Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: humiliation, mortification, chagrin, ignominy, loss of face, shamefacedness, embarrassment, indignity, abashment, discomfort, discomfiture, discomposure, guilt, remorse, contrition, compunction, disgrace, dishonour, discredit, degradation, disrepute, ill-repute, infamy, scandal, odium, opprobrium, obloquy, condemnation, contempt, pity, misfortune, crying shame, cause for regret, source of regret, sad thing, unfortunate thing, discredit to, disgrace to, stain on, blemish on, blot on, blot on the escutcheon of, slur on, reproach to, bad reflection on, bring into disrepute, degrade, debase, defame, stigmatize, taint, sully, tarnish, besmirch, stain, blacken, drag through the mud/mire, give a bad name to, put in a bad light, humiliate, mortify, make someone feel ashamed, embarrass, abash, chasten, humble, put someone in their place, take down a peg or two, cut down to size, show up

Antonyms: honor, pride, respect, glory, praise, dignity, honor, esteem, glorification, laud, compliment, regard, credit, elevate, acclaim, pleasure, favor, kudos, recognition, flatter, admiration, greatness, happiness, self-confidence, reverence

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1. The Color Wheel of Blindness

John 10:22-42

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... to giving a black eye to any member of the church, we are giving a black eye to the Body of Christ. When the world sees that black eye, it assumes the church is just another brawling, mauling example of “faith in action.” When we blacken the eyes of our own, we blacken the image of Christ we present to the world. [You can add more colors to the Color Wheel of Blindness here – e.g. rose-tinted, black-and-blue, etc or shorten the chart as you see fit. Paint companies sell more than 2000 colors to ...

2. When The Saints Come Marching In

Revelation 7:9-17

Sermon

Robert S. Crilley

... catch bits of dialogue here and there: "I promise you ... and no more shall we ... but only love ...." The news story shifts to a reporter standing on a beach. Behind her you can see the waves of oil from yet another spill washing ashore. The blackened carcasses of fish and birds litter the landscape. People in raincoats move back and forth in the thick sludge attempting to save what animals they can. You begin to hear the distinct sounds of Mendelssohn's "Wedding March." The movie in the next room must be ...

3. A Fireside Chat

Exodus 3:1-22

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... . Moses must have thought:"Odd, how did that bush catch fire out here in the desert?" But even more strange, as he continues to gaze at the bush he noted it was not burned up! Things that burn are ordinarily consumed by the flames, or they melt down, or are blackened, or turn to ashes. Why is this bush different? So, curious, he thought, "I'll go closer. I'll see why it does not burn up. I'll get the answer. I'll figure it out. I'll see why!" How typical of us humans. Most of us figure that ...

4. A Faith To Live By John D. Mauney, Jr.

Deuteronomy 4:32-40

Sermon

... of the age." (Matthew 28:19, 20) Jesus commands that we not simply believe, but that we also proclaim our faith in the Triune God. There is a place just off the Blue Ridge Parkway near the Virginia-North Carolina line where the hills were blackened as far as the eye could see. A forest fire had swept the area and destroyed countless acres of forestland. One could hardly drive through the area without wondering, "What do you suppose started that terrible fire?" And we remember the repeated warnings we know ...

5. Repentance

Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon

... 's Field, which is located just outside the city of Bethlehem. It was a few weeks before Christmas and we were gathered with Christians from all over the world. It was one of those brisk nights when the cold was pushed by a gusty north wind. The blackened sky was dotted with a multitude of sparkling stars. Rocks cracked and moved under our feet. Off in the distance, we could see the lit skyline of Bethlehem where Mary had gone to give birth. While standing in Shepherd's Field, we sang the songs of Christmas ...

6. Train Whistle In The Night

Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon

... of a simple flower gets lost in the hurried rush of the high-speed, passing car. The colors of a sunset go unnoticed in the hectic, gadgetry rush of evening mealtime and meetings. The simple gifts of a young child get hidden behind the heavily-blackened page of the evening newspaper. And the artificial separates us from the genuine, from each other, and from ourselves. Still another part of Christ’s message deals with reasons for preparation. Familiar to us is the news that a nation is preparing for war ...

