2:26–29 · Abide in Christ and his anointing :Here the deceivers would be appealing to the hallmarks of Jewish faith and practice at the expense of the Jesus movement. Consider the appeals of the religious leaders in the Gospel: “We are disciples of Moses!” (John 9:28). “We are Abraham’s descendants” (John 8:33). They claimed that whoever speaks of himself is a presumptuous prophet, not a true prophet. Therefore, Jesus in the Gospel is presented as addressing those claims with his authentic mission from the ...
Herod I or Herod the Great was born in 73 BCE, the son of Antipater the Idumaean, a high ranking court official. Through a series of intrigues and coups more complex than we have time to unravel, here, he was declared King of Judea by the Roman Senate in 37 BCE. He would rule as “King of the Jews” for about thirty years until his death in 4 BCE. Historically, he is remembered mostly for his building projects. In 20 BCE he undertook the rebuilding of the Jerusalem temple which had fallen into disrepair from ...
I have two public school elementary teachers in my family. I’ve learned a great deal about what goes on behind the scenes long before the students arrive and long after they have left: the seating chart, the reading corner, the attractive posters, imaginative strategies for teaching difficult concepts, and much more. There is a lot to teaching. The same can be said for those people who teach congregations of every size every Sunday. There is so much that happens behind the scenes from Monday to Saturday ...
I don’t think I’m making a controversial statement this morning when I say that most sports fans are crazy. Of course, I’m not talking about any sports fans in this room today. I’m talking about fans of other teams. They’re nuts! Doesn’t matter if they’re cheering for preschool T-ball teams or professional athletes in the Super Bowl or the World Series. Sports fans are just plain crazy. They paint their faces in the team colors. They spend hours in a stadium, enduring freezing cold, as well as pouring rain ...
One must be very careful with a Thanksgiving sermon. In the first place, not everyone feels thankful; and those who do are not thankful for the same things. In fact, one person's cause for thanksgiving could be another person's cause for gloom. I could illustrate that in the political realm, but I better not. I could illustrate that from the world of sports, but I don't think I need to. Some people are thankful for their jobs, while others despise their jobs but don't know where to find other employment. ...
Have you been out to see the Christmas lights yet? It is time for the annual excursion, when you pack the car with people on a chilly December evening, and drive around to all the neighborhoods and parks made beautiful by cities or neighborhood associations with lights, lights, and more lights, in a variety of colors and hues. There are bright reds, blues, and greens; beautiful, pastel pinks and yellows; and of course the brilliant elegance of white. As you drive along, there are elves and carolers, Santa ...
Dr. Nels Ferre was one of the imminent theologians a generation ago -- a professor at Vanderbilt. As an old man, he stood before his students and talked about his coming to America. He was one of eight children living in Sweden. With the war coming ever closer, his mother chose him to leave the country. She took the family down to the great cathedral in the middle of the city and, having the children stand in a circle, encouraged them to pray together for each other, but especially for Nels. He still ...
So . . . when did throwing up become the newest spectator sport? The hottest TV trend in pop culture? The red-hot reality show fear factor is supposed to highlight people facing up to and facing down their greatest fears. Whenever I've tuned in, the only thing I've seen is people hurling. They have good reason. The most crowd-pleasing, Nielsen-boosting activity seems to be when the "everyman" and "everywoman" participants are forced to consume large quantities of such disgusting delicacies as horse rectum ...
On my way to an early morning hospital visit this week, today's sermon flashed before my eyes. On the bumper of an old pick up truck there was this sticker which said, “Jesus Saves." Perhaps only in Nashville, the buckle of the Bible belt, can we find such statements on bumper stickers. The words immediately brought responses in my mind. On the one hand I found myself singing. We have heard the joyful sound Jesus saves. Jesus saves. Spread the tidings all around. Jesus saves. Jesus saves. The song was ...
Garbage truck driver, Craig Randall, brings his work home with him sometimes. There was that old-fashioned sewing machine he found. There were some books he rescued from the trash. And then there was that soft-drink cup that just happened to be worth $200,000. Neither Randall nor his fiancée really believed it until he drove his garbage truck up to the restaurant and picked up the check. Twenty-three-year-old Randall said he lifted the cup from a pile of trash while he was on his route in south Boston. He ...
Animation: Youtube video of Kaa’s Song from the original Jungle Book There are so many impossibilities that become realities in the Christmas story that one hardly knows where to begin. But here’s one that you may not have thought of before. Mary is too young, and Elizabeth is too old, to have a child. The word we translate as “virgin” really means pre-pubescent maiden. So here we have a post-menopausal woman, Elizabeth, and a pre-pubescent woman, Mary, that God chooses to use to bless the world with good ...
Galatians 3:26--4:7, Galatians 3:15-25, Colossians 3:1-17, Hebrews 2:5-18, Isaiah 61:1-11, Isaiah 63:7--64:12, Matthew 2:19-23, Matthew 2:13-18
Sermon Aid
Russell F. Anderson
COMMENTARY Lesson 1: Isaiah 63:7-9 The prophet recalls the goodness of God when the nation was being born. He harkens back to the covenant God made with his people at Sinai and his guiding them through the wilderness. Though God punishes his people for their sins, he continues to love them, care for them, and guide them. God carries on his gracious work of salvation. Lesson 1: Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14 God placed parents in authority over their children and those who honor their parents will be blessed by God. ...
