Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 601 to 625 of 1182 results

601. Son-burned, Wind-blown, Earth-Stained

Luke 12:35-48

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... dead-heading various flowers, I noticed that her right thumb-nail had a definite greenish-stained hue to it that wouldn't go away, even after repeated washings. Her thumb was green from hundreds of pinched off stems that had given her a classic green-thumb. Likewise, watchful servants of the Son have a similar work-worn, earthy appearance. When we aren't down-in-the trenches (teaching the children, feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, working for just peace amidst violence and hatred), we must be ...

602. My Precious, My Precious

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... heirlooms cluttering up everyone's closets, attics, and basements would turn into one of the hottest TV shows going? What's the name of it? Anyone? It's my favorite TV show. That's right: Antiques Roadshow. Antiques Roadshow is now a classic treasure itself, having been public televisions' biggest audience grabber for over a decade. It's even spawned dozens of spin-offs and copycats, and made the Keno twins (Leigh and Leslie), as well as many other appraisers, household names. The Roadshow's surprisingly ...

603. DodgeGod

Amos 8:1-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

In 1965 Leonora and Arthur Hornblow wrote a children's book that has become a classic: Birds Do the Strangest Things. It's where I learned that a hawk is no match for a hummingbird. It's also where I learned about the bowerbird. Can you believe that a bird can build a house? Well, there's one that does. When explorers in New Guinea first ...

604. Building Bridges While Getting Shot at from Both Shores

Revelation 22:1-6

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... discipleship for the fractured, fractious world we live in? How can Christians not join in the cultural worship of violence when there's a violent image at the heart of our faith-story? The great African-American theologian Howard Thurman wrote in his classic text Jesus and the Disinherited (1949) that "whenever we disguise the violence and whenever we sanitize the grotesque image of a suffering servant, we again inflict violence on his identity and mission." By the way, Thurman's book and the Bible were ...

605. A Case for Living Together

Revelation 7:9-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... just because we don't get it, just because we can't understand why so much of the world suddenly seems to have nothing good to say about US, doesn't make the reality any less true. In today's gospel text John presents a classic case of a group of intelligent, thoughtful people not getting it. "The Jews" John's shorthand term for those in the upper levels of Jewish religious culture (scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees) don't get Jesus. Despite the astonishing miracles he had already performed, despite the wisdom ...

606. Will You Still Listen?

Jeremiah 1:1-19

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

On the AOL News Page the other day there was one of those classic victory shots. Two guys, faces wreathed in huge smiles, one jumping in the air, the other with his fists triumphantly punched up over his head, head thrown back, eyes closed. These weren't football players celebrating their Super Bowl victory [insert the names of who won here] or basketball stars ...

607. Wherever You Are, You Are Always at Home

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the found one when all you really wanted to do was utter a prayer of thanksgiving? Haven't you guilted a clueless one for worrying you when all you really felt was relief flooding through you? Jesus' response to his mother's furious outburst is a classic example of the wholly divine/wholly human nature of this one who is still the Christ-child. On one hand the first words the young Jesus utters immediately establish the unique intimacy of his relationship with God. Even at the tender age of twelve; even ...

608. Blue Highway Blessings

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , which he called the cheap man's sport. Spring was responsible for finding, recording, and popularizing thousands of miles of hiking trails throughout the Pacific Northwest. Spring insisted that a trail had to have 4 things for him to consider it a classic trail: 1) water 2) virgin ancient forest 3)flowers-flora 4) fauna-animals. Spring's hiking guides (64 of them), now considered standard equipment for hiking, detailed how long a given hike was, the roughness of the terrain, catalogued the plants, animals ...

609. The World's Best Hearing Aid

Mark 9:2-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... and Mozart. At issue is a rule limiting noise in the workplace to 83 decibels. If the concert hall is deemed a workplace, a single trumpet can hit 130 decibels. The response of E.U. officials to the objection that such rules will make classical music unplayable is "Orchestras should give musicians ear plugs." [Reason, 34 (May 2002], 14.) Obviously, a good example of a lack of horse sense! On the other hand, refined sensibilities don't always mean fancy or ornate. John Killinger tells the legend about "the ...

