Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1 to 25 of 39 results

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

Now that Matthew has finished his genealogy, he starts his narrative. We would not have much of a Bible without the narratives, but sometimes the biblical authors frustrate us. We always want more details. We want to know where the characters come from, what happens to them as they walk off stage. Just as we are starting to identify with a character, she will disappear, never to return. Matthew is...

2. A Strange Way in and a New Way Out

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

The heroes of this little narrative certainly seem familiar to us. Each year we all receive at least one Christmas card with their picture on the cover. Every card depicts them exactly the same way: long flowing robes, beards, and big turbans. They are always in one of two poses: either kneeling at Jesus' crib or sojourning across the desert on camels. In our carefully carved nativity sets, they r...

3. The Horror before the Blessing

Matthew 2:13-23

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

A few years ago, a woman wrote in exasperation to the editor of her newspaper. She demanded to know why the media always publish negative and sad stories during the holiday season. As she pointed out, "Christmas is supposed to be a happy, joyous time."1 Her letter sounds almost as if she thinks that, even if bad news happens during the holiday season, the newspapers and television should simply ig...

4. Hard Words to Hear at Christmas

Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

We've gathered here today on the second Sunday of Advent to continue to prepare ourselves for the coming of our Lord. This task of preparing for the arrival of the Lord is not as easy as we might think it is. As in other areas of life, we find ourselves having to unlearn some things in order to see what the scriptures teach us about God's act in Jesus. We've let the culture around us snatch away m...

5. Letting Go of Our Nets

Matthew 4:18-22

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

Did they have any idea what they were getting themselves into? Peter, Andrew, James, and John had no crystal ball that day when Jesus called them. When the call came, they were going about business as usual: casting nets, pulling them back in, sorting and salting the fish, taking them to market, and maintaining their equipment. However it was that they became fishermen, they had not chosen an easy...

6. Those Who Most Need a Blessing

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

Can a child pass up a tasty marshmallow? A researcher who wanted to know set up an experiment. He left a succession of four-year-olds alone in a room, seated at a table. On the table was a single marshmallow. The researcher told the children that they could eat the marshmallow when he left the room, or they could wait until he returned. If they waited, they would receive a second marshmallow. The ...

7. Looking at Jesus from Behind Prison Bars

Matthew 11:2-11

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

How different things must have looked for John behind prison walls. If ever the word "free spirit" applied to anyone, it applied to John. He said what he wanted to say, without holding back. If the scholars are correct that he was an Essene, then he had gone into the wilderness specifically to get away from everyone. The Essenes wanted to worship their way, with no interference from anyone. Now, t...

8. Ruining the Christmas Spirit

Matthew 24:36-44

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

This morning is the first Sunday of Advent, and therefore the first Sunday of the church year. We begin Year A of the cycle, which is Matthew's year. When I read the scripture lesson, you may have noticed a couple of things. You may have noticed that we read a passage from near the end of Matthew. It may seem strange to read from near the end of the book that will guide us during the next year. Sh...

9. A Shepherd's Story

Luke 2:8-20, Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

It's not an easy life, I'll tell you that. I work my small farm during the day, but that doesn't bring in enough money. I have a family to support, taxes to pay — oy, don't get me started on taxes — so I need more than my farm brings in. I do the only other thing I know how to do. I hire myself out for the night shift watching other people's sheep. Tending sheep would not be my first choice, you u...

10. Light and Hope for the New Year

John 1:10-18

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

Early January always feels like a fresh start. The Christmas whirlwind has settled down. We still have a fighting chance to keep our resolutions for the new year. Cartoons always depict the New Year as a baby, full of possibilities and innocence. We hope that with a new year we can leave the baggage behind us, stretching toward a brighter future. The gospel of John begins when everything was new,...

11. Who's Who

John 1:29-42

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

The first chapter of John bears some similarity to the pilot episode of a television series. In that first episode, the writers and director want to introduce all of the main characters. In a television series, what we learn about the main characters in the first episode helps us understand them for the rest of the time the show is on the air and to see how they develop over the course of the seri...

12. Scaring the Church, So It Will Be the Church

Matthew 5:13-20

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

Sometimes when we read a passage of scripture, we may need to pay careful attention to who in the text is speaking. Our understanding of the words themselves may change, depending on whose mouth they come from. If we are reading Job, we need to know which character is speaking in the passage. If Job's friends are talking, we know their words cannot be trusted. They are too self-righteous. Sometime...

13. Becoming Good Trees

Matthew 5:17-20, Matthew 5:21-26, Matthew 5:27-30

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

Most pastors have seen the damage caused when a purple-faced preacher has sought to scare a person into faith. Pastors counsel with people even into their eighties and nineties who still have trouble feeling love from God because when they were children, someone had frightened them with images of an angry God, ready to smack them down if they didn't behave and believe. Parents will tell us of chil...

