Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: touch, feel, sense of touch, tactile sense, tactility, contact, using one's hands, sensation, sense, suspicion, sneaking suspicion, notion, inkling, hunch, fancy, apprehension, presentiment, premonition, foreboding, love, care, affection, fondness, tenderness, warmth, warmness, emotion, sentiment, emotional state, compassion, sympathy, empathy, fellow feeling, understanding, concern, solicitude, solicitousness, tender-heartedness, brotherly love, sensibilities, sensitivities, self-esteem, ego, pride, opinion, belief, view, impression, intuition, instinct, estimation, guess, theory, hypothesis, thought, way of thinking, point of view, atmosphere, ambience, aura, air, mood, climate, character, overtone, undertone, tenor, spirit, quality, flavour, colour, aptitude, knack, flair, bent, talent, gift, skill, art, trick, faculty, ability, propensity, inclination, sensitive, warm, warm-hearted, tender, tender-hearted, caring, soft-hearted, sympathetic, compassionate, empathetic, responsive, receptive, intuitive, thoughtful

Antonyms: bad feeling, acrimony, animosity, animus, antagonism, antipathy, aversion, bitterness, detestation, disgust, dislike, disrelish, enmity, friction, grievances, grudges, hatred, hostility, loathing, malevolence, malice

Showing 4876 to 4900 of 4952 results

4876. The Teacher

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

Will Willimon

... . “It was wonderful. Couldn't understand a thing! And I am a Wellesley Graduate! Of course I just had to be here the next week when we expounded upon the various theories of the Atonement. Did I tell you that I am a Wellesley graduate?” And I thought to myself, I wonder what that woman gets from this teaching? Is it that the world has become so flat, so explained and confined, and yet she is smart enough to know better? There is more going on out there and in here than our merely modern explanations ...

4877. The Journey

Mark 8:27-36

Sermon

Will Willimon

... just ends, with the women standing there stupefied and amazed and Jesus moved on to somewhere else. I think this is Mark's way of saying that, because of Easter, this journey is not over, in fact it is never over until God says that it is over. We certainly thought that Good Friday and the cross was the end of the story, that death had had the final word. But no, we get out to the cemetery and find out that Jesus is not there. He has moved on. The journey continues. So if you are thinking about faithful ...

4878. Unspectacular Faithfulness

Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22

Sermon

Will Willimon

... Bible study has become so important to you here?” Exasperated he replied, ''Dean Willimon, have you ever tried to be a Christian and a Sophomore at the same time?'' Weird that increasing numbers of Christians are beginning to feel like strangers in the very culture we thought we had created. Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time there was a king who ruled over the world from India to Ethiopia, his name was Ahasuerus. He decided he needed a queen, so he ordered that the most lovely women from his 127 ...

4879. Unspectacular Faithfulness

Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22

Sermon

Will Willimon

4880. Understanding What God Expects of Us

Acts 9:1-6, (7-20)

Sermon

King Duncan

... of a Nobel Prize in Physics, once said, “With or without religion, good people can behave well, and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil—that takes religion.” (2) What a sad thought. “. . . for good people to do evil—that takes religion.” It was true in Saul’s case. He thought he was doing God’s work by persecuting Jesus’ followers. How sad. How can we ensure that we don’t fall into that same trap? Saul and his men were on the way to Damascus to persecute Christians ...

4881. God's Bouncer or God's Ambassador?

Acts 11:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... in the late 1970s. A visitor to one of his church services had said to one of the deacons, “Your pastor is going to hell.” The deacon replied, “My pastor is going to hell? May I ask why?” The man said, “His hair is too long.” The deacon thought he’d have a little fun with this guy, so he asked, “And how long should his hair be?” The man said, “About like mine.” (1) Isn’t that a coincidence? Hair that was the length of this man’s hair was acceptable. A hair longer, no pun intended ...

4882. Ordinary Sin

Luke 22:28-34, 54-60

Sermon

Will Willimon

... church had the guts to leave his story in our history. Dietrich Bonhoeffer paid the ultimate price for his opposition to the Nazis and we rightly celebrate his witness. But maybe even more we ought to celebrate a poem Bonhoeffer wrote in 1944 in a prison cell, ''Night Thoughts in Tegel," in which this saint confessed his complicity in the sin of Nazism: We saw the lie raise its head, And we did not honor the truth. We saw the brethren in direst need And feared only our own death. We come before thee as men ...

