Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1 to 25 of 29 results

1. A Hunger for God

John 6:51-58

Illustration

Alex Gondola

Someone has said that our model for living today is more like Madonna, the "material girl," than it is like Mother Teresa. Have we somehow confused our wants with our needs? So, we may be hungry not hungry for food, but hungry in another way. In one of her books, Mother Teresa writes: "The spiritual poverty of the Western world is much greater than the physical poverty of [Third World] people. You...

2. Blessed Hunger And Thirst

Sermon

Alex Gondola

Matthew 5:6; John 6:35 Maybe you've seen this commercial. It aired frequently during the holidays. As I remember it, the commercial went something like this. A thirty-something-year-old woman with stylish short red hair is seated in an expensive restaurant. The woman is well dressed, well to do, well kept and attractive. The camera focuses on her face close up as she talks to an unseen friend sitt...

3. Come As You Are

John 21:1-14

Sermon

Alex Gondola

Summertime is nearly upon us, and some of the wonderful signs of summer are being seen all around. People are out jogging more. Convertibles go around with the tops down. Children go off to school wearing shorts. Golf leagues and softball leagues are getting started. For many of us, summertime is a more relaxed, casual, and playful time of year. One thing that is especially characteristic of the ...

4. Communion With Christ

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Alex Gondola

From time to time, all of us have been guilty of taking some remarkable things for granted, simply because they have become familiar to us. Take, for instance, the ancient and honorable game of golf. Most of us understand the basic principles of golf. Some of us play golf. Some of us play at it. But suppose you had to explain golf to someone who had never seen it before -- say an Aborigine from th...

5. "Do This In Remembrance Of Me"

Luke 22:7-38

Sermon

Alex Gondola

Philosophers and anthropologists have long debated over what makes human beings different from other creatures. It isn't our ability to build houses: birds and beavers build houses. It isn't our use of tools, either. Many animals use tools. Even a simple gull can employ a rock to open a shell. We aren't different because we organize into societies. Ants have an elaborate social structure, includin...

6. Don't Be a Turkey (Thanksgiving)

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

Alex Gondola

There is little question that the commercially grown turkey is, pound for pound, one of nature’s less intelligent creatures, at least according to an article I once read. In that article, author Fred McGuiness calls the domesticated turkey "as brainless as a baseball," and describes how turkeys can have trouble doing even simple things. For example, your average turkey can get into trouble doing ...

7. Entertaining Tips for Christians

Luke 14:1-14

Sermon

Alex Gondola

Imagine this situation, if you will: a husband comes home from work on a Friday night, say the Friday of Labor Day weekend. And as he drives into the driveway, he sees that there is a rented tent in the back yard. Under the tent are tables and chairs for about forty people. A bandstand and dance floor are assembled in one corner of the tent. Paper lanterns are hanging all around. Now mind you, non...

8. Familiar Things

John 6:25-59, Matthew 26:17-30, Luke 22:7-38

Illustration

Alex Gondola

9. "Friend, Why Are You Here?"

1 Corinthians 10:14-22

Sermon

Alex Gondola

Isaiah 53:1-6; Matthew 26:47-50 In the sixth century A.D., Saint Columba sailed from Ireland to the Isle of Iona on the West Coast of Scotland. Since that day, Iona has been considered a holy place by many in the Christian Church. Perhaps some of you have visited the island. For one thing, Iona is the burial ground for over sixty Norwegian, Irish, and Scottish kings, including Duncan and Macbeth;...

10. "Friend, Why Are You Here?"

Sermon

Alex Gondola

11. Fulfilled, Or Just Full?

Sermon

Alex Gondola

John 6:24-31; Acts 16:11-15 William H. Willimon, Professor of Liturgy and Worship at Duke University, author of over twenty books, is one of America's most prolific lecturers on the subject of worship. I've heard Willimon several times. I've always found him to be insightful and delightful. One thing that makes him so engaging and so effective is his lack of pretense and his honesty about himself....

12. God's Banquet Feast

Luke 14:1-14

Illustration

Alex Gondola

Martin Copenhaver, Pastor of the Wellesley Congregational Church, offers a vision of what God's Banquet Feast might be like: When God is throwing a party, you never know who will be there or whom you will sit next to. The financier will be seated next to the panhandler he always passed on his way to work. The store owner will be next to the person he just fired, and the doctor will be put next to ...

13. Good Communion Table Manners

Luke 14:1-14

Illustration

Alex Gondola

As we come to the Lord's Table, we're all sinners in need of salvation, beggars needing bread. We are "the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind" in that third story. Maybe not literally poor, crippled, lame, and blind, but spiritually poor, crippled, lame, and blind. Yet God graciously includes us as guests at God's Table. Good communion table manners include coming to the table without thi...

