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

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726. The Nine Tests of Confucius

Illustration

Editor James S. Hewett

"Man's mind," says Confucius, "is more treacherous than mounts and rivers, and more difficult to know than the sky. For with the sky you know what to expect in respect of the coming of spring, summer, autumn, and winter, and the alternation of day and night. But man hides his character behind an inscrutable appearance. There are those who appear tame and self-effacing, but conceal a terrible pride. There are those who have some special ability but appear to be stupid. There are those who are compliant and ...

727. Courage in the Storm

Illustration

Editor James S. Hewett

Do you remember Tom Dooley, that young doctor who organized hospitals, raised money, and literally poured out his life in the service of the afflicted peoples of Southeast Asia? Here was a man whose deep relationship with God motivated him to abandon a soft career in the United States for a desperately difficult ministry overseas. In the end that relationship enabled him to die victoriously at the age of thirty-four. Here is the letter which on December 1, 1960, he wrote to the president of Notre Dame, his ...

728. The Full Range of God's Music

Illustration

Editor James S. Hewett

A man from El Paso lived a good four miles from the main parade ground at Fort Bliss. On most mornings you could hear the whump, whump, whump of the thirteen-gun salute which was sounded every morning at seven o'clock. But on some mornings you could hear the sound of the drum corps as they rolled their cadences. However, if the morning was clear and still, as in the winter time when the air was crisp and cold, you could also hear the sound of the music of the army band, the blast of the trumpets, the wail ...

We must combine the toughness of the serpent and the softness of the dove, a tough mind and a tender heart.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

730. Don't Get Stuck!

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Michael L. Sherer

We begin with a modern parable, “a story that never actually happened” but that’s still true in some profound way. Here’s the story. A businessman from a metropolitan area received a registered letter informing him that an entrepreneurial group in another city had decided to honor him with their prestigious “Innovator of the Year” award. He was delighted. On the day of the presentation he allowed himself plenty of time to drive the Interstate, from one community to the other. But at the last minute, his ...

731. Tearing The Sky To Get To You

Mark 1:9-15

Sermon

Timothy W. Ayers

No one in the growing crowd saw anything out of the ordinary. Not even those standing a few feet away from John heard the voice. Not a single person felt the ripping of the air above their heads. Only one person saw it. Only one person heard it. Only one person felt the sky rip apart. Even without witnesses we know the account was absolutely true. We know it occurred because the one who told about it was Jesus, the Son of God, who could not lie. It is the event that began the ministry of Jesus as he ...

732. Missional Discontinuity

Mark 6:30-44, Mark 6:45-56

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

What is it with Americans and work? We work, on average, 1,836 hours a year, more than just about anyone else in the industrialized world, and we take less vacation. 42% of working Americans don’t take any vacation at all and, of those who do, 61% report that they were working when they should have been playing!1 Paid time off makes up, on average, 7% of an American workers’ compensation package but most workers don’t collect all that they are entitled to. In fact, according to Fortune magazine, the ...

733. The Invitation

Matthew 20:1-15

Sermon

Will Willimon

Jesus said that God's Kingdom is like a man who had a vineyard which needed harvesting. The man goes out into the marketplace and hires some workers agreeing to pay them one denarius a day. They go to work. Mid-morning he looks over his vineyard and sees that more workers will be needed if the job is to be done, so he goes back into the marketplace where he encounters some men still standing around whom no one has hired. Even though a third of the day is over, he asks them to go to work for telling them ...

734. Get Up

Mark 5:21-43

Sermon

Will Willimon

In her novel The Living, Annie Dillard describes this scene from a funeral: ''Hugh stood with stiff Lulu and supple Bert at the graveside. The Nooksacks stood together with their preacher. ''Before the funeral, in mourning for his father, they had shrieked and pounded on boards... ''At last big-faced Norval Tawes read Scripture and prayed. 'O Death, where is thy sting?' Norval Tawes called out, and his little black eyes glittered on Hugh. ''Hugh thought, 'Just about everywhere, since you ask.''' And it is ...

