme: Jesus Teaches Nicodemus about Birth and Second Birth. We can have the first without the second, but not the second without the first. CELEBRATION THROUGH PRAISE Pastoral Invitation In the name of God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit, welcome to Trinity Sunday. Does that invitation turn you on or off? Please raise your hands if the doctrine of the Trinity gives you any difficulty. Who of you has the Trinity all figured out? I invite us to bring our questions and confusions to worship today, if ...
Dramatic Monologue Are you bothering me? No, not at all. I come here often to reflect and pray. It's quiet in here, isn't it? Here the noise and bustle of the old city seem so far away. I was hoping you would come. Mary of Bethany said you might stop by. I see you had no trouble getting through the heavy oaken gate to the courtyard, and then up the staircase to this room. It hasn't always been that easy. There were times when that gate was locked against our enemies. Not that locking it would really have ...
Dramatic Monologue Welcome to my store! I'm Joseph of Arimathea. You're not interested in shopping today? No problem! Let's just sit and talk for a while. My shop's not busy and there's nothing I like better than telling others about my Lord. I haven't always been such a bold disciple of Jesus. My friend Mark says I "boldly went to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body." But let me assure you, I was as frightened as anyone on that Friday when Jesus was crucified. As a matter of fact, even though I'm the one who ...
Sherry was struggling with some personal issues in her life. She would tell you that she was having a difficult time forgiving someone at work who purposely wronged her, leading to her eventual demotion. Sherry was upset with the person and could not even think of forgiving him. Her loss of income placed a financial hardship on her family. She was really struggling and trying to do what was best, but it certainly was not easy. Sherry and her family were in church one particular Sunday morning when during ...
This may sound contradictory to you, but the longer I stay in ministry, the less I understand about preaching. In fact, I know less about preaching today than I knew ten years ago. Back then, while I was a seminary student, I could tell you what constituted a good sermon, what was needed to do it right. All I had to do was ask one of my homiletics professors. Today, I’m not so sure they knew all that much. Why does a sermon "work", why does it achieve positive results, when by all rights it ought to fall ...
Most libraries divide popular novels into categories: westerns, mysteries, romance, spy novels and science fiction. The novels in those categories follow a certain formula. I'm watching to see if a library will someday have a shelf for the threat-to-Christianity novel. The threat-to-Christianity novel is one in which the hero has discovered a document that proves that Christianity is false. Sometimes it's a fifth gospel or a letter from Jesus written in his old age or some incontrovertible evidence that ...
Richard Sears was a young man when his father died, and so he had to go to work to support the family. He took a job on the railroad and worked his way up to station agent in North Redwood, Minnesota. To earn extra money he sold coal and lumber. One day a box full of watches was delivered to his station by mistake. The local jeweler decided he didn't want the watches. But instead of sending the watches back to the company, Richard Sears decided to buy the watches himself and proceeded to sell them. In a ...
But Moses said to God, "If I come to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?" God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." He said further, "Thus you shall say to the Israelites, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" God also said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the Israelites, 'The LORD, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you': This is my name forever,and ...
Comment: Sometimes you can prepare a story sermon which reflects a lot of your own experience. And it becomes natural for you to play yourself while making the point of the sermon. The following reflected a lot of my experiences as a young father. Fortunately, my wife did not die, as does the wife of the main character here. But I was quite a disappointment to my colleagues because of how much part I took in household matters and child care. As of this writing, I am the wife my spouse always wanted! I ...
Many characters in the Bible prove identifiable in our contemporary world. As we sit here today on the downhill side of winter and contemplate the meaning of our lives, one biblical character especially leaps out at us: the prophet Jonah. Most of us associate Jonah with being swallowed by a legendary whale or giant fish. The book of Jonah, however, is actually a poignant parable about the relation of Israel to other nations. The book skillfully and forcefully calls Israel back to her universal mission of ...
During the 1960s, Sherwood Schwartz wrote and produced a number of hit television shows. One of the most popular shows was Gilligan's Island, a comedy about a handful of pleasure cruise passengers who found themselves shipwrecked on a desert island. Every episode featured the castaways of the S.S. Minnow facing a wacky new adventure. The show was an immediate hit of the 1964 season. Each week, a lot of otherwise thoughtful, intelligent television viewers tuned in to hear the Skipper say, "Gilligan, drop ...
Matthew 6:25-33 (C) Thanksgiving DayLuke 17:11-19 (L) In the small town of Mapleville, the ecumenical Thanksgiving Eve service was poorly attended. Once it was a popular event for the whole town, gathering people from a variety of denominations and faiths. In recent years, attendance had faded to a faithful few. Most of those who came in any given year were members of the host congregation. What began as a spirited occasion that brought together a variety of clergy, choirs, and congregations had shrunk in ...
A photocopied sign was posted inside a church office. It was one of those humorous full-page slogans that people in different offices duplicate and pass among themselves. Most of us have seen this particular message, I suppose, but posted in a church office, the words took on a new meaning. There it was, taped to the cinder blocks behind a secretary's desk. The sign read, "You don't have to be crazy to work here, but it helps." At one level, why not put a sign like that in a church? Many churches are busy ...
The story of Jesus calming the storm has always been a favorite story of the church. It has prompted the writing of many hymns, such as "Jesus, Saviour, Pilot Me" and "Give to the Winds Thy Fears," to say nothing of the Navy Hymn and others. The story has also provided the church with a graphic symbol of who we are. When the World Council of Churches was formed, leaders sought a logo to identify the whole family of Christ. They drew a fishing boat with the cross as its mast. It was a good symbol. ...
This week's Markan text comes near the end of Mark's Gospel, but it comes first in the Church Year. As such, this might well be the first chapter of this book that you read for sermon preparation. There are two Markan pericopes appointed from Mark 13. Mark 13:1-8 is discussed in the previous chapter, chapter 32. Please read this prior chapter before you work further on this week's Advent text assignment. We pointed out in chapter 32 that Mark 13 might function in somewhat the same way that the Parable of ...
Greeting Ld1: The first disciples told Thomas, "We have seen the Lord." Ld2: But Thomas refused to believe until he had touched Jesus' wounds. Cng: God, save us from our own doubts. Ld1: Jesus appeared to Thomas and removed all his doubts. Ld2: Then Jesus said, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." Cng: God, give us faith when we cannot see. Ld1: Open your holy scriptures to us, O God, so that we can be filled with belief. Ld2: Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us, O God, so that ...
Note: To be forgiven and have our guilt lifted from our shoulders is about as great as a gift can be. No wonder such crowds gathered around Jesus. Greeting Leader: Men and women, children and youth, young and old, we are looking for people who have sinned. People: I have sinned, many times. My life has been crippled by sin. Leader: Then you have come to the right place. We are here so that you may know that the Son of Man, our Lord Jesus Christ, has authority on earth to forgive sins. People: Lord, have ...