Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 126 to 150 of 165 results

1 Corinthians 1:27-29 · Genesis 25:21-34

Sermon

Will Willimon

We're at the beginning of a new school year. And here, at the beginning, I plan to preach a series of sermons from Genesis, the first Bible book, whose title means "the beginning." Such a series is risky at the beginning. For one thing, if you don't like the first sermon in the series, will you return for more? When I was a child, our preacher announced a series of sermons on The Lord's Prayer. F...

127. 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 aroun...

128. The Journey

Mark 8:27-36

Sermon

Will Willimon

A few years ago, we had a representative from ''Teach America'' visit our campus. Teach America tries to recruit this nation's most talented college graduates to go into some of the nation's worst public schools. This is Teach America's means of transforming our schools into something better. This woman stood up in front of a large group of Duke students, a larger group than I would suppose would...

129. The Kingdom Belongs to Those with the Guts

Matthew 13:44-46

Illustration

Will Willimon

Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island" is a favorite book to many. The adults in "Treasure Island" were unlike many adults we know--grownups who staked all, risked everything, for nothing more than some map scrawled on a piece of paper. The adults most of us know stay home, keep their heads down, go to work in the morning and then they come back again in the evening. But in "Treasure Island,"...

130. The Last Laugh

Luke 24:1-35

Sermon

Will Willimon

Early in his ministry, critics came to Jesus saying, "The disciples of John fast often, but yours eat and drink." Jesus replied, "can the wedding guest fast when the bridegroom arrives?" Do you find it interesting that one of the earliest charges against Jesus' people is that they had too much fun? "Why don't your disciples go around fasting, wearing sad faces and mournful looks -- like the disc...

131. The Little Loser

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

Will Willimon

For those of us who know the end of Holy Week, it is ironic that, only a week before he was crucified, Jesus attracts adoring crowds, crowds who wave palm branches and shout "Hosanna" and call him "King!" It is fitting that we should begin this service with a choir and clergy, a palm branch, parade and dance in celebration of Jesus' parade on Palm Sunday. It is also ironic because we know what tho...

132. The Lord Came to Change Us

Luke 3:7-18

Illustration

Will Willimon

Unfortunately, we have psychologized the gospel, turned it into a feeling, transformed the Kingdom of God into a mood. We have deluded ourselves into thinking that the Messiah whom we await is the great cosmic affirmer of everything we hold dear and of all our illusions. But Hans Küng reminds us: "We are to preach metanoia. We must entice people from the world to God. We are not to shut ourselves...

133. The Lord Is With Us

Luke 1:26-38, 2 Samuel 7:1-17, Romans 16:1-27

Sermon

Will Willimon

I would be the last person to tell you that the Bible is an easy book to read. How many dear, devout souls have resolved to read the Bible straight through, from Genesis to Revelation, only to fall away after a couple of chapters? It's not only that the Bible is an ancient book, written in ancient tongues. One of the most distressing aspects of biblical religion is the way it shuttles back and for...

134. The New Family

Acts 8:26-40

Sermon

Will Willimon

''An angel of the Lord said to Philip, 'Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.' This is a desert road. And he arose and went. And behold, an Ethiopian, a eunuch,...had come to Jerusalem to worship." Some time ago I wrote an article, in a church publication, criticizing my own denomination's infatuation with racial, gender, ethnic quotas. So many Asian wome...

135. The Promise of Being Met by Jesus

Mark 10:17-31

Illustration

Will Willimon

One night, in a college dormitory Bible study I presented this same story of Jesus and the rich man, just as I've presented it to you. I then asked the gathered students, "What do you make of this story?" "Had Jesus ever met this man before?" asked one of the students? "Why do you ask?" I asked. "Because Jesus seems to have lots of faith in him. He demands something risky, radical of him. I won...

136. The Propriety of Praise

Psalm 84:1-12

Sermon

Will Willimon

A few months ago, I preached a sermon here. My text was from· the book of Revelation, as I recall. All went well until the end of the sermon when I came to my last sentence. Without warning, someone seated somewhere over there, shouted out “Amen!” Well, he was probably a tourist I thought; first time in Duke Chapel. Probably someone from California. At first, I thought I would ignore his, “Amen!” ...

137. The Teacher

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

Will Willimon

Do you know Sybil Vann? Elizabeth Tripp? Mary Wilds? You ought to. They are very powerful people. And I know that many of you are here because you want power. Sybil Vann, Elizabeth Tripp, Mary Wilds could teach you power mongers a thing or two about it. Last week, buying aspirin at supermarket, I almost reached for a bottle of expensive aspirin, then I remembered what Elizabeth Tripp taught us i...