Young Man's In both of these passages from his letter to the Romans, Paul begins with a question that is probably rattling around in most of our minds this week. What then are we to say? What then are we to say about these things? What in the world has gone wrong in the world that the life of such a young man as ____________ should come to such a tragic end? What shall we say? ____________ was a person with many fine qualities; Paul would even call them "gifts of the Spirit." ____________ had the gifts of ...
Service for a miscarried child. May the grace and peace of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, be with us all. We gather here, in face of the preciousness of life and of the mystery of death. _________ and ________ with the death of _________, something has changed irrevocably: anticipation has been thwarted, hope has been dashed, and possibility has been ended. ________ and ________, for you too, anticipation ofhaving a baby brother has ended. In all of this we are reminded of the frailty of life, and ...
Call to Worship Pastor: God is a great God who has made all people in his own image. People: We are the children of God, brothers and sisters to the people of all nations. Pastor: The fatherhood of God and brotherhood of nations require us to love God above all else, and love each person as ourselves. People: May God's grace enable us to be loving children toward God, and toward each other. Collect Almighty God and Father of all persons: You have stated clearly your commandment to love you with our whole ...
Christmas Eve is the night for midnight blue skies, cloudless and serene; a night for stars dazzling and tantalizingly close to earth in all their silent glory; the night for galaxies vast and mysterious, drawing us away in time and space to worlds beyond the fringes of sense and imagination. Increasingly urban as we are, we often lose the appreciation for the sky's nighttime splendor so spectacular to dwellers in the more arid climes. As a very young child in Wisconsin, on our way to the school Christmas ...
That was a beautiful thing which was done in 1989 by the Boy Scouts from Troop 4, sponsored by First United Methodist Church of Ann Arbor, and from Troop 61, sponsored by Domino’s Pizza. They gave money to help the owner of the taxicab which was damaged by rioters celebrating Michigan’s NCAA Basketball championship. (Ann Arbor News, April 19, 1989, p. 1) That was a beautiful thing to do...and I hope that somebody else sees fit to reimburse the poor fellow for the rest of the repair bill for the incident, ...
A man in Wilton, Connecticut named Gary Klahr told a remarkable story in Guideposts a few years back. He said that one night in 1975 he made a new friend at a local restaurant. This new friend, Steve Barbin, happened to be seated at the next table and they got to talking. By the time they finished their burgers, they’d pushed their tables together and were well on the way to becoming best friends. They grew so close that they finished each other’s sentences and shared belly laughs at jokes that no one else ...
James Moore tells a humorous story about a woman named Carol who was the organist at her church. She was an outstanding musician, but she did something no organist should ever do. She overslept on Easter morning and missed the sunrise service. Obviously, she was embarrassed. Of course, the minister and the church forgave her. They teased her about it a little, but it was done lovingly and in good fun. However, the next Easter her phone rang at 5:00 in the morning. Jolted awake by the loud ringing, she ...
The word of the Lord Almighty came to me. This is what the Lord Almighty says: “The fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months will become joyful and glad occasions and happy festivals for Judah. Therefore, love truth and peace.” This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Many peoples and the inhabitants of many cities will yet come, and the inhabitants of one city will go to another and say, ‘Let us go at once to entreat the Lord and seek the Lord Almighty. I myself am going.’ And many peoples and ...
Many of us have had them, those times when we felt like we were on top of the world, really happy, confident that we knew all the answers, could solve any problem that came up. Or we felt that we were really close to God, really in tune with God’s plan for us. In those moments we were excited and alive, and everything seemed new. The moment might have come at some exciting event in your life: graduation, baptism, your first kiss, your first day on your first job, your wedding, the birth of a child, even ...
An elderly woman of keen mind and understanding heart stood gazing at Whistler’s portrait of his mother. "It’s a remarkable painting of a lovely lady," murmured the viewer, "but there is too much peace and calm to be the likeness of a real mother." To be sure, serenity and tranquility are marked qualities of motherhood, yet there has been far more sorrow, pain, and discord in the long history of women than the pacific sweetness of "Mother Machree" would indicate. Ours is a world which traditionally has not ...
Setting: A large Christmas Lrce is placed in the chancel, or on one side of the front of the sanctuary, with wrapped gifts placed beneath it. A large manger is placed in front of the altar, or communion table, with a large candle placed nearby or on the altar. The portion of the service presented by the family takes place around the tree. Participants: A family, or six selected persons to portray: A mother A father An older son An older daughter A sniall girl (aged 9 or 10) A small boy (aged 8 or 9) Youth ...
Columnist Erma Bombeck has set up some rules for herself for eating or not eating food on her many travels. She offers the following suggestions: Never eat anything you can't pronounce. Beware of food that is described as, "Some Americans say it tastes like chicken." If a country does not have one single head of cattle, no range and no cowboys, don't order beef. This is no time to be a sport. When they tell you how the skin of what you are eating makes wonderful shoes and handbags, leave it. Resist eating ...
Arnold Palmer once played a series of exhibition matches in Saudi Arabia. The king was so impressed that he proposed, in good Middle Eastern fashion, to honor his guest with a gift. Palmer resisted, "It really isn't necessary, Your Highness. I'm honored to have been invited." And, in good Middle Eastern fashion, his highness persisted, "I would be deeply upset," replied the king, "if you would not allow me to give you a gift." Palmer thought for a moment, "All right. How about a golf club? That would be a ...