Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1626 to 1650 of 1858 results

1626. I Love a Parade!

Luke 19:28-40

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... these events interrupted routine, caused traffic jams, and brought all those people in from out of town. They pointed out, too, that often the parades were an excuse for public drunkenness and bad behavior. You can bet that folks from the neighborhood were not wild about that. Indeed, this was a favorite rant among some of the members of my parish in Lower Manhattan. There was one parade, though, that rose above all the others. There was one time when an entire city banded together and celebrated with pure ...

1627. Dirty Feet

John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... bliss right through the Labor Day weekend. We were liberated in lots of ways. The family farm had over a hundred acres over which we could freely roam. We built forts and went swimming in the creek that ran through the property every day. We picked wild berries and even grudgingly submitted to weeding my Dad’s beloved vegetable garden. If the truth were told, though, the weeding seemed less onerous when we were gnawing on a butter drenched ear of fresh corn. But of all the bits and pieces of summer ...

1628. The Gift

Luke 2:1-20

Sermon

Will Willimon

... giver. But it also takes a good person to receive Christmas gifts in the right way. As Keillor goes on to say, ''A Christmas gift represents somebody's theory of who you are, or who they wish you were, and of course we know how to handle the wildly inappropriate gift from a stranger, but what if you see yourself as a suave dude and a swift intellect and then one year your wife--your wife--gives you a pair of singing undershorts that perform ''O Tannenbaum''...? That's when you go through a sort of identity ...

1629. Church, Interrupted

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

Will Willimon

... preacher. ''I kno-o-o-w who you are," howled something deep within the man. ''You're the Ho-o-oly One of God.'' ''Shutup," said Jesus. ''Come out of him!'' Things were getting odd that Sabbath in Capernaum. The man fell to the floor, his arms beating wildly at the air, his legs thrashing out so that people moved back to give him a wide circle, froths of foam and strange cries coming out of his mouth. Then the man became strangely calm and lay very still. Slowly he picked himself up off the floor, his face ...

1630. Selling Out

Luke 8:26-39

Sermon

Dave Zuchelli

... He wasn’t merely oppressed or bothered by them. He was out-and-out possessed. That’s strong language — even for the Bible. The townspeople were not able to bind the demoniac — not even with chains. His strength had to be as fierce as he was wild. In Mark’s gospel, he is pictured as being extremely self-destructive — constantly shouting and wounding himself with stones. On top of that, Luke adds that he was naked. He must have been quite a sight. Today, we would look upon him as a prime candidate ...

1631. The Steady March Forward

Luke 9:51-62

Sermon

Dave Zuchelli

... reaction to the events of that night, one might guess they would have abandoned him earlier had they known what was coming. A less likely scenario might be one where they kidnap Jesus themselves in order to keep him from going into the city. However wild that may sound, it’s unlikely simply because he would still have gone eventually. Given these possibilities, it makes me look at myself (as well as my contemporaries) in a much different light. It causes me to contemplate my own fitness for service in the ...

1632. Unconditional Commitment

Luke 9:51-62

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... mission that will challenge you and change you. Discipleship with Jesus is a risk. NO guarantees. No certainties. No security. No plan. All it requires is for you to let go of your expectations and your past, and to forge into the future, trusting upon Jesus to lead you into wild and woolly places, where you have never been before. Are you ready to sign up? Go ahead. I dare you.

1633. Sheep and Shepherds

John 10:11-16 · Psalm 23

Sermon

Will Willimon

... , then sped on. “It really surprised me,” he said. I said it was surprising, and sad, that someone would do something like that to another person. “No,” he said. “What surprised me was my reaction. The moment I hit the ground, I found myself wildly looking for a rock, a board, anything to hit that guy with. If he had come back, I would have bashed in his head without a thought.” “Well,” I said, “Your reaction was understandable. You were upset, angry.” “I can't understand my reaction ...

1634. Lamb and Wolves

Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

Sermon

Dave Zuchelli

... him, he began to send them out ahead of him. From what we can tell in scripture, Jesus would send them out as advance men of sorts to the towns and villages to which he was about to travel. He sent them in pairs and gave them some pretty wild instructions. First of all, he warned them that there was a large harvest out in the hinterlands, but there were very few people going into the harvest field. The obvious reference was to his view that there were a lot of lost souls out there that needed his compassion ...

1635. The Lawyer

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Dave Zuchelli

... himself in danger, gave up two day’s wages, used his own resources, and went out of his way to see that the man was well cared for. He apparently wasn’t too worried about any ritual cleanness, either. What a guy! After unloading this story with the wild twist, Jesus then looked to his trusty lawyer friend once more and asked, “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” (Luke 10:36). Well, what would you say? What could he say? His answer was ...

1636. Have a Very Messy Christmas!

Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon

John Jamison

... out there wearing what looked like a burlap bag, with a leather belt wrapped around his waist. He was wet, his hair hanging down, and overall he looked, well, he looked a mess. He spent most of his time in the wilderness, eating the things found there like wild honey, locusts, so he was thin, wet, and he was waving his arms and screaming at people lining up along both sides of the river banks. And the people were there, lots of them. Matthew said they came from Jerusalem, which at its closest was more than ...

1637. Much Love. Hope Sent.

Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... of through the prophet Isaiah: ‘A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’ John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.” “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Don’t you wish my sermons ...

1638. Christ's Grand Entrance Song

Luke 2:1-14, (15-20)

Sermon

King Duncan

... after a Kongthong resident dies, their melody is never used again. Isn’t that interesting? This practice dates back centuries among the Kongthong people. As one young man says, “Our forefathers used these tunes when they went hunting. They believed that spirits in the wild couldn’t keep track of us if we called each other by our tune [rather than by our name].” Mothers also use these melodies to call their children to come in from playing. And when an outsider marries into a Kongthong family, the ...