14. God’s Weather Report

Matthew 5:38-42, Matthew 5:43-48

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

In the 1985 movie, Witness, Harrison Ford plays a tough Philadelphia detective who uncovers corruption within his department. To protect himself and a young boy who has witnessed a murder, Ford's character, John Book, hides out among the Pennsylvania Amish, the community from which the little boy comes. In one scene of the movie, Book and several of the Amish go into town for a day of shopping. Wh...

15. Forgiveness Is a New Life

Matthew 5:38-42

Illustration

Charles L. Aaron

Immaculee Ilibagiza was a 22-year-old university student in the 1990s when terrible violence broke out in her home country of Rwanda. Hutus killed her parents, her brothers, and hundreds of her Tutsi friends. A Hutu pastor, who risked his life to save her, hid her and six other women. They lived in a small bathroom, a wooden wardrobe covering the door. For three months, they endured hunger, fear, ...

16. Choosing a Master

Matthew 6:16-24

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

It was supposed to have been fun. No one was supposed to have gotten hurt. Little children haven't become greedy yet have they? A minor league baseball team in Michigan held a promotion after a game, dropping $1,000 in cash from a helicopter over the outfield. Then they let the children run after it. The air should have been filled with giggles as the children plucked dollar bills from the air and...

17. What the Storms Blow Away

Matthew 7:21-29

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

A friend once pastored a church with a beautiful building. On a clear, sunny day, everything looked great: stone facade, majestic cross, and windows that were both shiny and clear. A hard rain exposed a flaw you couldn't see on a sunny day. The clear, shiny windows leaked. Right after a good rain, a dark semicircle of water marked the hallways by the windows. Those water stains were tattletales. T...

18. Sneak Preview

Matthew 17:1-9

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

How much do we miss when we don't really look? Edgar Allan Poe explores that question in his short story, The Purloined Letter. As the story begins, two men are sitting in an apartment in Paris smoking their pipes and enjoying each other's company. They are not much for conversation; they go for an hour at a time without saying anything. One of the two men is the brilliant detective, Auguste Dupin...

19. When God Adds Insult to Injury

Colossians 2:6-15

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

So many things separate Christians into groups: denominations, different ways of practicing the sacraments, different understandings of how to organize the church, different attitudes toward social issues like sexuality and money, even different perceptions of who Christ was. With all of that disagreement and separation, what unites us? Is there any common ground among us, other than simply callin...

20. Killing What Is Already Dead

Colossians 3:1-11

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

Every pastor has had this experience. It doesn't have to be the husband in a marriage, but let's just say that it's the husband. The man comes to the pastor's study clutching the report from the physician's office: high blood pressure, overweight, danger of heart disease. The physician has ordered the man to lose weight and to stop smoking. Sitting in the pastor's office, the man swears he is goin...

21. The Utmost Patience for the Foremost Sinner

1 Timothy 1:12-17

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

We usually don't spend too much time thinking about our own sinfulness. On occasion, of course, our feelings of guilt overwhelm us. We can't stop thinking about our sinfulness. If we are in that situation, we may need to talk that out with someone. Apart from times like that, we don't think much about our own sinfulness. We have ways of getting around that. We don't think about our sins because w...

22. A Peaceful Life in an Unpeaceful World

1 Timothy 2:1-7

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

I'm tempted to ask for a show of hands. How many people here have passed on an email making fun of a politician or political leader? It can be fun to do that. Passing on a cartoon about a politician helps us vent our frustrations at the foibles of our government. We sometimes feel helpless in the face of all of the corruption, bickering, pandering, false promises, and just general buffoonery that ...

23. How Rich Is Rich?

1 Timothy 6:3-10

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

We can simply stay away from some of the things that are bad for us. A person who is addicted to drugs or alcohol will be counseled by those with experience to abstain totally from alcohol: no social drinking, no wine every now and then. Just leave it alone. Never touch it. The same principle applies if the addiction is to gambling or pornography and many other kinds of addiction. Overcoming an ad...

24. Guarding the Treasure

2 Timothy 1:1-14

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

Most of us have a long list of passwords, PINs, and usernames to type into our cell phones, our computers, our ATMs, and a host of other gadgets. We need these to protect ourselves. Identity theft has become a serious problem. We have all seen the commercials on television of the person bragging about a dream vacation, but the voice coming out of the character's mouth is another person's voice. Th...

25. The Assurance of Things Hoped For

Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

In the movie, Cast Away, Tom Hanks' character, Chuck, is stranded on a desert island in the Pacific Ocean. To keep himself company, he finds a volleyball that has washed up from the wreckage of the plane he had been flying in before becoming stranded. Chuck paints a face on the volleyball with his own blood and names him "Wilson." Wilson becomes Chuck's only companion while he remains on the islan...

Showing 1 to 25 of 39 results