Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 101 to 125 of 165 results

Psalm 137:1-9

Sermon

Will Willimon

Someday I may preach a series of sermons called "Bible Passages Too Hot to Handle." A preacher could get burned by getting too close to today's text. Those of you who are regulars here know that we believe it a good practice for preachers to take, as their texts, biblical passages assigned by the ecumenical lectionary. This links us with the practice of the majority of the church, it provides for...

102. Returning

Isaiah 40:1-11

Sermon

Will Willimon

Messiah opens on a somber chord, then the orchestra moves upward toward a clear, tenor voice: "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people...the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God." Last Sunday Isaiah spoke for a people in the wilderness, in Babylonian exile, a people so lost, orphaned, that they could cry, "Thou hast...

103. Righteous Woman

Genesis 38:1-27

Sermon

Will Willimon

I have told you we were going to preach through the story of Joseph, right through from beginning to end. Genesis 37 to Genesis 50. Those of you who may have been following along in your Bibles know that I lied. We had a sermon on Genesis 37 (Joseph's coat and his dream) and then a sermon on Joseph in Egypt beginning with Genesis 39. What happened to Genesis 38? I have never preached on Genesis 3...

104. R.S.V.P.

Matthew 22:1-14

Sermon

Will Willimon

"At Duke," she said, ''we work hard, we play hard." A visitor here on campus, Friday noon through Sunday evening, might get the impression that we are one of those infamous "Party Schools." Late one Sunday night last winter, I was awakened in the middle of the night and asked to deliver a sad message to a Duke freshman. I got up, put on clothes, stumbled out into the night, drove through deserted ...

105. Seeing Is Believing

Isaiah 9:2 · John 1:14-18

Sermon

Will Willimon

"The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light." Isaiah 9:2 Don't tell me, show me," we say. Actions speak louder than words. I know people who, less than a month from now, who will spend good money on a dozen red roses, when a quick three-word note could be cheaper. God knows this. In the Bible, God not only says, "I love you," through the words of the law, the prophets, the sermons ...

106. Sheep and Shepherds

John 10:11-16 · Psalm 23

Sermon

Will Willimon

Someone was telling me about a college, somewhere in the Midwest, that had a large contingent of Iranian students. Back when the former Shah was deposed, the students demonstrated at the college administration building. The president went out to speak to them and, during the course of their negotiations, the president casually remarked something to the effect that, “You look like a bunch of sheep ...

107. Sin

Romans 7:15--8:13

Sermon

Will Willimon

Isn't this typical? You get up and come to church -- and on your vacation, too -- on a pleasant summer day and what is the theme? Sin. "What did the preacher talk on today, Calvin?" asked Mrs. Cooledge. "Sin," said this taciturn president. "Well what did he say about sin," she persisted. "Said he was against it." Of course, that was another time when preachers still knew the word. Have you not...

108. Summertime Praise

Ephesians 1:3-14

Sermon

Will Willimon

We Americans put much emphasis on self-help. ''Self Reliance'' was one of Emerson's most popular essays. Please Mother, I would rather do it myself. We like thinking of ourselves as ''self-made'' men and women. Browse awhile at the ''Do It Yourself” section of your local bookstore or in the ''Self-Help'' therapeutic section and you will see that we like to do things for ourselves. Yet Paul, in hi...

109. Survival

Luke 21:5-19

Sermon

Will Willimon

365 Days a year you can see them, tourists from all over the nation, all over the world, come to admire the beauty of this place. Why do you think that so many thousands come to see this Chapel? I'll tell you what I think. In a world of disposable diapers, nonreturnable soft-drink bottles, throw away cartons, bio-degradable shopping bags, and plastic everything, it is good to encounter something ...

110. Take Heart

Matthew 14:22-33

Sermon

Will Willimon

Jesus needs a vacation. Crowds pressing in, so many hungry, hurting people seeking something from him. He tries to get away from it all, to be by himself to ponder his future, to pray. He got in a boat in order to get away from it all. But he can't get away. When he finally arrives at some ''lonely place'' it is anything but lonely. Great, hungry crowds press in upon him. He heals them. It grow...

111. Taking Offense & The Market Place

Mark 6:1-6

Illustration

Will Willimon

"By living in a society in which most daily choices are consumer choices, people have come to view their relationship to the church in similar ways....But once people come to view choosing a church in ways similar to choosing among competing brands and styles of basketball shoes, then enormous pressure is exerted among the church to conceive of itself in those terms as well" (p. 68). And this tend...

112. Taking the Long Way Home

Mark 7:31-37

Sermon

Will Willimon

“Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, through the region of the Decapolis.” Mark 7:31 Durham is one of the toughest places on earth to find your way around in. Bisected by a freeway and this campus, a downtown full of one way streets (all one way in the wrong direction) -- am I now on Chapel Hill Street, Chapel Hill Road, or simply the main road t...

113. Teach Us to Pray

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

Will Willimon

“Teach us to pray” was one of the few things the disciples” asked of Jesus. He gave them a model prayer; “Our Father who art in heaven...” Tertullian calls the Lord's Prayer “an epitome of the whole gospel.” On Sundays, we, like those disciples before us, come to Jesus asking, “Teach us to pray.” The Prayer of Intercession comes right after the sermon and scripture because the word helps us to dis...

