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 1951 to 1975 of 3128 results

1951. Looking for Love in the Classifieds and All the Wrong Places

Ephesians 2:4

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... it seems to be merely another form of self-expression, another optional life-experience which, all other things being equal, one really should consider getting into for a while at least. Listen to the late Paul Tillich, as he describes love, love not as an emotional but a cosmic power, the power of being itself. Tillich writes: 'I have given no definition of love. This is impossible because there is no higher principle by which it could be defined. It is life itself in its actual unity. The forms and ...

1952. The Dawn's Early Light

2 Samuel 7:1-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... church speak out on social issues, and just who should sing the solo Easter Sunday?" This week would be a good time to confront the challenge of "patriotism," and its role in the life of the family of God. Patriotism seems to be an emotion which rides on a tide of fashion sometimes the currents of public opinion find it praiseworthy and virtuous, then sometimes quite abruptly the irresistible pull of events shifts our field of vision and patriotism appears suspect, shallow, or at the very least quaintly old ...

1953. Global Warming

Genesis 2:18-24

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... "global warming" attempts to melt the frosty barriers we have erected between ourselves and our neighbors, our spouses, our children, our church. When two bodies collide, heat is a byproduct of that encounter. Allowing ourselves to interact and to invest emotionally and spiritually in people and our planet around us will stimulate a similar warming effect. We need to "warm up" to our responsibilities by redirecting our inward fixation and looking out on our families and communities with new eyes. The ...

1954. The First Christmas Card

Philippians 4:4-9

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... card is to allow it to be said of us, as it was said of the converted Scrooge at the close of Dickens' Christmas Carol, "that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge." Christmas cheer is not a frothy, frilly emotion. A glance at this week's gospel text reminds us that John the Baptist's message was hardly music to the ears. John's denouncement of the crowd as a "brood of vipers" is not a customary Christmas greeting. Yet its very harshness forces us to re-examine ...

1955. Wounding Love

Psalm 23:1-6

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... wounding power. This is what is theologically "new" in the AIDS epidemic: that love has the potential not just to confuse heads, break hearts and twist relationships; it also has the power to kill. Love does not simply have the power to wound emotionally or mentally or spiritually. It can also wound physically. Ironically the AIDS virus itself is a "pathogenic weakling" - it is very difficult to get. But once you get it, you are destroyed from the inside out (immune system). As John Habgood, Archbishop of ...

1956. Healing in His Wings

Acts 14:8-18

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . And while we do not hear what Zacchaeus said to Jesus, it is clear that Jesus the healer is also significantly affected by his encounter with Zacchaeus. Our own healing occurs when, in courage or despair, we recognize our inability to cure ourselves physically, emotionally or spiritually. We must first move toward the love and forgiveness God offers us before we can begin to heal. Yet our desire for wholeness must be sincere. Our encounter with God can only be fruitful if we open ourselves up and risk ...

1957. The Compleat Christian

Romans 5:1-5

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... again it is in the Christian community's expectation of eschatological fulfillment that the Pauline understanding of suffering finds its meaning. This is not suffering through another boring meeting, or your daily gym work-out. Nor is suffering even physical or emotional deprivation. Christian suffering is not about learning to take on additional burdens or problems so much as it is about learning to give up the right to indulge in certain human weaknesses. When we agree to participate in Christ's suffering ...

1958. Rags and Robes

Micah 1:1-7; 2:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... responding with our time and our money to homeless shelters and community food pantries - it means responding to homeless people as people, with a sincerity of interest and genuine concern. Unless we do, we shall ourselves wear rags spiritually and emotionally, even while wearing Ralph Lauren robes and Calvin Klein jeans. During a series of bitter textile factory strikes in the late 19th century, the Massachusetts sweatshop workers united themselves and their plea for decent wages and human dignity under ...

