Sermon and Worship Resources

1 Samuel 1:4-20

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

... words of advice and quick solutions only inflict more pain. She would appreciate compassion and understanding from others who mean well, but who also inflict more pain on her. In time she hopes to fill her emptiness with God's love. We can be in compassionate ministry with those whose dream of children does not come true in the way they had hoped. Some parents give birth physically, while others give birth from the heart. We can give them a great gift by what we say and by what we refrain from saying. Be ...

4102. Just a Person across the Way

Mt 22:34-46; Mk 12:28-34; Lk 10:25-37; Jn 13:31-38

Illustration

Brett Blair

... this story] I have wondered how it is that I want people to remember me when I come to end of my life's journey. [name some personal accomplishments each followed by] But I really don't care if someone remembers me for that. I really don't. I do hope that people are able to say of me at the end of my life's pilgrimage: When we were sick he came to us; when we needed help, he was there; when I was down, he lifted me up. In short, I ...

4103. Creative Love

Matthew 22:34-46; Mark 12:28-34

Illustration

James A. Carpenter

... miracle happened instead. Mother put me in a chair, kneeled down, put her hands on me, and told God all about me. She interpreted her dream of what my life was to be. She portrayed the boy and the man of her hopes. She told God what she always expected me to be, and then how I had disappointed her hope. 'O God!' she prayed. 'Take this boy of mine and make him the boy and man he is divinely designed to be.' Then she bent over and kissed me and went out and left me alone in the silence with God."

4104. A Lifetime to Prepare

Matt 25:1-13; Luke 20:27-40

Illustration

King Duncan

... just didn't?" The master said, "Yes, I guess that's right." The servant took the staff he'd carried so long and said, "Master take this with you. At last I've met a man more stupid than myself." Could that be us? Could we be that foolish? I hope not. I surely hope not. Victory belongs to those who are prepared. Preparation is an essential characteristic of character. The most important preparation we can make is for eternity.

4105. Parable of the Talents Retold

Matthew 25:14-30

Illustration

Unknown

... called in his three sons to give an account of what had gone wrong. The first said, "Father, I hope you won't be mad at me, but the winter was very cold and so I allowed the people to cut down some of the fruit trees for firewood." And the second son ... said, "Father, I hope you won't be mad with me because when food got scarce I allowed the people to kill some of my sheep." On hearing this, far ...

4106. The Direction We Walk

Mark 13:24-37

Illustration

Joel D. Kline

... states, reportedly assisting nearly 3000 persons to make commitments to Christ and the church. A resident of Lancaster County in Pennsylvania, Bucher reportedly was asked about the growing Pentecostal movement in that area. It was apparent that the questioner was critical, and hoped that Bucher would concur and would join in condemning these "holy rollers" who were shouting and jumping in the aisles. Rufus Bucher is said to have responded: "I don't care how high they jump. What matters is the direction they ...

4107. Break Free From the Scrooge Syndrome

Mark 1:1-8

Illustration

Gregory Knox Jones

... a dramatic change. He undergoes a radical transformation and becomes an entirely new person. Rather than being cold and indifferent to people, he becomes generous and compassionate. It is a heart-warming story. But more than that, it is a hopeful story. It provides us with the hope that we too can make needed changes in our lives. We can break free from the ruts we have burrowed, and the negative behaviors we have cultivated. We can become kind and compassionate, humble and hospitable, joyful and generous ...

4108. Beware the Crest of the Wave

Mark 1:4-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... is not always fun. But God gives us both enough cresting waves to keep us encouraged and enough "grace builders" to keep us humble and growing. Martin Luther said we need constantly to see ourselves as "weak in faith, cold in love, and faint in hope," which makes us hunger and thirst for God and prevents the self-righteousness that gets us in so much trouble (see Martin D. Dietrich, ea., Devotional Writings, Vol 43 of Luther's Works (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1969, 172). Reaching the crest of the wave ...

