Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1 to 25 of 40 results

Genesis 32:22-31

Sermon

David J. Kalas

I wonder how many of us here are named after someone. Chances are that a good many of us carry family names. We are named for a parent, a grandparent, an uncle, or an aunt somewhere on the family tree. Others of us had parents who named us after a character in the Bible, or perhaps some other significant character from history. All told, I expect a pretty fair number of us are named after someon...

2. A Match Made in Heaven

Genesis 29:15-28

Sermon

David J. Kalas

One of the great privileges of being a parish pastor is the opportunity to officiate at weddings. Most folks only know how beautiful a wedding is from the pews. I want to tell you, though, that a wedding is even more beautiful from the vantage point at which I get to see it. I get to stand here in the front. And from here, I get to see the faces. I am always touched as I watch the faces of the br...

3. A Personal History

John 18:1—19:42

Sermon

David J. Kalas

A junior high school student sits down with his world history textbook, and he wonders what all this stuff has to do with him. Clearly, people like Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar, Charlemagne, and Napoleon had a great impact on the world in which they lived, but what do the Rubicon and Waterloo have to do with that thirteen-year-old American boy? When he gets to senior high school, that same student...

4. A Resume of Righteousness

Genesis 15:1-18

Sermon

David J. Kalas

Statues don't perspire. The characters portrayed in stained-glass windows don't blink. And so we are tempted to forget that the people they so nobly represent were human beings, just like us. In the statue's solidness and in the window's beauty, they cannot do justice to the blemishes and the frailties of the men and women they depict. We have seen so many of our biblical heroes portrayed in art...

5. A Stupid Question

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

David J. Kalas

Generous teachers sometimes assure their students that there is no such thing as a stupid question. Personally, I'm not so sure. It seems to me that I have heard some pretty stupid questions over the years. I'm quite sure that I have asked some very stupid questions along the way, as well. In this episode from the first days of the early church, the disciples asked a stupid question. Or, at...

6. A Tale Of Two Peters

Acts 5:27-32

Sermon

David J. Kalas

When the curtain opens on Scene Two, we see a familiar scene. It is the austere, official chamber where the Sanhedrin hold court. The room is cold and intimidating. It feels even more so when the first characters begin to arrive on stage. These are the members of the Sanhedrin: the leaders in the land who form the ruling council for the Jews of first-century Palestine. They are a distinguish...

7. A Watery Grave

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

David J. Kalas

A photograph of the earth from outer space reveals how much of our world is water. Indeed, that cosmic view prompted folks to refer to the Earth a “blue marble in space.” Scientists report that approximately seventy percent of the Earth’s surface is covered with water. Genesis, meanwhile, reports an occasion when 100 percent of the Earth’s surface was covered with water. This is the familiar sto...

8. An Annual Reminder

John 20:1-9

Sermon

David J. Kalas

In the opening verse of our passage from the epistles, the apostle Paul writes, “Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news....” That might well also be the opening line of our sermons this Sunday. After all, it is Easter. The calendar compels us to return to the foundation and the heart of the gospel message. And the people who will fill our pews this Sunday — some of them b...

9. Anatomy Of A Testimony

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Sermon

David J. Kalas

You see a man busily writing. His face reveals the intensity of his focus. He sometimes smiles as he writes, then stops to think again. At times he shows some dissatisfaction, and he goes back to rewrite some sentence or phrase. Clearly, he wants to get this just right. We hesitate to interrupt his concentration, but we can't restrain our curiosity. "Excuse us," we say. "What is that you're workin...

10. Appointment with Thunder

Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20

Sermon

David J. Kalas

If you're like me, then you've spent your whole life in the church. And if you've spent your whole life in the church, then you've surely heard about the Ten Commandments before. We grew up with them displayed on the walls of our Sunday school classrooms, and perhaps in the stained-glass windows of our sanctuaries. We have heard sermons, lessons, and devotionals based on them. Perhaps we've even s...

11. At the Corner of Church and Main

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

David J. Kalas

Once there was a great intersection in the ancient city of Bethlehem. We know a little something about great intersections. When we travel by car, we discover that the intersection of interstate highways becomes the epicenter of all kinds of activity: lots of traffic, and with the traffic come motels, restaurants, gas stations, fast food places, and more. Furthermore, within certain cities, some ...

12. Do You See What I See?

Exodus 14:19-31

Sermon

David J. Kalas

In 1956, director/producer Cecil B. DeMille tried to do in motion pictures what artists had attempted to do for centuries on canvas: capture this moment. It is the ancient writer of the book of Exodus who reports and describes the moment for us. And the children of Israel, in prayers and songs for centuries afterward, remembered the moment, and the God who brought it all to pass. The Hebrew peop...

