William Willimon tells about a church in a town he was visiting years ago. According to the newspaper, the church was having an all-day meeting of the church’s “medical auxiliary.” Willimon figured this was a meeting of church folks who occasionally volunteered at the local hospital. He was wrong. A friend of his, someone who knew more about the church and its denomination than he did, told him that this was not the case. He said “the medical auxiliary consists of those persons who handle the stretchers, ...
There was a man named Sundar, a convert to Christianity who decided to go to India to be a missionary and bear witness to others about Jesus. One day, late in the afternoon, Sundar was traveling on foot high in the Himalaya Mountains with a Buddhist monk. It was bitterly cold and darkness was rapidly starting to fall. The monk told Sundar they would be in danger of freezing to death if they did not reach the monastery before nightfall. As they crossed a narrow path above a steep cliff, a cry for help was ...
728. God Will Carry
Illustration
Staff
A man got on a train carrying a suitcase. There was nowhere to sit and so he stood in the aisle holding the suitcase. The conductor said to him: "Sir, why don’t you put the suitcase down? The train will carry it for you." God is willing to carry our load if we will but let him.
729. Why Must We Carry a Cross? - Sermon Starter
Mark 8:27-38
Illustration
Brett Blair
Can people change instantly at salvation? Some traditions call it repentance and renewal. Some call it Sanctification of the believer. Whatever you call it most traditions expect some quick fix to sin. According to this belief, when someone gives his or her life to Christ, there is an immediate, substantive, in-depth, miraculous change in habits, attitudes, and character. We go to church as if we are going to the grocery store: Powdered Christians. Just add water and disciples are born not made. ...
730. Carried Any Donkeys Lately?
Illustration
Source Unknown
Ther's a fable of an old man whose grandson rode a donkey while they were traveling from one city to another. The man heard people say, “Would you look at that old man suffering on his feet while that strong young boy is totally capable of walking.” So then the old man rode the donkey while the boy walked. And he heard some people say, “Would you look at that, a healthy man making the poor young boy suffer. Can you believe it?” So the man and the boy both rode the donkey, and they heard some people say, “ ...
731. Don't Carry It
Illustration
Maxie Dunnam
There is a story told of two monks in Japan traveling together down a muddy road. A heavy rain falling. Coming around the bend, they met a lovely girl in a silk kimono and sash, unable to cross the intersection. “Come on, girl,” said Tenzan at once. Lifting her in his arms, he carried her over the mud. Iquito did not speak again until that night when they reached a lodging temple. Then he could restrain himself no longer. “We monks don’t go near females,” he told Tenzan, “especially not young and lovely ...
732. No One Should Carry a Burden Alone
Luke 17:11-19
Illustration
King Duncan
Andrew Davison tells of visiting Dr. Albert Schweitzer, that great humanitarian, theologian, musician, physician and missionary at his jungle hospital at Lambarene, on the banks of Ogowe River. Schweitzer was eighty-five years old at the time. One event stands out in Davidson's mind. It was about eleven in the morning. The equatorial sun was beating down mercilessly, and a group of visitors was walking up a hill with Dr. Schweitzer. Suddenly Schweitzer left the group and strode across the slope of the hill ...
733. Carrying Your Sins
John 1:29-34
Illustration
Bill Bouknight
One day a saintly African Christian told his congregation about a vision he had the night before. In the vision he was climbing up the hill to the church. Suddenly he heard steps behind him. He turned and saw a man carrying a very heavy load on his back, climbing that hill. He was full of sympathy for this man and spoke kindly to him. Then he noticed that the man's hands were scarred. Suddenly he realized that this was Jesus. He said to him, "Lord, are you carrying the world's sins up the hill?" "No," said ...
If someone were to stand in front of you and offer you a choice - in one hand “objective” truth, in the other hand “subjective” truth — which would you pick? Bet you’d go with the “objective.” But anyone here like to be treated like an “object?” Anyone here not want to be treated like a “subject?” In a “Peanuts” cartoon, Charlie Brown says to little Lucy: “My Dad said that someday I might be able to run for President.” “Really, Charlie Brown?” Lucy answers. “He certainly must think highly of you!” “I don’t ...
735. Carried to His Room
Illustration
Peter Marshall
In a home of which I know, a little boy, the only son, was ill with an incurable disease. Month after month the mother had tenderly nursed him, read to him, and played with him, hoping to keep him from the dreadful finality of the doctor's diagnosis—the little boy was sure to die. But as the weeks went on, he gradually began to understand that he would never be like the other boys he saw playing outside his window. Small as he was, he began to understand the meaning of the term death, and he too knew he ...
Robert Orben says he lives in a very religious neighborhood. One time he asked a priest, "Is it true that in this neighborhood, if you carry a cross, you never have to worry?" The priest said, "Yes. But it all depends on how fast you carry it!"
The managing editor wheeled her chair around and pushed a button for the person wanted. That person entered. "Here," said the editor, "are a number of suggestions from outsiders as to the best way to run a newspaper. See that they are all carried out." The assistant gathered the suggestions together, put them in a large wastebasket, and carried them out.
Props: Dark ash and oil, to mark a cross on your forehead Lesson: (only a very light cross on forehead) Hey, guys, do you see this mark on my forehead? Can you tell what it is? It’s supposed to be a cross. I went to the Ash Wednesday service tonight, and the pastor put it on my forehead. But it’s so light you can’t even tell what it is. It’s not fair! Some of the other people got dark crosses, ones you could really see. But not me — how will anyone know I’m a good Christian now? What do you think? Do you ...