1959. Pit and Rock

Colossians 1:11-20

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . Recalling our own "pit and rock" heritage enjoins us to weave praise into a life-tapestry of faith, made up of strands of confession, prayer, study and work, as well as adoration. But for most mainstream congregations the tendency to over-intellectualize and emotionally circumscribe their faith is far more common than practicing a praise-only piety. It is also fitting that this Sunday before Thanksgiving we all take the time to recall our individual journeys from a place in the "pit and rock" to a life ...

1960. The Inside Results

John 1:1-28

Illustration

King Duncan

... took the bandages off and handed her a mirror. Her scarred cheek was a thing of the past." "Then I waited for her reaction. Many patients are overjoyed when they first see their new, improved image. But her reaction was uncertain; she expressed no real positive emotion. I waited a few seconds, then said, "What do you think? Do you like it?" "She responded, `I really don't see any improvement.' "I was stunned. My surgery had been totally successful. `Would you like to see the pictures of your face before the ...

1961. I Love You, Man... And I Don't Want Your Beer

John 15:9-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... a catalog devoted entirely to selling beer-branded merchandise is the whole line of "I love you, man!" T-shirts, shorts, hats and signs. Could this be a male backlash to a couple of decades of being told men need to be more "sensitive," more "emotionally demonstrative"? "Okay," this ad campaign counters, "I'll bawl my guts out and express 'real' love to my friends . . . if it will also get me something I really want. Like a free beer." Have you ever noticed how often the media's depiction of "churchgoers ...

1962. Armageddon Anxiety

John 6:56-69

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the Year 2000 (New York: Doubleday, 1990), suggests we take the "h" out of the "threat" people perceive in the year 2000 and instead view living in these times as a "treat." Schwartz counsels us all to move through a progression of end-time emotions moving from our fear of the '90s to pondering the 00, and finally to great expectations of the 01. Indeed, the pattern established during the past few centuries tends to support Schwartz's optimism. Historically, the dawn of a new century has been accompanied ...

1963. The World's Fittest Human

Mark 12:28-34

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... being. Translating Allen's training regime into a believer's attempt to "train in godliness" is natural and unfolding. 1. Heart Training or Endurance Routines: Remember that in the Hebrew Scriptures the "heart" was not viewed as the location of our emotions (that was usually the bowels). Heart training must focus on building endurance, not mere emotionalism. To be able to love God and love neighbor takes a constant, steady stream of commitment. Mark Allen urges his athletes to train slowly, train easily ...

1964. Stand Against or Walk Alongside?

Philippians 2:5-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . He entered Jairus' home to restore his daughter to life. Even after his resurrection, Jesus was mobile - walking and talking his way to Emmaus with two chattering men. Jesus not only met people where they were physically. He also met them where they were emotionally as well. He let the weeping woman anoint his feet with ointment and tears rather than engage her in any discourse. He stood before the crowds, and before preaching his great "sermon on the plain," he healed them and soothed those with troubled ...

1965. Self-Fulfillment Through Self-Sacrifice

1 Peter 2:19-25

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... intense moments of sacrificial suffering. Christians are called to belong to a human community, and any community of people will sometimes let us down. Realize that you will let people down, and that they will let you down. People cannot meet all your emotional needs. Mignon McLaughlin used to say that no human will ever love you the way you want to be loved because "no one has ever loved anyone the way everyone wants to be loved." Presbyterian minister Fred Rogers builds his children's program, "Mister ...

1966. The Five Habits of Highly Spiritual Leaders

1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... win/win keep a "no-losers" attitude. 5. Seek first to understand, then to be understood focus on listening, not on replying. 6. Synergize enable more energy to be released than was put in. 7. Sharpen the saw cultivate yourself physically, mentally, socially, emotionally and spiritually. If corporate America is making Stephen Covey a rich man, convinced that his message of moral transformation is the key to success and well-being, why are our churches still half-empty on Sunday morning? Could it be that we ...

1967. Is There Room for One More?

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... ajar, symbolically welcomed Elijah to join in the feast. Yet, as families have moved geographically farther and farther apart, it has become increasingly difficult for everyone to "gather at Grandma's" on the big Turkey Day. As families have moved emotionally farther and farther apart through divorce, remarriages and different lifestyles, it seems like a better choice to maintain a safe distance from one another. No matter how Thanksgiving is celebrated, no matter how many are hosted at the holiday feast ...