13. Drowsy Disciples

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

David J. Kalas

I watched with amusement, recently, as a gentleman across the table from me at a church committee meeting struggled to stay awake. Our meeting came at the end of what had apparently been a tiring day for him, and now the meeting itself was running long. No one there would question this member’s devotion to the church or his commitment to its work. But he simply could not keep himself awake. His ey...

14. Dust Off The Throne

2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16, Luke 1:26-38, Romans 16:25-27

Sermon

David J. Kalas

When I was a kid, my parents would host several Christmas parties each year — one for each of the adult Sunday school classes from our church. In preparation for each party, my mother would employ me in vacuuming the living room, mixing the punch, lighting the candles, and such. One task that invariably came before the first party of each Christmas season involved the silver tea set. It was a lov...

15. Eat and Run

Exodus 12:1-14

Sermon

David J. Kalas

At some time or another, we've all had to hurry through a meal and hurry away from the table. And so, at some time or another, we've all found ourselves saying, "I hate to eat and run, but...." Everybody has done it. Everybody knows what it's like. But even though everyone says he hates to eat and run, the truth is that not everyone does hate it. Some folks rather like it. As a little boy, I li...

16. Endless Line of Blunder

Exodus 1:8

Sermon

David J. Kalas

Turn the page, and the story is suddenly different. When we close the book of Genesis, the descendants of Jacob — that is, the children of Israel — are comfortably situated as honored guests in the land of Egypt. And the very best part of the land of Egypt, at that. Jacob's son, Joseph, is a local hero, having navigated the nation (and much of the region) through a devastating period of famine. T...

17. God All Along

Acts 9:1-6 (7-20)

Sermon

David J. Kalas

See him as he travels along the road to Damascus: the intensity in his eyes, the purposefulness of his pace. He is a man on a mission. His name is Saul, and he is making the 135-mile trip from Jerusalem to Damascus for a deliberate and expressed purpose. He and his companions are sort of a posse, tracking down dangerous criminals in order to bring them to justice. But this is not a scene fr...

18. God’s Providence: The Long and Short of It

Genesis 45:1-15

Sermon

David J. Kalas

We human beings are naturally fond of happy endings. We have an innate sense of the way things ought to be, and that part of us is profoundly satisfied when things turn out that way. The episode that we read today from the story of Joseph is a classic happy ending. It's a beautiful scene. The nearly blameless hero of the story, Joseph, has been finally rewarded for his wisdom and faithfulness, e...

19. God's Sneak Attack

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

David J. Kalas

I think I was eight years old the first time I got to be in a Christmas pageant. I played the part of a shepherd at our church during the Christmas Eve service that year. I didn't have any lines, but I remember that I had to kneel on one knee for a very long time. The whole chancel area of our sanctuary had been transformed into a living nativity scene. There in the center was the manger, with Ma...

20. Heisman In The Hudson

Isaiah 43:16-21

Sermon

David J. Kalas

In December of every year, the Downtown Athletic Club in New York City awards the coveted Heisman Trophy. Voted on by over 800 media members, the Heisman is awarded to the most outstanding college football player during that season. Past recipients have included such notables as Roger Staubach, Marcus Allen, and Barry Sanders. It is a great honor, and it represents the broad and non-partisan reco...

21. Joshua's New Diet

Joshua 5:9-12

Sermon

David J. Kalas

What do you or your family pray at mealtime? When I was growing up, our family typically recited the "God is good, God is great" prayer that so many folks use as a table grace. At Christian camp settings as a teenager, I grew accustomed to singing the Johnny Appleseed song before we ate. My children are fond of singing the doxology at the dinner table. And over the years I have heard a great many ...

22. Look Who's Talking

Acts 11:1-18

Sermon

David J. Kalas

Professional sports has no statistic for measuring talking. Yet talking can be an important part of the game. We can measure how fast a player pitches or serves. We keep statistics on batting averages, shooting percentages, and quarterback ratings. We track yards-after-catch, on-base percentages, and shots on goal. We record height and weight, wins-and-losses, and times in the 40-yard dash....

23. Personal History

John 18:1-11

Sermon

David J. Kalas

24. Prelude To A Sacrament

Exodus 12:1-4 (5-10) 11-14

Sermon

David J. Kalas

We have a table before us. It is a familiar table; we have gathered around it together countless times before. It features the cherished elements of bread and wine; and taken together, those elements on this table form a sacrament. Across the many traditions within the Christian church, we call this sacrament by different names. The Roman Catholics refer to the Mass, while the Eastern Orthodox ...

25. Prescription on a Pole

John 3:1-21

Sermon

David J. Kalas

We have so many aisles of medications in our country today that home remedies may be a vanishing art. So many over-the-counter products boast that they can cure what ails us, not to mention the almost infinite number of prescription medicines that our doctors may commend to us for our good. An older generation, however, remembers the homemade treatments and concoctions that were handed down from...

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