610. Maker's Mark

2 Corinthians 1:12--2:4

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... ago when the body-piercing, multiple-tattooing craze began, that kind of branding was meant to convey a certain attitude, a counter-cultural, in-your-face different-ness Now that stockbrokers, basketball players and fashion models sport on their arms tattooed-on barbed wire, and classical cellists play concerts with pierced tongues, the message isn't that clear. They may still be trying to project an image, but it's a hazy one. Now is the time to decide how we want people to think about us. Who will we let ...

611. Vanilla, Chocolate, and Strawberry

1 Corinthians 9:1-27

Sermon

James McCormick

... , at the Chapel, sometimes Lamar and I will wear clerical robes, and sometimes we will dress casually. Sometimes we will use language from the Book of Common Prayer, and sometimes we will be less formal. Sometimes we will sing classical music, and sometimes traditional hymns, and sometimes spirituals, and sometimes praise songs, sometimes accompanied by piano, sometimes accompanied by organ, sometimes accompanied by guitar. Sometimes some people clap, and others don’t. Sometimes we will celebrate the Lord ...

612. If We Had Known It Was You

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

James McCormick

... those who can do something for us, or they are those we admire or respect, or they are people we like. We are careful how we treat such people. We can be less careful with everyone else. The pecking orders of every organization are interesting to observe. The classic arrangement is that the boss shouts at the employee, the employee shouts at the spouse, the spouse shouts at the child, the child kicks the dog. But the employee does not shout back at the boss for fear of his job. You see the pattern: our best ...

613. The Imperishable Dream

1 Corinthians 9:1-27

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... in the Olympic games after all these centuries. We can't know whether Paul, the educated, Roman citizen, the Jew among Jews, was actually a sports fan or if he simply recognized the power of these metaphors. Maybe Paul was piggybacking on their use by other classical authors and so he deployed them in his own preaching. To be sure, the details Paul provides add poignancy to his words. By describing the olive or pin branch victory crown fitted on the head of a triumphant winner as a perishable wreath, Paul ...

614. Are You Getting Hymns Out of Your Lions?

1 Corinthians 7:1-40

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . One of the greatest examples of this in Christian history is the story of the friendship between two hymn-writers, John Newton and William Cowper (pronounced "Cooper"). Some of the most beloved hymns we love to sing were written by these two men. Newton wrote classics like "How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds" and "Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken." But he is most known for a song whose original title was "Faith's Review and Expectation." Who says titles aren't important? Do you think we'd be signing ...

615. A Word of Hope for a Hard World

Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... realistic about the human condition. There are evil people in this world. We would rather that this story of the slaughter of the innocents were not in the Christmas story. But it is, because that is the kind of world we inhabit. Some of you remember the classic television show M*A*S*H. M*A*S*H portrayed a group of Army medics and their battalion dealing with the heart-breaking challenges of the Korean War. In one episode, the battalion is all set to celebrate Christmas when they receive a new patient, a ...

616. The Counter Intelligence of the Cross

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5, 1 Corinthians 1:10-17, 1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... killed. You can feel our Western bias against two contradictory ideas coming together in both-and fashion by the silly-sounding names we give these contradictory combinations: names like “paradox” or “oxymoron” (with an accent on the “moron”). Classic examples like “jumbo shrimp” or “minor disaster" make us smile and assure us that when opposites attract the result is rarely attractive. Still, there has always been a certain intrigue connected with “round-about,” as opposed to “head ...

617. All Saints

Psalm 34:1-22, Revelation 7:9-17, 1 John 2:28--3:10, Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

... the first Sunday in November instead. For Protestants, for whom the observance of special days for saints may be problematic, we understand that in the strict sense of the word this is a festival day in honor of the grace of Christ. In the classical tradition the calendar was divided into two patterns, the dominical cycle and the sanctoral cycle. The dominical cycle included all Sundays and other days of the year which celebrated and recalled the major events in the life of our Lord (hence "dominical"). The ...