1968. God Is Faithful

1 Corinthians 1:3-9

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... there be a better lesson in faithfulness to learn? Jon Stallworthy wrote one of his greatest poems about the birth of his mentally handicapped child. Born in London, he is now Professor of English Literature at WolfsonCollege, Oxford. Jon is a graceful, fastidious and emotive poet, and his poems are much concerned with family, England and "good form." You turn to the window for the first time. I am called to the cot to see your focus shift, take tendril-hold on a shaft of sun, explore its dusty surface ...

1969. Tabloid Testaments?

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... In a real sense, crucifixion is not just a historical event, it is something we do to each other daily. We crucify one another when we "cut each other down to size," when we "drag people down into the mud," when we "castrate one another psychologically and emotionally." In the parable of the prodigal son, or the loving father however you decide to focus on it the older brother is the gossipmonger. As soon as his father comes out to him, the older brother can't wait to "tell" on his younger sibling. Elements ...

1970. An Action-Packed Faith

John 13:31-35

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... who find themselves too swamped, stressed-out and suspicious to really feel any compassion for their patients can at least act like they care. The ultimate goal of these acting lessons is the hope that by teaching doctors to respond as if they are emotionally connected to their patients, these doctors may come to genuinely feel the compassion and care they have been acting out. The USA Today study did keep its feet planted firmly on the ground of reality, however. It admitted that surgeons were a lost cause ...

1971. Home Improvement

Jeremiah 23:1-6

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... behind by his companions. Through his friendship with a human boy, the creature learns to speak the English language. The first full phrase the stranded visitor communicates to his new friends is "E.T. phone home." It was a phrase that conveyed a whole range of emotions, of heartfelt longings, to everyone who watched the movie. Who among us hasn't felt the need to "phone home" at different points in our lives? Phoning home puts us in touch with that place where we feel the safest, the most loved, the most ...

1972. Humor: A Shopper's Psalm

Luke 1:26-38

Illustration

Greg Asimakoupoulous

... gotten to me. So, too, the deafening sounds of a pre-Christmas city throbbing with incarnate greed. I need to be reminded that this season's more than plastic Santas, perpetual sales, and Muzak. I need back on the track of reflection. I've derailed, Lord. My emotional fuel is leaking. I'm about to explode. And then I see it. A miniature creche in a gift shop window. A guardian father; a grateful young mom; a baby asleep on the hay. A trio maintaining their harmony despite the discord all around them. And ...

1973. John 20:1-18

John 20:1-18

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... book to book. Unlike Paul's accounts, however, all the gospels are interested in the details that surrounded this miraculous event, each adding their own personal touches to the story to make it come alive for new readers. In John, the fragile emotional state of Jesus' followers is used to give a tender poignancy to the narrative. John begins by bringing a grieving Mary Magdalene to the tomb even before daylight has returned. Although John mentions only Mary specifically, her later words indicate that, as ...

1974. 2 Samuel 12:1-14

2 Samuel 12:1-14

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... Notice Nathan's beguiling way of confronting the wayward king with God's message of condemnation. Jesus would use the very same method in the future: parables. Nathan masterfully weaves a story full of pathos and power, a story that could not fail to ensnare the emotions of the listening king's heart and mind. While in the past David and Nathan may have joined together to hear legal disputes before the court, there is no real sense here that either man supposes this parable is an actual case. Part of Nathan ...

1975. Hebrews 4:1-3; 9-13

Hebrews 4:1-3; 9-13

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... been unkind to, "Sabbath" and "Sevening" are up high. Yet the Epistle-writer makes it clear that Sevening is a significant expression of our faithfulness and obedience before God. Laced throughout this week's readings are dark promises attesting to the mental and emotional sterility that will happen to those whose lives fail to manifest a faithful, obedient spirit. The author believes his message to be critically current - for it is only while the promise of "rest" is still "open" that we are able to act ...

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