1639. Where Are the Nine?

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

Richard Hasler

... as the privilege of watching the birds. Robert Raines, the director of Kirkridge, a retreat center in the heart of the resplendent Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania has this explanation: “I delight in a daily blessedness that visits me each morning in the wild birds at our feeders. Since 1978 we have had a bird log registering residents and visitors like rose-breasted grosbeaks, scarlet rangers, indigo buntings, and other outrageous birds who arrive annually during the first two weeks in May. Yes, I’m ...

1640. Stop in the Name of Love

Matthew 3:13-17

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... I think government needs to take itself less seriously.” (1) I can’t imagine John the Baptist choosing such an approach in communicating his message out in the wilderness of Judea—“REPENT . . . in the naaaame of love.” Yet here is the surprising thing. John is wildly successful. People are pouring out of the big city of Jerusalem to the wilderness not only to hear John preach, but also to be baptized by him as a sign that they had indeed repented of their sins. The word “repent” in the New ...

1641. The Succession

Matthew 11:2-11

Sermon

Lori Wagner

The wildly successful show on HBO called “Succession” is a satire of a wealthy media empire, whose patriarchal mogul is aging. Those vying to succeed him in the business offer varied and conflicting ideas about how the companies should be run, but their tempestuous leader has no current intention of passing the ...

1642. Why the Cross?

Hebrews 2:17-18

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... . Look at what David expressed in Psalm 51:16: “You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.” Even though animal sacrifice was part of the law of Moses, it is clear that God was not wild about it. What did God desire? For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings (Hosea 6:6 NIV). Mercy. That’s what God wanted. God also desired acknowledgement and for his people to put their faith in him. What’s more ...

1643. Singing the Lord's Song

1 John 3:16-24

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... size and color of a robin. It has a beautiful song and people keep these finches in their homes to hear them sing. But the chaf finch has a peculiar characteristic, sometimes it can forget how to sing and it has to be taken back into the woods where the wild birds sing, in order to be re-taught. If they don't learn how to sing again they've been known to become depressed and die. Are you like the chaf finch? Have your forgotten how to sing the Lord's song? Come and let our Lord re-teach you ...

1644. The Mud Room

John 9:1-41

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... others, muddiness and messiness allow us to see beyond ourselves, to let go of our controls, and thereby to heal, to again become one with our world and to experience what it feels like to feel in sync with creation, to get in touch with the “wild” and “free” creative and relational spirit within us. In the Holy Land still today, mud is used as a healing balm. From purifying mud packs to Dead Sea mud masks, we know that mud has therapeutic and medicinal properties. It’s a natural healer. Mud draws ...

1645. The Last Laugh

Luke 24:1-35

Sermon

Will Willimon

... followers of Jesus. They're behaving as they did when Jesus was with them. They're drunk!" Peter came out and told the crowd, "We couldn't be drunk. It's only ten in the morning! Oh, they were drunk. But not with wine. They were drunk with the wild possibility now that Jesus is loose. The future is wide open, everything topsy-turvy, up for grabs, cut loose. As Peter told them in his sermon, “This Jesus, you crucified and killed [for that's the way the world handles people like him]…But God raised him up ...

1646. God's Little Acre

Matthew 13:24-30

Sermon

Will Willimon

... is looking at weeds or wheat. What's to be done about it? Jesus tells this parable: God's kingdom is like…it's like this farmer who plants a field of wheat. While he was sleeping, his enemy c e and sowed weeds among the wheat…dandelions, bitter weed, wild onions…and then slipped away. When the plants grew and bore fruit, the weeds were there, flourishing right along with the wheat. The man's servants came to him saying, "What do you want us to do? You want us to go out there and try to pull up those ...

1647. What's the Next Best Thing

Illustration

Maxie Dunnam

... . “Doctor,” he said, “I feel drained and exhausted. I’m always tired. I don’t seem to have any energy. I have a chronic headache. I feel worn out all the time. What’s the best thing I can do?” The doctor knew something about the man’s wild and fast-paced lifestyle. “What’s the best thing you can do? You can go home after work, eat a nutritious meal, get a good night’s rest, and stop running around and carousing all night -- that’s the best thing you can do.” The man pondered that ...

1648. Enemy in Disguise

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... Grape That thrives on America’s East Coast,” Linganore Winecellers, May 10, 2022, https://www.linganorewines.com/saperavi-an-ancient-grape-that-thrives-in-americas-east-coast/. [2]Mattha Busby, “The People Secretly Growing Magic Mushrooms in the Wild, Life, https://www.vice.com/en/article/3ak84j/guerilla-gardeners-magic-mushrooms. [3] Sarah Laskow, “Wheat’s Evil Twin Has Been Intoxicating Humans for Centuries,” Atlas Obscura, March 22, 2016, https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/wheats-evil-twin ...

1649. One Tough Master?

Matthew 25:14-28

Sermon

Will Willimon

... ethics at Fuqua. (It's a short course.). He, of all the servants, appears to be the only one who considers the ethics of his stewardship. It is his master's money, after all, not his. He has no right to blow his master's money in wild speculation. What is more, usury, the obtaining of interest, was still frowned upon in Israel. He does the right thing. He buries the money. Eventually, the master returns and wants to know how things have gone in his absence. Servants one and two report that things have ...

1650. Stay—Tuned

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... chance to make a first impression, and the first impression we get of John is weird. He is dressed in the garb of a wilderness man — camel’s hair clothing cinched with a wide leather belt. His diet was wilderness to a fare thee well — locusts and wild honey. M-m-m. No doubt some of his appeal to those who flocked from the city to hear him was precisely his weirdness. So be it. Whatever it takes. Despite the unusual first impression John would have made, his preaching obviously resonated. There was a ...

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