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

Showing 1826 to 1850 of 2565 results

1826. Mimosa Pudica

Luke 10:1-10, 16-24

Sermon

Robert C. Cochran

... writer Ben Johnson once said that William Shakespeare’s gift was that he wrote “what was often thought but never so well expressed.” Shakespeare wasn’t a genius because he was a master of original thought; his genius was that he mastered the art of expressing the thoughts we all have in a new, clearer way. We don’t read Shakespeare to understand him better; we read Shakespeare in order to understand ourselves better. He told his stories to help us better understand our stories and our lives ...

1827. Missing God

Illustration

Julian Barnes

... as an Oxford student, Barnes now considers himself an agnostic), he still finds himself dreading the gradual ebbing of Christianity. He misses the sense of purpose that the Christian narrative affords, the sense of wonder and belief that haunts Christian art and architecture. “I miss the God that inspired Italian painting and French stained glass, German music and English chapter houses, and those tumbledown heaps of stone on Celtic headlands which were once symbolic beacons in the darkness and the storm ...

1828. Portraying Jesus

Illustration

Phillip Yancey

A class was shown several dozen art slides portraying Jesus in a variety of forms--African, Korean, Chinese--and then asked to describe what they thought Jesus looked like. Virtually everyone suggested he was tall (unlikely for a first-century Jew), most said handsome, and no one said overweight. They were then shown a BBC film on ...

1829. Less Fear; More Fruit

Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... in his “Peaceable Kingdom” series. Where Hicks took a literal approach to Isaiah’s poem, most biblical scholars tell us that what Isaiah was talking about here, is people. From the millennia before Christ right up to modern times, animals in literature, art, and poetry have represented different types of human beings. In Isaiah’s time the lion was quick-tempered and willful, the wolf was full of melancholy and reserve, the bear was sluggish and greedy, the leopard buoyant, the serpent tricky and sly ...

1830. Surprised by Joy

Luke 2:8-14

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... ? That was what this laughter sounded like. Have you ever felt a sudden and unexpected cool breeze caress your face on a hot and humid day? That was how this laughter sounded. It was sweet and simple, free and unself-conscious, and absolutely devoid of art or artifice. It was innocent. It was more than happiness — richer, fuller and more complete; it was... joy. And it was so beautiful, so compelling, that I had — simply had — to discover its source. So I made my way toward the laughter and there was ...

1831. What Might Have Been

Illustration

Don Emmitte

... . Who knows, however, how many articles, letters, or books were lost in those early years while he still labored under the curse of that professor’s belligerent words. In fact he further writes in his book, that it was this experience that turned him from a career of literature and art to science. One wonders what might have been!

1832. Man on a Mission

Illustration

Eddie Jones

Over two thousand years ago, a father chose the greatest scholar of his age to tutor his young son in liberal arts. The gifted instructor taught the boy architecture, music, literature, politics, and natural sciences. A few years later, the boy, barely in his twenties, set out to conquer the world. He did. By the age of thirty, he had created one of the largest empires known to man, stretching from the ...

1833. How's Your Mood Today?

Illustration

Victor Yap

Howard Raiffa, the best-selling author of the book “The Art and Science of Negotiation,” was with a friend when he bought his morning paper from an old, run-down newsstand. The counter, the paint, and the roof of the stand did not appeal to Raiffa’s friend. Neither did the owner, who was in a bad mood. Raiffa left his ...

1834. Praying Hands

Luke 2:21-40

Children's Sermon

Edward G. Hunter

... job they could find, but neither was getting anywhere as an artist. Finally the older man suggested that he work for both of them while Durer tried to find work as an artist. When Durer became a successful artist they would both quit work and concentrate on their art. After several years Durer did become successful as an artist, and told his friend that he could now take up his work as an artist, for he (Durer) made enough for both of them to live. But his older friend had found that his fingers had become ...

1835. Thy Will Be Done

Luke 20:27-38

Sermon

Molly F. James

... vision — a reminder to change our perspective. We need a reminder that our calling as Christians is not to follow our own desires or our own categories — it is to follow God’s will. Every time we say the Lord’s Prayer, we pray, “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy will be done.” We do not pray “my will be done.” Being a follower of Christ means that we commit to imitating Christ. We commit to following his model of self-giving. We acknowledge that God comes first, not ...

1836. Blaming

John 9:2

Illustration

Jon L. Joyce

... point the finger of accusation. After all, none of us is blameless. Scriptures tell us "all have sinned." It is sometimes a case of self-righteousness when we try to lay blame on someone. By doing so we disrupt human relations. Even nations have been artful in this practice, going to war on the basis of first laying blame on the enemy. Colleges blame high schools for the defects of their students; high schools blame the grade schools, while grade schools blame the parents and homes. Rather than follow such ...

1837. Same Ol’, Same Ol’

Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... a few months until Herod died. Herod, upon discovering that he had been tricked by the Magi, flew into a paranoid rage and ordered the deaths of every male child under two years of age in the town of Bethlehem, an act that has been depicted in art and sculpture as “The Slaughter of the Innocents,” one of the most brutal and heinous acts ever created by a monarch. Historians tell us that the population of Bethlehem at that time was somewhere between 300 and 1,000 so the number of male children under the ...

1838. Broken Yet Sincere

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... even more “sincere” is a piece that has been entirely shattered, and now has been pieced back together again, and sealed with the artist’s golden elixir? How unique and beautiful and authentic, bearing its scars, shining golden in the light? This is the Japanese art of “break and repair” that makes kintsugi so beautiful and rare. How many of you have an antique in your home? What about an heirloom perhaps, a piece of furniture, or a piece of glass that has been passed down in your family for many ...

