Luke 1:67-80, Luke 1:57-66, Luke 1:46-56, Luke 1:39-45, Luke 1:26-38, Luke 1:5-25, Luke 1:1-4
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... important to the prayer of Zechariah, answered by God. In the incense ritual, it was believed by the Jewish people that the peoples’ prayers enveloped within the holy smoke (olah) from the incense were carried by an angel to God in his heavenly sanctuary. The smoke rising represents the pillar of cloud signifying the presence of God. The presence of the angel Gabriel is therefore a sign that Zechariah’s prayer has been fulfilled. The power of prayer is paramount to the story. And Zechariah’s surprise ...
... important to the prayer of Zechariah, answered by God. In the incense ritual, it was believed by the Jewish people that the peoples’ prayers enveloped within the holy smoke (olah) from the incense were carried by an angel to God in his heavenly sanctuary. The smoke rising represents the pillar of cloud signifying the presence of God. The presence of the angel Gabriel is therefore a sign that Zechariah’s prayer has been fulfilled. The power of prayer is paramount to the story. And Zechariah’s surprise ...
It happens week after week, sometimes day after day. It happens on the sabbath day, or on a Wednesday, or on Saturday nights. Then it is that the people of God rise up to leave their homes and make their way to a place of worship. For some, it will be a small place, charming in its beauty as it sits amidst the bucolic setting of a village green. For some, it will be a place filled with stained-glass windows and ancient creaking pews, while for others it will be a place which is plain and without adornment ...
Many years ago when I was going to prep school in Milwaukee, the students loved to walk past a nearby factory from which often emanated some simply wonderful smells. The factory made a product whose name seemed to perfectly fit the heavenly aromas that would occasionally fill the atmosphere of the neighborhood. The factory made Ambrosia Chocolate! For a chocolate lover like myself, there could be no better name for such a delectable food. You see, in ancient Greek mythology ambrosia was the name of the ...
When I was very young, being reared in another denomination, my mother and I, for reasons I cannot remember, were at church together without the rest of the family. In my memory it was evening; also for reasons I cannot remember. What I do recall is that my mother had a very traumatic experience at that service of Holy Eucharist. We were seated in back instead of in our customary pew halfway up on the left side of the sanctuary and so were among the last to receive communion. We followed the instructions ...
It is amazing how sounds will stir the mind and heart. For instance, music has a marvelous way of igniting an array of emotions. Someone can listen to a song, close their eyes, and feel once again the exhilaration of their first kiss or the bittersweet memory of love that was lost. A note or two of music can resonate a deep chord within. Movie makers know this well and use it to their advantage. Ever tried to watch a movie with your television muted? The drama of the movie is removed. The screeches, ...
Have you have heard the expression, “Something got lost in the translation?” On the Internet there are programs which will translate an English document into several different languages. All you do is type in a phrase or a word and the program translates it into French, Spanish, German, or whatever language you desire. Sound helpful? It is, especially if you are learning a foreign language. But how do you know if these programs create an accurate translation? A linguist had the same question and decided to ...
Centuries ago, Portugal adopted a national motto. The motto read: “No More Beyond.” It was an appropriate statement since Portugal, at the time, was the end of the world. But later some adventurous persons sailed beyond Portugal and discovered a whole new world. So the question arose: “What do we do with our national motto?” After much debate, one person simply scratched out a word, and the new motto became: “More Beyond.” Whenever life tumbles in upon us, it is easy to have a “No more beyond” attitude. ...
Bob Keeshan entertained children for years as the jovial Captain Kangaroo. The television show Captain Kangaroo ran on CBS for nearly thirty years, from October 1955 until December 1984, making it one of the longest-running nationally broadcasted children’s television programs. In Keeshan’s autobiography Growing Up Happy, he shared the moment when he realized life would be marvelous. Shortly after the Second World War, Keeshan, an eighteen-year-old Marine, was on board the troopship USS Rockbridge Ranger ...
Genesis 1:1-2:3, Luke 5:33-39, Luke 6:1-11, Luke 7:18-35, Mark 2:18-22, Mark 2:23-3:6, Mark 3:7-12
Sermon
Lori Wagner
Props: Visuals of Hubbel Space Photos and/or eclipse photos [Begin running about 30 or more Hubbel photos as you begin your sermon. If you want to take an especially creative field trip, deliver your sermon inside of a conservatory or planetarium with stars above and the Creation story displayed.] Part of the “human” in human being is to be fascinated with space. We lie back and imagine images in the sky we call constellations. We count stars. We contemplate life on other planets. We attach astrological ...
The book of Revelation is a vision that occurs on the Lord's day. When you read the book, it feels like a worship service. In fact, in the historic liturgies and worship services of the church (regardless of one's denomination or tradition), more passages from the book of Revelation are used than from any other book in the Bible. The book is filled with hymns, sections of hymns, colorful and vivid images, and metaphors that simply beg to be used in a service of Christian worship. Today's reading is one ...
"It is my heart-warming and world-embracing hope," said Mark Twain, "that all of us - the high, the low, the rich, the poor, the admired, the despised, the loved, the hated, the civilized, and the savage - may eventually be gathered in a heaven of everlasting rest and peace and bliss, except the inventor of the telephone." Mark Twain obviously held a great dislike for the telephone, probably because, among other things, it renders a person to be easily accessible, even when they prefer to be inaccessible. ...