114. Temptation

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

Will Willimon

As a young man, about the age of some of you, Jesus was met and tempted by Satan in the desert. This is the Sunday the church always remembers this fateful encounter. I want you to note what Satan offered Jesus, offers which Jesus rejected. 'Turn these stones to bread," suggested Satan. ''Don't you believe in feeding the hungry?'' Jesus refused. Social justice doesn't appeal to you? Well you've g...

115. Thanks, but...

Philippians 4:10-20

Sermon

Will Willimon

Frankly, I didn't even want to be at that night's meeting. I hate meetings, even church meetings, especially church meetings. But as the representative from the Commission on Ecumenical Basketball, I felt obligated to be at the monthly meeting of the Board. We met in the Seekers Sunday School classroom, sat in rows of grey, fold-out metal chairs. The meeting began with prayer. Minutes of the last ...

116. The Ability to Hear - Listening

Acts 2:1-41

Illustration

Will Willimon

Communication, an ability to hear, to know what other people "are getting at" and "where they're coming from," has got to be one of the chief characteristics of the effective pastor. I want to be a good communicator, a skillful preacher. Yet before that, I know that I must be a good listener. As someone has said, "A preacher must listen for six days a week -- listening to God and to the hopes, fea...

117. The Best Little Harlot's House in Jericho

Hebrews 11:31

Sermon

Will Willimon

“By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given friendly welcome to the spies.” (Hebrews 11:31) Oh, I can hear it now. Arnold Jones, Trinity College 1938, accosts me at the door of the Chapel after the service. “Is it not enough that I come to the Chapel and am shocked by Jazz Music on All Saints, but also must listen to scripture about a whore.” Ar...

118. The Call

Matthew 16:13-20, Mark 1:14-20, Matthew 5:13-16

Sermon

Will Willimon

When I was a seminarian, in a geriatric hospital, learning to be a chaplain, this old man told me one day that he was Dwight D. Eisenhower. The nurses urged me to try to talk him out of it. I couldn't. He steadfastly insisted that he was Eisenhower. Trouble was, I had no personal acquaintance with Dwight D. Eisenhower. The man was bald, had a Midwestern accent, had been in the army, seemed harmles...

119. The Family

Genesis 37:1-36

Sermon

Will Willimon

Because we are all at the beginning, let us begin at the beginning with the Book of Genesis, a Bible book whose name means ''in the beginning." Let us begin with a family story, which seems appropriate, appropriate considering that many of you students have begun your college careers by separating from your families in order to come to Duke, a separation which pains some of you and delights others...

120. The Fearful Meeting

Genesis 32:1-20; 33:1-4, 12-14

Sermon

Will Willimon

There has been "The Donna Reed Show," "Ozzie and Harriet," "Father Knows Best," "Leave It to Beaver," "The Brady Bunch," "The Cosby Show," and more recently, the wildly popular "The Simpsons." School principals in Ohio and California condemn Bart Simpson as "a poor role model" -- bristle-headed little charmer that he is. Then there's prissy Lisa, blob of a baby Maggie, and poor old Homer and Marg...

121. The Gift

Luke 2:1-20

Sermon

Will Willimon

“A few years ago, someone near and dear gave me a Polo shirt for Christmas, and I said thank you, of course, and put it on, and tried to look pleased, but what I was thinking was, 'Burgundy?' In my experience, burgundy shirts are worn by guys who smoke cigarillos, drive Buick LeSabres, sit in the dark corners of cocktail lounges and place large wages on basketball games. I'm more of a wheat type o...

122. The Glory of God

Romans 11:33-36, Matthew 16:13-20

Sermon

Will Willimon

If you are new here, as I am, you're part of this marathon of words which universities call ‘’Orientation.'' Orientation -- that's when everyone tells you what's what at Duke. Professors telling you about courses, seniors telling you about Professors. It's natural for you to think that, since you're the Chapel, I'll tell you what's what about religion. It's tough to be a Freshman. There are so man...

123. The Good

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Will Willimon

I always hold my breath on Sundays until I find out which texts are assigned by the ecumenical lectionary. Look, I realize that your high tuition pays my modest salary, so naturally I want to make a good impression on visiting parents. (And let me take this opportunity to thank all of you parents for your tuition payments. Without you, not only your Duke sons and daughters, but even this preacher,...

124. The Gracious Dream

Genesis 28:10-17

Sermon

Will Willimon

We were having this Bible study on the book of Acts, eighth chapter, I think, where Philip is visited by an angel. And someone spoke up, "Angels, angels. What are we to do with all these Bible stories about angels? I've never seen an angel. Nobody I know has ever seen an angel. Can stories about angels be relevant to modem people?" Her question touched my recent experience. I told her about it. ...

125. The Growing Gap in America

Luke 16:19-31

Illustration

Will Willimon

In the early 1830s, Alexis de Tocqueville, visiting our young nation, was struck by the "general equality of condition among American people." Few were very rich, and few were terribly poor, and de Tocqueville felt that this was fertile soil for the development of true democracy. Somewhere between there and now we changed. Today, perhaps the most noticeable aspect of American economics and perhap...

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