138. The Unfettered Word

2 Timothy 2:8-15

Sermon

Will Willimon

''But the word of God is not fettered. He owned a hardware store and he was a member of my church. Someone had warned me about him when I moved there. ''He's usually quiet," they said, ''but be careful." People still recalled the Sunday in 1968 when, during the middle of the sermon (the preacher's weekly diatribe against Nixon and the Vietnam war), he had stood up from where he was sitting, shook...

139. The Widows-On-Fixed-Income Infection

Mark 12:41-44

Illustration

Will Willimon

I am reminded of the report of an associate pastor of a large church that hired a church fund-raiser to direct its ambitious financial campaign. The fund-raiser proposed his strategy at the first planning session. He wanted the members to visit every home .He was met with immediate resistance. One cynic at the stewardship meeting cited that this church had a high percentage of retired people on fi...

140. The Wind Blows Where It Will

John 3:1-17

Illustration

Will Willimon

William Willimon, the Chaplain at DukeUniversity, tells of a woman who, with her family had begun to attend his church. Quoting him, he says, "She attended our church when her family vacationed at the coast. She said she had begun attending our church a number of years before because it was the only church on the beach where a black person could feel welcomed. This pleased me. She had had a diffic...

141. There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Will Willimon

The annual children's Christmas Pageant went well. Mary and Joseph came into Bethlehem, on cue. There they were met by the nine-year-old innkeeper who dutifully informed them that. though he would love to help them out if he could, there was, again this year, "no room in the ion." Sorry. No vacancy, like the sign says out front. But then he looked again at Mary and Joseph, who really did look tire...

142. They're Drunk

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

Will Willimon

A few years ago, a friend of mine and I were discussing the then current Neo-Charismatic Movement which was sweeping the churches. My friend was a fellow United Methodist pastor, and graduate of Duke. We had met during doctoral work at Emory. As a fellow intellectual, someone quite thoughtful and astute, I wanted him to help me think through this strange outbreak of spiritual gifts and weird beha...

143. True Communication

Acts 2:1-41

Illustration

Will Willimon

The disciples, despite the presence of the Holy Spirit, were misunderstood. They were perceived, because of their exuberant behavior, as being loaded. Sauced. Drunk. How rare it is to experience real communication. The kind of communication where every word is clearly and completely understood. Years ago a conscientious homeowner wrote to a manufacturer of cast iron pipes, telling them that he ha...

144. True Worship

Ephesians 3:14-21

Sermon

Will Willimon

"For this reason..." begins today's text from Ephesians. For what reason? What is the reason why Paul bows his "knees before the father?" What is the reason for him to fall stupefied, dumbfounded to his knees (in the words of the hymn) "lost in wonder, love, and praise?" What reason has moved Paul to worship? What reason thrusts you to your knees in praise and adoration? Here in the chapel, with...

145. Unspectacular Faithfulness

Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22

Sermon

Will Willimon

The Book of Esther was not accepted into the Jewish and Christian canons without controversy. A feminist interpreter explains how Esther, sometimes called ''the most secular book of the Bible, '' caused problems for Israel and the church: ''The reason for the difficulty that the book had in achieving canonical status is its perceived lack of religiosity. Most glaring is the complete absence of an...

146. Unspectacular Faithfulness

Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22

Sermon

Will Willimon

147. Unto Us

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Will Willimon

John says, ''The Word (the eternal Logos, the Christ) became flesh and dwelt among us." Flesh. Meat. Incarnation, which me.ans ''in the flesh," ''in the body." That's Christmas, ''The Feast of the Incarnation." Our God didn't stay up on Cloud Nine, aloof, unscathed by what troubles us in this world. In the flesh. Sometimes well meaning folk say, ''After all, when you get down to it, all religions...

148. Upside Down Christmas

Luke 1:46-56

Sermon

Will Willimon

We spent much of last summer “Down Under” in Australia and New Zealand. Of course, in New Zealand, “down under” is up, since, when you're in New Zealand, you're up and we, on the wrong side of the world, are down. I said I spent Summer there -- July and August -- but there, July and August are the dead of winter, not summer. There, people in the cold South, speak of the conservatism of their tropi...

149. Us Against Them

Exodus 4:21

Sermon

Will Willimon

"And the LORD said to Moses, '...do before Pharaoh all the miracles which I have put in your power; but I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go."' (Exodus 4:21) A friend of mine recently said, "There is nothing wrong with this country that couldn't be cured by a good war." I don't believe that. But do you see his point? Beset as we are by seemingly irreconcilable difference...

150. Valued Families

1 John 3:1-3

Sermon

Will Willimon

When a frustrated Mayor of Minneapolis was asked why he was not running for another term as Mayor, he didn't talk about rising crime in Minneapolis, budget problems, police problems, ethnic stress. He replied, ''The root of all our problems as American cities today is the breakdown of the family; what's happening between parents and their kids is killing this country.'' It's All Saints in the Cha...

Showing results