4883. Feed My Sheep

John 21:1-19

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... I digress. Jesus showed up, and the guys were thinking fast about how to react to this Jesus who was supposed to be dead, when he came to take them fishing and then invited them to breakfast. We cannot know this, of course, but I can imagine Peter’s panicked thought process as his eyes darted back and forth between Jesus and the rest of the disciples. His interior monologue wouldn’t quit. “So far so good. Maybe this won’t be so bad after all. Maybe this will be okay? Then, as Peter completed his ...

4884. Church, Interrupted

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

Will Willimon

... . My heart contracted, as though the darkness had got in and was beginning to squeeze it. Then, as we were rounding a bend, we suddenly heard a mighty roar behind us! We were awakened out of our thoughts and alarmed. Father pulled me down onto the embankment, down into the abyss, held me there. Then the train tore past, a black train. All the lights in the carriages were out, and it was going at frantic speed. What sort of train was it? There wasn't one due ...

4885. First Things First

Genesis 1:1-2:3

Sermon

Will Willimon

... what happened I was told. ''This used to be the center of the county, then came the 1917 epidemic, wiped out all but one male in the town, boys and men. The place died; went back to being cotton fields and woods.'' An eerie, threatening thought, a reminder of how fragile is the toehold of civilization, anywhere, when you think about it. The Genesis affirmation that God is on the side of order, that God is the great, cosmic artist who combats chaos and nothingness, fights disorder in favor of design and ...

4886. Finding Your Place

Romans 12:1-12

Sermon

Will Willimon

... school of certain unnamed persons who were subversive and a menace to the school. The experiment was terminated by the teacher within a month because he feared that the students in the secret society were on the verge of committing illegal or violent acts against people who were thought to be different from those in the club. It can't happen here? How much of our souls would we sell, to be accepted, to be promised a place, to huddle with others in the heap? I want to be known, but not to stick out too far ...

4887. Recruiting Volunteers

Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... answer us. And we will be that answer. The next calling of the apostle is the calling to go, offer peace and heal the sick. In verse five of this lesson we read, “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house . . .’” Have you ever thought about how critical peace was to Christ’s ministry? There is a great story of a medieval knight who returned to his castle one evening looking like a bloody mess. His armor was dented. His face was scarred. His horse was limping. The lord of the castle ...

4888. More Than a Popularity Contest

Luke 12:49-53, Luke 12:54-59

Sermon

King Duncan

... Don’t let your current circumstances blind you, or your current comforts bind you to this world. Saying ‘Yes’ to me means saying ‘No’ to this world and its comforts and priorities and value systems.” Have you ever dropped in on the middle of a conversation and thought, “Wait a minute—did I hear that right?” That’s how we may feel when we read this passage from Luke 12. Jesus is the love of God in the flesh. He is the Prince of Peace. The one whose death healed our separation with God and ...

4889. Overflowing Joy and Rich Generosity

2 Corinthians 8:7-15

Sermon

King Duncan

... that we don’t? The Rev. Gary Waddingham, former rector of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Billings, Montana, tells of serving years ago in a rural community. One Christmas the church had a lot of leftover food after packing their annual Christmas baskets. Rev. Waddingham thought he would deliver the extra food to a poor family nearby. But as he drove to their house, he began thinking about how to preserve the dignity of the family to whom he would offer the food. He arrived at the family’s house and the ...

4890. Brush It Off

Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... evening and that sense of fear deep within your stomach wells up, because your “trust” alarm is going off? Have you ever experienced a fear of someone whom you thought you could trust but suddenly threatens your sense of well-being or safety? Have you ever experienced betrayal from someone in a religious institution whom you thought you could trust? These are all experiences that challenge our ability to open up and be vulnerable with others. The more experiences of betrayal we encounter, the harder it ...

4891. How Did I Get That Job?

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Dave Zuchelli

... that attitude is everything. The real problem with our rich fool was his attitude. In his eyes, everything was his. He worked for it, he earned it, and he was going to do whatever he wanted to do with it. There was no thought of investing it in the work of the kingdom of God. There was no thought for anyone around him. There was no questioning as to what God’s will may have been for his good fortune and extra blessing. He did not see himself as a steward of what God had given. He saw himself as sole owner ...