1839. The True Story Wins

Matthew 28:11-15

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... or rocks that can be handed out Participation: During the sermon, all can participate using the hand motions of “rock, paper, scissors” Are you a liar? That might be a question asked of you if you live in the mountains of West Virginia, where the art of storytelling is called “lying.” It is every artist’s desire to become a “great liar.” To be a great “liar” meant that you could not only write a crafty short story, but you could “tell” the story out loud in an inviting, enticing and ...

1840. The Sweet Fragrance of Brokenness

Luke 7:36-50

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... little bit, and what’s happening now? Ah –the rubbing is releasing the fragrance of the rose, isn’t it? It’s making it stronger. I want to tell you a little story. On an island was a quaint little café in which local artists would display their art. One of those artists, who also served as a waitress in the café, was also allowed to display her artwork. When you picked it up, it looked like it was beautiful jewelry made out of small hand-crafted beads. The beads were uneven, because they were hand ...

1841. Parabola

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... he has done. Jesus says: “I will open my mouth to speak in parables; I will proclaim what has been hidden from the foundation of the world.” With this proclamation, Jesus speaks as the Son of God –as God himself! Using scripture artfully, Jesus presents himself as the One with the power to heal, save, forgive, grant life to. Jesus’ parables are taught within the context of discussion, question and answer, teaching moments. Jesus is typically sitting among a large group of people, sometimes gentile ...

1842. The Death of John the Baptist

Matthew 14:1-12, Mark 6:14-29, Luke 9:1-9

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... and platter stand out as central to the story. The beheading of John and the placing of the head onto the platter (in addition to the dance) clearly stand out as the most prominent of the visual images. Just check the history of Christian art if you don’t believe me (Masaccio, Donatello, Carvaggio, Bellini, Botacelli). The acts of dancing, beheading, and displaying, convey the most active of verbal imagery. Therefore, in order to exegete the images, we need to know more about the metaphors of the head ...

1843. Bittersweet

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... being snubbed by the magi. The magi, some say were Parthians, some say came from the ancient kingdom of Sheba in the Arabian Peninsula, brought typical expensive gifts from the eastern Mediterranean.** Gold was of course highly valued, but also used in healing arts. Likewise, frankincense was a fragrant sweet balsamic resin, used in Ketoret, the incense of prayer. It was also used as a healing oil, as well as medicine and perfume. Myrrh, a bitter resin, was used in Egyptian embalming, as an incense oil to ...

1844. A Piggy Pudding

Matthew 8:28-34

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... . But a legion was also a group of Roman soldiers…about 6,000. Gadara housed the Tenth Roman Legion…whose mascot and symbol was the wild boar. Gerasa too was an important commercial and military center for the Romans. The cities all glistened with the arts of the Greeks and the power of the Romans. (Josephus confirms that Gadara was a Greek city). Jesus probably landed at the harbor of Gadara near Gerasa. Nearbby were the rocky cavern tombs of the Wadi Semakh. Demons, the subject of this scripture, were ...

1845. Apples, Onions, and Cheese

Mark 7:1-23, Mark 7:24-30

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... Suffering age and dust, when the layers of dust and a layer of lacquer were removed, not only was the beauty of the painting restored, but the renowned artist’s monogram “RF” was discovered. The painting now resides in the Getty Museum. Like a restorer of great art, Jesus too restores us from all of the “rot” we carry, inside and out. Only Jesus can return us to the way God created us and intended us to be, inside and out. In the Jewish scriptures, there are many stories about what it means to be ...

1846. Liminal Space

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... made famous by Victor Turner, and literally means that “in-between” space, transitional space. You’re not dreaming anymore. But you’re not quite awake either. You’re somewhere in between, standing at the threshold of reality, but not quite stepping through. That’s the art of the story, isn’t it? It’s the reason we love to read stories –reading can be a kind of Alice in Wonderland experience that takes you into a land of liminal space, in which you meet people not from your time or place ...

1847. The Thorn of Discontent

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... used to say. Corinth was a wealthy trade city. The people in Corinth were often high-level officials, business people, tradesmen, status-seekers. Others enjoyed the trappings of metropolitan life in of one of the region’s most bustling Greek cities –the arts, Greek theatre, shows of might and power, bath houses, prostitutes, revelry, big business. A lot of this apparently rubbed off on the church. The Greeks, much like our culture today, embraced a paradigm of “success.” And Corinth was one of the ...

1848. A Restless Spirit

1 Samuel 28:1-25

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... never forget that these scripture stories were originally told orally. As oral story, they resemble theatre and drama more than (and movies if you will) than written accounts. And in that sort of story, metaphor is everything. Metaphors are used in oral and moving art in order to reveal the inner workings of the minds and hearts of the characters. The metaphor of the “ghost” is a brilliant metaphor for the troubled spirit, in which one is literally “haunted” by one’s past, one’s deeds, or one ...

1849. The Apothecary

Isaiah 40:1-31, Isaiah 61:1-11

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... those who still follow in that tradition –people like Mother Theresa, who felt a call to “healing” in whatever ways that healing manifested itself in the service of those in need. In Medieval and Renaissance times, Jesus too was frequently depicted in art as not just a healer, but specifically as an apothecary. [You may want to show paintings of Jesus as apothecary from this time on screen.] For Catholics, Jesus was the source for the “prescriptive life,” doling out medicaments, such as humility ...

1850. House of God

Ephesians 2:1-10, Ephesians 2:11-22

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... ? The herbs? What herbs do you smell? You can do this by the way with just about any recipe. A chef or a good cook in fact can tell you each ingredient in any food just by the smell. Boggles the mind, doesn’t it? It’s an art. But why can you smell each ingredient? Because the flavors don’t disappear into each other….but each flavor contributes to a new combination…. Anyone want a taste? That, I have to say, tastes delightful! Who wants to sample it? What do you think? Mmmm… great, right? As ...

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