14. Good Manners

Luke 14:1,7-14

Illustration

Alex Gondola

Ethel Barrymore, the great stage and screen actress, was a stickler for good manners. She once invited a younger actress to a dinner party at her home. But the young lady never appeared. She didn't even bother to offer an excuse or make an apology. She just didn't show up. Several days later Ethel Barrymore and the young lady met by chance at a museum. Embarrassed, the younger actress began, "Miss...

15. Guilt And Grace

Romans 8:28-39

Sermon

Alex Gondola

Several years back I clipped out a newspaper article about a group of businessmen in Bellingham, Washington. They were trying to market a new product called "Guilt Away." Guilt Away was supposed to remove guilt. Part of their advertising ran like this: "Hounded by nagging guilt? Get rid of it the modern way, the same way you eliminate limp curls, bad breath or underarm wetness. Spray guilt away wi...

16. Heavenly Bread and Earthly Bread

John 6:51-58

Illustration

Alex Gondola

"The two biggest sellers in any bookstore are the cookbooks and the diet books. The cookbooks tell you how to prepare the food and the diet books tell you how not to eat any of it." So observed Sixty Minutes commentator Andy Rooney (quoted by Fred Lyon in "The Savior Life Diet," Lectionary Homiletics, August, 1997, p. 21). I made a trip to the discount bookstore this past week to see if Andy Roone...

17. How Not To Throw A Party

Luke 14:1-14

Sermon

Alex Gondola

When I prepare a sermon, I usually begin by reading the assigned Bible passage for that day, often in several translations. Then I free associate, writing down, as fast as I can, my thoughts about the passage as they come. Next I consult commentaries, the writings of learned Bible scholars, about the verses in question. I did all those things as groundwork for today's sermon. But, I also consulted...

18. How to Be a Pilgrim

Luke 17:11-19; John 6:25-35

Illustration

Alex Gondola

The Pilgrims had the courage to act on their commitments, no matter what. Do we? Sociologist Robert Bellah, author of Habits of the Heart, is impressed by the power of religion. He once said, "We should not underestimate the significance of the small group of people who have a new vision of a just and gentle world. The quality of a culture may be changed when two percent of its people have a new ...

19. "Is It Community Today?"

1 Peter 2:4-12

Sermon

Alex Gondola

I've spoken about William Willimon before. William Willimon is a long-time United Methodist minister, Professor of Liturgy and Preaching at Duke University, and a prolific lecturer and author. He also made it to Time magazine's list of America's ten foremost living preachers. I think Willimon is one of the most astute observers of the American religious scene alive today. Willimon is concerned abo...

20. Lowly Sinners, Everyone

Luke 14:1,7-14

Illustration

Alex Gondola

I like the story historians tell about the funeral of Charlemagne. Charlemagne was the greatest Christian ruler of the early Middle Ages. After his death a mighty funeral procession left his castle for the cathedral at Aix. When the royal casket arrived, with a lot of pomp and circumstance, it was met by the local bishop, who barred the cathedral door. "Who comes?" the Bishop asked, as was the cu...

21. Pentecost: From Confusion To Communion In Christ

Sermon

Alex Gondola

Genesis 11:1-9; Acts 2:1-11, 41-42 There's an old story about a man who found a pig. It seems that as this man was driving into the city in his station wagon, a stray hog suddenly ran out in front of him. The man stopped the car, jumped out, caught the pig, and put it in the back. Not knowing what to do with the animal, he flagged down the first policeman he saw, explained the situation and asked,...

22. Shared Bread

1 Corinthians 10:14-22

Sermon

Alex Gondola

There is an ancient legend that comes to us from Persia. It seems a wealthy nobleman once was sitting alone in his garden. Suddenly, unexpectedly, the sounds of a crowd were heard, and the nobleman was surprised to see a ragged man climbing over his garden wall. Panting and out of breath, the man threw himself at the nobleman's feet and begged for his protection. He said he was just steps ahead of...

23. Sunday Dinner

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Alex Gondola

Remember Sunday when you were growing up? Maybe a lot of your families were like mine. Sunday was a special day. Sunday dinner was a special meal. It was almost always the best meal of the week. Mom put a roast of something (roast chicken, pork, lamb, beef) in the oven to cook all morning. Then the family went off to church. When we returned around noon, the roast whatever was still cooking. But t...

24. Table Manners

Luke 14:1-14

Sermon

Alex Gondola

25. The Communion of Empty Hands

John 6:25-59, Luke 22:7-38, Mark 14:12-26

Illustration

Alex Gondola

There's a beautiful incident recorded by Thomas Pettepiece, a Methodist pastor who was imprisoned during WWII. He was a political prisoner, a prisoner of conscience. Pettepiece writes of his first Easter Sunday spent in prison. He was among 10,000 prisoners. Most of the men had lost everything: their homes, their jobs, their furniture, their contact with their families. It was Easter Sunday, and t...

Showing results