4892. Depart from Me

Luke 5:1-11 · Isaiah 6:1-8

Sermon

Will Willimon

... up here in these musings on worship, and God, hymns, and Duke Chapel. Did you miss something? How did we move from thoughts on God, glory, and majesty to these unclean lips and sin? My wife has said, as she sits here on Sunday morning ... mirror, a mirror of truth and self-knowledge that you are made to gaze upon? There you see reflected every moment of your life, every secret thought, all the good little things you have done for bad little reasons, the way you live, every second for you and you alone. My God, ...

4893. Giving Away the Kingdom

Luke 12:32-40

Sermon

Dave Zuchelli

... are and have will be positioned for service to our Lord. There’s a slightly different way of looking at this as well. That way is the way of expectation. When you’re expecting someone, your heart and thoughts are with them. If we’re expecting Jesus, we’ll have a heart for his work. Our thoughts will be aligned with his will for our lives. Our possessions (including our very lives) will be implements of his grace, mercy, and compassion. We will be doing what we can to usher his kingdom into the lives ...

4894. Spirit Signs

Luke 12:49-56

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... carry on in life is to be absolutely sure of everything we know about Jesus, what God wants, and what the Holy Spirit “should” back us up on. But the truth is, Jesus came to shake up everything we thought we knew and to challenge us to the very bones on what we thought we could be absolutely sure of. He messed with people’s heads and confused their very orderly lives completely. He pointed out loopholes in their arguments, and he threw wrenches into their well-oiled religious machinery. For until we ...

4895. Disabled

Luke 13:10-17

Sermon

Dave Zuchelli

... as the startled woman edged her way toward him. Things probably got really quiet when he said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” There were undoubtedly all kinds of thoughts running through people’s minds at that point. “Who does he think he is?” may have been foremost among those thoughts. As if on cue, Jesus placed his hands on the woman. Scripture indicates that she “immediately” stood up straight. It’s not clear in which town this occurred, but it was probably in one ...

4896. Christmas Is Out of Control

Matthew 24:36-44

Sermon

John Jamison

... them was that while the Pharisees all came from middle-class Jewish families, the Sadducees all came from the upper crust, from the rich and powerful privileged families. The Sadducees believed that God gave people what they deserved, so the rich were rich because God thought they were better than the people who were poor. Plus, the Sadducees did not believe in the idea of a resurrection Jesus had talked about. As the Sadducees walked over to Jesus they had two goals: one was to catch Jesus, and the other ...

4897. Lose the Cape

Romans 13:11-14

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... vulnerable about the source of pain in his life. His story is heart-wrenching. He said, “My dad never told me that he loved me. I would have given anything for him to tell me that he loved me, but he never did. At the end of his life, I thought he might say it -- but he never did.” Can you imagine? There are people you come across every day who are starving for love and light. They may look like they have it all together. They may be smiling, but inside they are desperate for compassion and love. What ...

4898. Get the Grinch

Titus 2:11-14

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... and be reborn. Even the Grinch was reborn by Christmas. Toward the end of the story, the Grinch was changed. Listen to the rest of the story: And he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before! “Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store.” “Maybe Christmas… perhaps… means a little bit more!” [3] Christmas does mean more — so much more. It is not just a birth. It is a rebirth! Come to Jesus and he will give you ...

4899. Christ's Grand Entrance Song

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

Sermon

King Duncan

... be identified by their special song. (2) Music is powerful, isn’t it? It is the language of joy, of hope, of victory. Author Richard DeHaan tells of an old Jewish legend that after God had created the world, He called the angels together and asked them what they thought of it. One angel said, “The only thing lacking is the sound of praise to the Creator.” So God created music from the sound of the wind and the rain and the waves and the birds and the songs of praise that pour forth from the grateful ...

4900. Out of the Darkness

Isaiah 9:2-7

Sermon

King Duncan

... . But that was before a British doctor named Edward Jenner discovered that milkmaids infected with a milder virus called cowpox seemed immune to smallpox. And soon we had the first mass vaccination. And smallpox was stopped in its tracks. No one fears smallpox anymore. We thought we no longer had to dread the possibility of a worldwide epidemic, but the Covid virus kind of sneaked up on us. Darkness has a way of doing that to us. Of course, darkness not only comes to us disguised as a dread disease. Whoever ...

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