There is an old "preacher story" about the traveling evangelist who had a flair for the dramatic. His sermons were flamboyant and intensely theatrical. His ability to turn a phrase and masterfully create "word pictures" captivated his listeners almost to the point of hypnosis. He was a strong portion. After accepting an invitation to preach in a little country church, he went out early one afternoon to familiarize himself with the church and its appointments. Among other things, he observed that the ...
A lot of people don't believe it -- but there's a new kingdom coming. Often, like a phoenix bird, it arises out of the ashes of the old. As a young sapling is germinated by forest fire, so the new kingdom is sprouted in the desolation of despair. Like tundra flowers and crab grass the new kingdom has irresistible life impulses and grows anywhere. There is a new kingdom coming. You may wonder where it is -- this new kingdom. You may look for advance press releases, television bulletins, screaming headlines ...
Pastor Scott Hippler tells about a day when he was about 7 years old. His grandmother had taken him and his cousin to the grocery store. On the way, his grandmother stopped at another store for a few minutes. Young Scott and his cousin stayed in the car. Scott Hippler blames his grandmother for what happened next. She was gone longer that she had said she would be. Back then, he remembers, they put prizes in laundry detergent boxes as an incentive for people to buy those detergents. His grandmother always ...
In the early years of the sixteenth century, a young adventurer named Nicolas Herman left his parents' home near Loraine, France, to join the French army. Wounded in war, he returned home to recuperate and thus began a process of soul searching that led to Christian commitment. His quest for closeness to God first led him to life as a hermit. He found that unfulfilling, so he eventually joined a Carmelite monastery where he was assigned to menial duties in the kitchen. Kneading bread might truly seem an ...
Let me ask you a tough question this morning: how many of you have been accused of being a poor listener? Or should I call it “selective listener”? We hear what we want to hear. Most of us have been guilty of this at one time or another. Maybe we’re easily distracted. Publisher Thom Rainer has collected stories over the years from his pastor friends of some of the strangest distractions they’ve dealt with while preaching. For example, one pastor had a bat fly into the sanctuary during his sermon. In ...
When I was a kid growing up, I don't think I ever went anywhere without my mother saying, "Robert, there is one more thing I want to tell you." It didn't make any difference where I was going. I could have been going to camp, I could have been going to spend the night with a friend or I could have been going to a party. I don't care what it was, before I got out of the car, my mother would say, "There's one more thing I want to tell you." It was never really one more thing -- but several things. And they ...
[While King Duncan is enjoying a well deserved retirement we are going back to his earliest sermons and renewing them. The newly modernized sermon is shown first and below, for reference sake, is the old sermon. We will continue this updating throughout the year bringing fresh takes on King's best sermons.] Original Title: "A Colt Is Not a Horse” New Title: Palm “Slash” Passion Sunday The well-known Christian Writer Philip Yancey grew up in a fundamentalist church which didn't observe the major events of ...
The famous United Methodist Bishop of California named Gerald Kennedy once sent a pastoral letter to all the churches and pastors under his care. He told the story of seeing a very poorly dressed woman and her young daughter looking into one of the beautiful department store windows in the downtown area of a large city. In it was the manger scene, but here Mary was dressed as the Queen of Heaven with rich diamonds and other jewels in her dazzling crown. The little girl gazed for a while, and then turned to ...
Our scripture for this morning from Hebrews is one of the great affirmations in the Bible. The author writes: It has been testified somewhere, "What is man that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man, that thou carest for him? Thou didst make him for a little while lower than the angels, thou hast crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet." Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. As it is, we do not yet see everything ...
Dr. William H. Willimon, our minister at the historic Duke Chapel at Duke University, shared an insight to the Lenten season while he was a pastor in South Carolina. He was called to the hospital to be with a couple who belonged to the congregation he served. The wife had given birth to a child. Word had drifted out of the delivery room that all was not well. Dr. Willimon then shared how the doctor spared few words. "Your baby is afflicted with Down''s Syndrome, mongolism. I had expected this. But things ...
Introduction The seventy-third psalm mirrors the life of faith for everyone who is honest enough to allow his or her faith to be pushed to the limit. It begins with a simple, Sunday School outlook which lifts up the clear virtue of a good God who is good to good people. We all like that sort of thing, and quickly say "Amen" to that. It doesn't take long at all for the psalmist to "grow up" and realize that the simple theology of a good God smiling on good people doesn't hold much water. Just because that's ...
In T. S. Eliot''s classic writing, MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL, there is a revealing scene when Archbishop Thomas Beckett goes back to the cathedral knowing that King Henry II has pronounced him to die. Knowing that he will be murdered, Beckett goes back to the cathedral. Out of respect for the Archbishop some of the guards of the cathedral lock the doors. However, the Archbishop cries out, "Unbar the doors! Throw open the doors. I will not have the church of CHRIST which is a house of prayer, a sanctuary, ...
Lent 1 Minister: "The Lord spoke to Moses: ... you shall set up the tabernacle ... And the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle" (Exodus 40:1, 2, 34). "The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the people of Israel saying: ... lasting seven days, there shall be the festival of tabernacles" (Leviticus 23:33f). Youth: Why do we have this decoration in our sanctuary today? Reader 1: This is a model of the tabernacle, booth or temporary hut built by each Jewish family in Jesus' time for Sukkot or the ...