4109. The Three Stages to Truth: A Biblical Philosophy of Education

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... in disappointment, confusion and fear; the disciples can't make hide nor hair out of what is going on; it doesn't add up; something is missing; things still haven't changed. On the Emmaus Road they can only be perplexed about this mighty prophet: "We had hoped he was the one." In Jerusalem they are paralyzed with fear when the very one they most desire to see actually appears before them. Yet it is only by experiencing this stage of search theology that the disciples are ready to listen to the truth Jesus ...

4110. Faith Is the Victory

Acts 10:44-48

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... faith, the battle is already over, the victory won. All that remains is commentary on what has already taken place. Victory is believing God enough to step out in faith. How do we recognize whether we are displaying faith or merely maintaining a hopeful belief? Martin Copenhauer spends a whole chapter in his book making the crucial distinction between faith and belief (see his Living Faith While Holding Doubts (New York: The Pilgrim Press, 1988), 33549. Belief, he says, is an act of the intellect. Faith, on ...

4111. The Dawn's Early Light

2 Samuel 7:1-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . Unlike other national anthems, "The Star Spangled Banner" does not extol the glories of battle or the nobility of soldiering, instead it offers up gratitude for the event of an unexpected salvation. In the national anthem all eyes are focused on the Flagstaff, hoping against hope that as dawn breaks, the light will reveal that the United States' flag will still be flying there. Today as we face the dawning of a new day of challenges and opportunities, what will we be able to see in the first glimpses ...

4112. Has He Appeared to You?

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , Clinebell insists that our physical, psychological, interpersonal, institutional and ecological dimensions must be nurtured from a well-tended spiritual center. Thus, no facet of our life is ever cut off from the spiritual. (See his Growth Counseling: Hope-centered Methods of Actualizing Wholeness [Nashville: Abingdon, 1979].) Literary naturalist Henry Van Dyke compares the way some "short stories are brought together like parcels in a basket" while other short stories "grow together like blossoms on a ...

4113. Rags and Robes

Micah 1:1-7; 2:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the world. In fact, each one of us clothes others all the time. Will you clothe others with rags or with robes? Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would "clothe us with power from on high." Is your spirit properly clothed? With power? With love? With hope? We must clothe each other, whether one is wearing actual rags or robes, in robes of integrity and humanity. Jesus did not say to his disciples "Be careful out there." Jesus said "They're hungry out there." Jesus said, "They're thirsty out there." Jesus ...

4114. The Cost of Non-Discipleship

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... that they might seek some protection. But the warning signals Jesus described were hardly comforting. Being warned that the Day of the Lord is upon you appears to be about as useful as were all those 1950s civil defense drills children went through at school. Hoping to escape the judgment of God on that Day is about as likely as surviving a nuclear bomb attack by hiding under your grade-school desk. The terrors, torments and trials Jesus listed appeared to be nothing less than a litany of death. Yet at ...

4115. Christ the Apple Tree

Isaiah 11:1-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... for a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease." This is the season where gilded trees and gleaming hopes both move into the midst of our homes and our lives. In the midst of this celebration, remember Dominus regnavit a ligno - "The Lord reigned from a tree." Sometime in the next week or two, if we haven't already, most of us will succumb to a combination of nostalgia, ...

4116. Three Wise Gifts

Matthew 2:13-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... to be ridiculed than to be taken seriously" (233). Donella Meadows, Dennis Meadows and Jorgen Randers have taken that risk and have ended their book with a clarion call for the peoples of this planet to "practice love." It is, they believe, our only hope if we are to escape "overshoot" (stepping beyond the limits of the earth's carrying capacity) and maintain a sustainable world. Practicing "guerilla love" is tough. The skirmishes encountered for the sake of this gift cost us, in money and tears; they cost ...

4117. Keep the Stars in Your Eyes

Ephesians 1:3-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... experience "the Beyond" in "the Within." It was this kind of spiritual quest that led the Heaven's Gate cult to combine the technology of the Internet, the science of Hale-Bopp, the science fiction of Star Trek, the theology of New Age and the hope of UFOs to create a new sacred reality for themselves. The strange amalgam the Heaven's Gate cult pieced together points out to this entheogenic culture that the spiritual quest can be dangerous. As one marketing expert writes, "If the '80s were the decade when ...