618. Christmas 2

Psalm 147:1-20, Jeremiah 30:1--31:40, Ephesians 1:1-14, John 1:1-18

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

... psalm's talk of snow, frost, and hail, this might be one of those times, but not for those reasons. The passage deals with the Word of God, which is also the subject of the other lessons. Here the activity of the Word is divided into what classically has been called natural and revealed theology: God's self-revelation in nature (vv. 15-18) and on the stage of history in particular ways v. 19-20)—the word that speaks creation into being in Genesis 1 and that becomes flesh in Jesus Christ in the Epiphany ...

619. Lent 4

Jn 9:1-41 · Eph 5:8-14 · Ps 23 · 1 Sam 16:1-13

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

... 8-12 we observe the obvious change in the man, but we find that his newly altered perspective does not endow him with full comprehension. Thus we learn that conversion is not an end in itself. Sabbath. In vv. 13-17 we come upon another classic New Testament form, a Sabbath-controversy. The Pharisees are cast as the religious authorities of the day, likely an anachronism. There is, however, a division among them, and the outcome is a minimal confession (of Jesus as prophet) on the part of the formerly blind ...

620. We Don't Have To Do Anything About It, Do We?

Matthew 21:1-11

Illustration

Bill Bouknight

In his classic novel, "The Robe," Lloyd C. Douglas has a character called Marcellus, who had become enamored of Jesus. He wrote letters to his fiance Diana in Rome. He told her about Jesus' teachings, about his miracles, then about his crucifixion, and then about his resurrection. Finally he informed her that he ...

621. Birth into a New World

Jn 20:1-18

Illustration

King Duncan

... known. The remaining unborn twin is saddened, convinced that a great catastrophe has befallen his companion. Outside the womb, however, the parents are rejoicing. For what the remaining brother, left behind, has just witnessed is not death but birth. This, Wolpe reminds us, is a classic view of the life beyond the grave--a birth into a world that we on Earth can only try to imagine. The Easter message is that we have an older brother who HAS traveled beyond the tomb, down the birth canal of eternity and has ...

622. Earthquakes, Tsunamis, and Disaster: Why do the Innocent Suffer?

Psalm 69:1-36

Sermon

James W. Moore

... we don’t know hurts us. The truth is that we are doing things right now in our world to ourselves and to our earth that are harmful to us... that are causing suffering and we don’t even know it. Let me show you what I mean with one classic example that has happened in my lifetime. Rent a movie made in the 1940s... and what do you notice? Everybody’s smoking cigarettes! In the 1940s, we didn’t know how dangerous and how harmful smoking is to your health. Just think of it... the millions of people who ...

623. The Lost and Found Elder Brother

Luke 15:25-32

Sermon

James W. Moore

... you sick. It can hurt you and other people. When I was a little boy, I loved the comedy of Abbott and Costello. Those of you over 50 grew up with this great comedy team. Those of you under 50 are still probably familiar with their classic “Who’s On First?” routine. One night on their radio program years ago, Lou Costello was wearing a beautiful flower in his lapel. All through the program, people kept complimenting his lapel flower, much to Lou Costello’s delight. But then a neighbor named Scotty ...

624. The Lost and Found Celebration

Luke 15:15-24

Sermon

James W. Moore

... it mature, adult, honest, plain-spoken, realistic speech. Come on now… what could be more immature, childish, dishonest or unreal? (4) What about unfaithfulness? This is the most universally justified and amazingly excused sin in the world. All the way from the classic “My wife doesn’t understand me” – to “if you love somebody why isn’t it all right?” Why it has even been called (of all things) the “new morality.” We call it the “new morality” and dupe ourselves because it is the ...

625. When Do You Feel God's Pleasure?

Matthew 3:13-17

Sermon

James W. Moore

... abandon… and he does become an Olympic Champion. When my “channel-surfing” produced Chariots of Fire (as luck would have it), I just happened to hit it right at the beginning of one of my favorite scenes in the film. It’s a classic scene, especially for us as Christians. Eric Lidell is standing on a beautiful Scottish hillside. He is visiting with his sister Jennie. Off in the distance, you can see the skyline of Edinburgh, Scotland. Eric and Jennie are talking about his future. Jennie reminds ...

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