7. The Good Samaritan Didn’t Leave His Name

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... and through sheer courage brought hope and light to others. They are symbolized by a plant called Rosebay Willow herb or "fire weed." This plant, like Good Samaritans, grows in the most unlikely places. Its flowers can be seen among the ruins of a building blackened by fire or along the walls of a neglected house. It gives a cheerful color among debris and death. During World War II, "fire weed" served as a symbol of the renewal of life among the rubble, debris, and wilderness that followed the bombing and ...

8. An Identity Crisis

Sermon

James Bjorge

... man being flung headlong into an identity crisis from which he has never really recovered. God’s heart broke that day when man forgot who he was and for what he was made. He began to call man back to his created position but it was tough going. Sin had blackened the whole atmosphere and man’s vision of God was blurred. In fact, at times God was blotted out of man’s mind and man either made gods for his own purposes or occasionally he played god himself. And man didn’t know who he was. But God’s ...

9. Bad News from a Good Man!

1 Kings 21:1-29

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... the full counsel of God, there is a price to be paid. Elijah must deliver the message faithfully, as must I. Some years ago in Logan County, West Virginia, a mountain cabin burned to the ground. All that remained was the large stone fireplace and its smoke-blackened chimney. Since the owner wanted to keep people out of the ruins, he painted a sign as a warning and posted it at the edge of what used to be his cabin. It was intended to read, “WARNING — NO TRESPASSING.” In his hurry, however, the owner ...

10. The Difference Between Looking Good And Being Good

Matthew 23:1-39

Sermon

King Duncan

... in their own lives." (italics mine). "They love everyone," he continues, "but are persecuted by all. They are put to death and gain life. They are poor and yet make many rich. They are dishonored and yet gain glory through dishonor. Their names are blackened and yet they are cleared. They are mocked and bless in return. They are treated outrageously and behave respectfully to others. When they do good, they are punished as evildoers; when punished, they rejoice as if being given new life." (9) Jesus wasn't ...

11. If Your Eye Offends You

Mark 9:42-50

Sermon

King Duncan

... your life fixed on that standard, you are not going to miss the mark. The ancient Greeks held that when the goddess of Thebes came among them she left her track. Her footprints were in the fields and the forests. Passing by a tree that had been blackened by a thunderbolt, she paused, and afterward woodbines sprang up to cover the tree's nakedness. She lingered by a stagnant pool, and it became a flowing spring of pure water. She rested upon a log, and from decay and death, came moss. the snowdrop, and the ...

12. God's Dirty Job

Romans 5:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... and for souls. Ever get a good, hard rope burn hauling in a fishing line or hoisting a sail? Burns hurt, and burns leave marks. A working man in the first century, like a working man in the twenty-first century, would have calluses, scars, many a blackened nail waiting to fall off, not to mention dents and divots from a host of old injuries. Why should Jesus be shown with “dirty job” hands? Because Jesus did the dirtiest job in the history of humanity. Paul gives us the dirt about this dirt in today ...

13. Dusting Off Our Gratitude

Joel 2:21-27

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

... survived a devastating invasion of locusts, followed by an all-consuming drought. Their barren land and darkened sky must have looked similar to that of the 1930s dust bowl in the heartland of this country. But instead of dust and dirt, their sky was blackened by insects that were making a terrifying, unearthly noise as they moved from one place to another, ravaging the land. If that were not enough, water was scarce, placing both human and animal life in jeopardy. Joel calls upon the people of Judah to ...

14. If You Really Want to Be Number One

Mark 9:33-37

Sermon

King Duncan

... slumped body as they hurried along.” Imagine that! Giving a dissertation on the Good Samaritan and stepping over the prone body of an unfortunate person. Not much of a servant mentality there. A comedian said he was once mugged. He was beaten up, his face blackened and bruised. Someone asked him, “Why didn’t you fight back?” His answer was, “I started to but I decided not to get involved.” Non‑involvement is the curse of our time. And, of course, we have many ways of rationalizing our lack of ...

15. Cheering from the Stands

Hebrews 12:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... of their car and drove to the nearest hospital. Amazingly, Womach sang hymns until they reached the emergency room. Once there, doctors attended to a young man who now had no recognizable facial features. His once handsome face was charred, blackened, and swollen. Fortunately, perhaps miraculously, the synthetic wool jacket he was wearing when the plane crashed hardened in the flames into a plaster‑like material which protected his upper body from burns. This left doctors with healthy skin tissue that ...