4118. Holy Hocus-Pocus!

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... experience "the Beyond" in "the Within." It was this kind of spiritual quest that led the Heaven's Gate cult to combine the technology of the Internet, the science of Hale-Bopp, the science fiction of Star Trek, the theology of New Age and the hope of UFOs to create a new sacred reality for themselves. The strange amalgam the Heaven's Gate cult pieced together points out to this entheogenic culture that the spiritual quest can be dangerous. As one marketing expert writes, "If the '80s were the decade when ...

4119. Hear the Vision?

1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20)

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... experience "the Beyond" in "the Within." It was this kind of spiritual quest that led the Heaven's Gate cult to combine the technology of the Internet, the science of Hale-Bopp, the science fiction of Star Trek, the theology of New Age and the hope of UFOs to create a new sacred reality for themselves. The strange amalgam the Heaven's Gate cult pieced together points out to this entheogenic culture that the spiritual quest can be dangerous. As one marketing expert writes, "If the '80s were the decade when ...

4120. The One and Only Original Sin

1 Peter 3:18-22

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... experience "the Beyond" in "the Within." It was this kind of spiritual quest that led the Heaven's Gate cult to combine the technology of the Internet, the science of Hale-Bopp, the science fiction of Star Trek, the theology of New Age and the hope of UFOs to create a new sacred reality for themselves. The strange amalgam the Heaven's Gate cult pieced together points out to this entheogenic culture that the spiritual quest can be dangerous. As one marketing expert writes, "If the '80s were the decade when ...

4121. The Trace of Grace

Ephesians 2:1-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... experience "the Beyond" in "the Within." It was this kind of spiritual quest that led the Heaven's Gate cult to combine the technology of the Internet, the science of Hale-Bopp, the science fiction of Star Trek, the theology of New Age and the hope of UFOs to create a new sacred reality for themselves. The strange amalgam the Heaven's Gate cult pieced together points out to this entheogenic culture that the spiritual quest can be dangerous. As one marketing expert writes, "If the '80s were the decade when ...

4122. Count Your Wows!

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... experience "the Beyond" in "the Within." It was this kind of spiritual quest that led the Heaven's Gate cult to combine the technology of the Internet, the science of Hale-Bopp, the science fiction of Star Trek, the theology of New Age and the hope of UFOs to create a new sacred reality for themselves. The strange amalgam the Heaven's Gate cult pieced together points out to this entheogenic culture that the spiritual quest can be dangerous. As one marketing expert writes, "If the '80s were the decade when ...

4123. Soul-Scrubbing

2 Corinthians 12:2-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... demonstrations of love, commitment, bravery and selflessness among the Civil Rights workers? Why is it that we made a movie to re-live the tension and the helplessness of watching a crippled Apollo 13 hobble slowly back to Earth, and see in it the prayers and the hopes of the whole country? Do we now have a glimmer of understanding, that when we are weak, we are made strong? Only when we keep our true frailty directly in front of our eyes can we keep a clear vision of ourselves and our mission. In today ...

4124. Waging Wisdom

James 3:13—4:8

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... experience "the Beyond" in "the Within." It was this kind of spiritual quest that led the Heaven's Gate cult to combine the technology of the Internet, the science of Hale-Bopp, the science fiction of Star Trek, the theology of New Age and the hope of UFOs to create a new sacred reality for themselves. The strange amalgam the Heaven's Gate cult pieced together points out to this entheogenic culture that the spiritual quest can be dangerous. As one marketing expert writes, "If the '80s were the decade when ...

4125. The Great Postmodern Soul Train

Mark 13:1-8

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... experience "the Beyond" in "the Within." It was this kind of spiritual quest that led the Heaven's Gate cult to combine the technology of the Internet, the science of Hale-Bopp, the science fiction of Star Trek, the theology of New Age and the hope of UFOs to create a new sacred reality for themselves. The strange amalgam the Heaven's Gate cult pieced together points out to this entheogenic culture that the spiritual quest can be dangerous. As one marketing expert writes, "If the '80s were the decade when ...