735. A Day of Passion, Praise and Prophesying

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

King Duncan

Let me ask you a question this morning: how many of you are bilingual—that is, you speak two languages? Or tri-lingual . . . if you want to show off? If so, were you raised speaking a language other than English, or did you learn that second language as an adult? There is a federal agency called the Foreign Service Institute that trains diplomats to operate in other countries. The folks at FSI also provide advanced language training in over 65 languages. Sometime back, they ranked all the major languages ...

736. Secret Sauce

John 13:31-35

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Everyone knows that the secret to great dishes is in the sauce. A great chef can spend years perfecting a single sauce. Although a few secret ingredients can distinguish a sauce and therefore a dish, the base usually starts with a simple roux or base (flour and butter or oil heated together as a thickening agent). Once the roux is established, the rest depends on whatever additional ingredients the chef decides to add. The French in particular have perfected this process. French cooking begins by learning ...

737. How Much Should We Pack?

Matthew 9:35-10:8, (9-23)

Sermon

William G. Carter

As much as I like to travel, I am never sure how much to pack. When my wife and I take off for a week long vacation, we do our best to keep a week’s worth of possessions down to one suitcase. That is the goal. There is never a guarantee it will happen. Packing is determined by two contradictory principles: how do we move quickly? How can we be prepared for every contingency? How many pairs of pants can I take, or in my wife’s case, how many pairs of shoes? Should we pack a sweatshirt? Does it rain in New ...

738. A Good Name

Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9

Sermon

Will Willimon

“A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold." Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9 Do you believe that? It's from the book of Proverbs. You get this sort of moral platitude there. "A good name is better than silver or gold." Sounds a little quaint, this talk of "a good name." But this is typical of Proverbs. Here is ethics done the old-fashioned (600 B.C.) way -- an older person telling a younger person how to live in order to have a good life. The book of Proverbs is, ...

739. Embarrassing Visits

John 3:14-21

Sermon

Mary Austin

The lectionary reading for today gives us verses 14-21, but that’s like reading the end of the mystery book without knowing the whole story. So, we have included all of the verses today. [Read John 3:1-21] For many years, I lived in a small town. It was fun to be able to walk to the community center, the hair salon, and the library. Since I could walk there, I went to the library a lot. I knew the staff, and it was easy to run in and get a new book. It was fun to talk to the staff, and catch up on their ...

740. What Time Is It?

Matthew 24:32-44

Sermon

Will Willimon

A woman of my acquaintance has thrown away her watch and decided to have nothing more to do with clocks. ''I have freed myself from the tyranny of time," she says. She has had it with bourgeoisie, middle-class punctuality. She will now live as if every day were a vacation at the beach. Something in me would like to be her, free from time's tyranny, measuring time as did my ancestors -- through the gentle passage of seasons, sunrise and sunset, not seconds, minutes, hours, punching in and punching out. I ...

741. You're In the Army Now

Ephesians 6:10-20

Sermon

Will Willimon

“Therefore take the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” What did you do this summer? I don't know if they still ask school children to write essays on that subject at this time of the year. I'm sure that George Williams never asked for an essay on, “My Most Memorable Summer” in his English classes here. However, if they did, I would be happy to tell you about my worst summer. It was after my Junior Year of college when I spent an ...

742. A Time

Ecclesiastes 3:1-15

Eulogy

George Reed

[Read Ecclesiastes 3:1-15] We are creatures of time. We mark it with clocks and calendars plus we celebrate special seasons and times. We remember birthdays and anniversaries - and we remember losses and deaths. We set aside special times in our lives such as infancy, childhood, and adulthood. Things that are appropriate in one time are not deemed appropriate in others. You can suck your thumb when you are six months of age but unless you just hit your thumb with a hammer people expect that you won’t do ...

743. As a Fire Exists by Burning

Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore, ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. (Luke 10:1-3) “The church exists by mission as fire exists by burning.” Emil Brunner Groundhog Day In West Virginia Years ago, some other ...

744. An Up-Close Nativity

Titus 2:11-14

Sermon

Heather Sugden

One of my favorite childhood memories of Christmas is the decorations. Growing up, about mid-December, all these special decorations would come out of boxes and appear around the house. Ornaments for the trees, stockings for the mantle above the fireplace, pretty snow globes that sat on top of the book-shelves, and my mother’s nativity scenes. My mother owns several nativity scenes. They come in different sizes, are made of different materials, and show different interpretations of what the holy family ...

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