16. Burned Beef

Isaiah 42:1-9

Sermon

Tony Everett

... was not just warm, it was so hot that Terry quickly dropped the dish onto the wooden cupboard next to the stove. Carefully, he lifted the lid, and immediately the entire kitchen was engulfed with blue smoke. A terrible, burning stench filled their nostrils. Blackened chunks of beef adhered to the bottom of the dish, securely fastened there by a glue-like paste that once was potatoes, carrots, and gravy. By now the smoke alarm was blaring, and the boys were dashing through the house opening windows and doors ...

17. Death Meets The Lord

Isaiah 25:6-9

Sermon

Ken Lentz

... Yellowstone National Park would never be the same again. In spite of the expenditure of millions of dollars and the efforts of 25,000 firefighters, the fire raged on and the whole nation began to lose hope. Finally, it ended in smoldering blackened ruination. The serious observer, however, noted that a resurrection began to occur within days of the end of the fire. It was observed, for example, that only a few animal inhabitants, relatively speaking, perished; within days, there was luscious grass to eat ...

18. Hoping For a Hug

Luke 13:31-35

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... . The little township volunteer fire department was not able to save either the barn or the chicken house. The next day, as the farmer dug through the ashes, he made an amazing discovery! Poking over the charred frame of a mother hen, he found underneath its blackened carcass six chicks that had survived the fire. In the heat of that inferno, the mother hen had clucked to those chicks to get under her body and wings for protection. She had burned and given her life that they might live. Whether that "once ...

19. Locusts Happen

Joel 2:1-11

Sermon

Tony Everett

... ). Nothing seemed able to stop the locust onslaught. Each locust seemed larger than life to an overwhelmed people. “Its teeth are lion’s teeth and it has the fangs of a lioness” (Joel 1:6). Thousands, probably millions of these creatures blackened the sky and devoured almost everything in sight. It was hopeless, helpless misery. Locusts happen! What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten. What the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten, and what the hopping locust left, the ...

20. Jesus Light

Matthew 5:13-16

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... going through, we would see each other in a whole new light. 2. The Jesus light helps us to see ourselves in terms of what we could be. The Jesus light illumines new insights, puts a new light on old perceptions, but it also banishes old shadows and those blackened corners of our lives. The light of Jesus lets us see what we could be. What God is calling us to be. What is completely transformable in our lives. We are called to be a light for the world. We are also invited to immerse ourselves and transform ...

21. The Peaceable Kingdom

Luke 3:1-6

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... else sin might do in our lives, it first and foremost perforates the lines of our hearts and lets us tear off a piece here and a piece there until we find ourselves segmented, fragmented, torn apart in separate snippets of self. It isn't that we become blackened by sin in one large stroke. It isn't that we turn into hideous monsters of greed and cruelty. It isn't that we dissolve the Dr. Jekylls of our personalities into dastardly Mr. Hydes. Instead, we keep most of our goodness intact, but we make small ...

22. Slow Burn

Matthew 5:13-16, Matthew 6:19-24

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... gaze could bring about evil. In midrash, the evil eye cannot bear to see the good fortune of others. It is selfish and greedy. A “good eye” enjoys seeing others happy and successful. The eye also represents primeval light, the spiritual light of God, divine radiance. To blacken it, is to black out God. In a sense, this is what Jesus is saying. Your eye can reflect the light of God, or it can black God out with its desire for the “golden calf.” The inner eye (Ruach HaKodesh) is connected to the heart ...

23. Mercy Me!

Romans 14:1--15:13, Luke 6:27-36, Luke 6:37-42, Luke 6:43-45

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... of sin, because they sever us so severely from the will of God. What are these burdens? They’re negative inclinations we harbor and fester deep within us, like spite, malice, criticism, jealousy, and gossip, --the harbingers of a condemning heart, a critical tongue, a blackened, angry, proud, and unhappy spirit. We sometimes say of this kind of person, he or she has a “chip on his or her shoulder.” But it’s more like a splinter in his or her heart. For that kind of malice and insidious behavior goes ...

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