739. Carry Some Quiet
Illustration
Staff
There's no music in a rest, but there is the making of music in it. In our whole life-melody, the music is broken off here and there by 'rests,' and we foolishly think we have come to the end of the tune. Not without design does God write the music of our lives. It is ours to learn the tune, and not be dismayed at the rests. They are not to be slurred over, not to be omitted. They are not there to destroy the melody, not there to change the keynote. If we sadly say to ourselves, "There is no music in a ...
740. Stop Carrying the Anvil
Mk 6:1-13
Illustration
Maxie Dunnam
My friend, and mentor, the great Quaker Douglas V. Steer, tells a story that comes out of Maine. A short in stature young blacksmith in a small town fell in love with a tall local girl, but he was so short that he was too bashful to tell her. One day she came into the smithy to call for a tea kettle that he had fixed for her and she had thanked him so nicely that he suddenly found courage to ask her to marry him. She consented and he got up on the anvil and put his arms around her and sealed it with a kiss ...
741. Carrying Your Weight
Humor Illustration
King Duncan
Though skeptical of his teenage son’s newfound determination to build bulging muscles, one father followed his teenager to the store’s weight-lifting department, where they admired a set of weights. “Please, Dad,” pleaded the teen, “I promise I’ll use ‘em every day.” “I don’t know, Michael. It’s really a commitment on your part,” the father said. “Please, Dad?” “They’re not cheap either,” the father said. “I’ll use ‘em, Dad, I promise. You’ll see.” Finally won over, the father paid for the equipment and ...
You may have heard about a new bride who was a bit embarrassed to be known as a honeymooner. So, when she and her husband pulled up to the hotel, she asked him if there was any way that they could make it appear that they had been married a long time. He responded, "Sure. You carry the suitcases!"
PROGRAM 1. Candlelight Ceremony Choir 2. In the Beginning Narration 3. "I, Mary, Mother of Jesus" Reading 4. Jesus’ Ministry Narration and Drama 5. Choral Arrangement Depicting the Upper Room Choir 6. The Betrayal Narration 7. Choral Arrangement Depicting the Betrayal Choir 8. The Garden of Gethsemane Narration 9. Choral Arrangement Depicting the Garden Choir 10. The Trials Narration and Drama 11. The Soldiers, Part One Dialogue Drama 12. The Processional and Crucifixion Choir, Drama 13. The Soldiers, Part ...
It’s a common expression. When good fortune comes our way over which we have no control, about which we really did nothing, we say, “I was in the right place at the right time.” We hear it all the time about people who have made a lot of money, without a lot of effort: “He was in the right place at the right time.” We say a similar thing when the unwanted happens to us. “I was in the wrong place at the right time.” Some of us feel that’s the story of our life — being in the wrong place at the right time. ...
Whatever one wants to say about the apostle Paul, we must at least say this: He took Christianity out of the rural roads and countryside and spread it into the urban experiences in places like Rome, Ephesus, Antioch, and Corinth. We have two of his letters to the church at Corinth, and it was a church that bothered and bewildered him. The city of Corinth had a rough reputation. Prior to its fall to Rome 140 years before the birth of Jesus, its nature as an urban seaport had given rise to a temple to ...
O Star (the fairest one in sight), We grant your loftiness the right To some obscurity of cloud – It will not do to say of night, Since dark is what brings out your light. Some mystery becomes the proud. But to be wholly taciturn In your reserve is not allowed. Say something to us we can learn By heart and when alone repeat. Say something! And it says "I burn." -- Robert Frost, "Choose Something Like A Star" The Star of Bethlehem associated with this holy season was taciturn and mysterious. It was lofty ...
Recently a young man who participates in Civil War reenactments was giving a talk about his hobby. He shared with the group how a soldier in that war carried his own food supply with him. A bag of food weighed about seven pounds. The rifle he carried weighed ten pounds. The blanket and backpack weighed another forty pounds. This means the typical soldier in the Civil War carried over fifty pounds of material and weaponry with him all the time. Carrying that much weight must have been a heavy burden that ...
In one of his books, A Scent of Love, Keith Miller tells the true story of a mother who took her children to the Animal Farm - a place where they could pet the animals that roamed free and even ride an elephant. Not finding a conventional parking space, the mother parked their little red Volkswagen “beetle” on a little paved apron on the path that led to the ranger station. Then they went out and had a great time. Realizing later, however, that the day had gotten away from them and they were supposed to ...
Big Idea: The menaces of leadership are myriad, sometimes posed by cordial faces with malicious intentions, and we pray that God will be the real Shepherd. Understanding the Text Gunkel lists Psalm 28 among the individual complaint songs, the genre that, in his view, forms the basic material of the Psalter.[1] Gerstenberger, based on the elements of petition, thanksgiving, and intercession, agrees and considers this psalm a model representative of the individual complaint psalm,[2] commonly referred to as ...
Dramatic Monologue You need directions to Golgotha, the place Jesus was crucified? Sure, I'd be happy to show you. No, I don't live here in Jerusalem. But I know the path to the cross very well. You see, I helped Jesus carry the cross. Perhaps you could say it was my gift to him. Oh, I didn't consider it a gift at the time, although I do now. At the time, I considered it both an inconvenience and an insult. It was the last thing I wanted to have happen on my pilgrimage to Jerusalem, a trip I might make ...