Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1 to 25 of 27 results

1. A Lack of Feeding in the American Dream

Romans 6:1-14

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

I would like us to consider a subject which becomes important to us all from time to time, but which is generally confusing and threatening so that we normally try to pass on from it as quickly as possible. The subject is suicide. There are a number of reasons why I am concerned with talking about it. I am continually involved as a minister in suicide cases, both accomplished and contemplated. Th...

2. A Little Child Shall Lead Them

Isaiah 11:1-16

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

MORTON T. KELSEY is an Episcopalian priest, now a professor emeritus of the University of Notre Dame. He is nationally recognized and sought after as a theologian, psychologist, educator, priest, and man of prayer. The last designation in particular reflects the intense interest Kelsey has sparked by reintroducing and reintegrating the spiritual-meditative-mystical tradition of the church into mod...

3. A New Perspective

Deuteronomy 7:1-26

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

HENRY T. CLOSE is a gifted therapist, teacher, and writer, a Diplomate in the American Association of Pastoral Counselors currently working as a pastoral counselor in Florida after many years on the staff of the Georgia Mental Health Clinic in Atlanta. His special interest in the world of intimacy is reflected in the two sermons in this volume. A New Perspective developed from an allegory he wrote...

4. Bringing the Gospel to Marriage

Genesis 1:1-2:3

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

MARCUS D. BRYANT is an ordained minister who served in a number of Christian Church congregations and on the faculty of Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, before accepting his present position at Texas Christian University. There he is Professor of Pastoral Psychology and Pastoral Care at Brite Divinity School and a supervisor and consultant both at the Pastoral Care Center at Brite and the Azi...

5. Conflict and Hope: One in the Spirit

Philippians 1:12-30

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

Conflict has not always been accepted or welcomed within the church even though it is a reality. WILLIAM OGLESBY, JR. (see biographical note preceding The Struggle of Faith) deals with Paul’s concept of conflict "worthy of the gospel" in his devotional message Conflict and Hope: One in the Spirit. It was originally prepared for a study group which was wrestling with the matter of conflict and unit...

6. Dying to Become

2 Corinthians 5:17

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

GLENN E. WHITLOCK is a United Presyterian pastor who served as a parish minister and university chaplain before contracting polio and subsequently studying for a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. He is currently Professor of Psychology at the experimental Johnston College of the University of Redlands, Adjunct Professor at San Francisco Theological Seminary, a consultant for a community crisis hot lin...

7. God’s Wounded Healers

Jeremiah 8:4--9:26

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

ROBERT A. RAINES is a prolific author, currently Director of Kirkridge Retreat and Study Center in Bangor, Pennsylvania, following twenty years in parish work. His sermon, God’s Wounded Healers, was preached on a return visit to First United Methodist Church of Germantown, Pennsylvania, where he had been co-minister from 1961-1970. In it he lifts up the principle that our preaching has its greates...

8. In Praise of Feeling Guilty

Psalm 51:1-19

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

Ordained in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), SUE WEBB CARDWELL served three terms as a missionary in Zaire (formerly the Belgian Congo) along with her husband, Walter D. Cardwell, Sr. She is currently Director of the Pastoral Counseling Service of Christian Theological Seminary and Assistant Professor of Psychology and Counseling. She is both a Diplomate of the American Association of P...

9. Jerusalem, Emmaus and the Meaning of Life

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

Formerly a teacher for fifteen years with the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, GERALDINE SULLIVAN became involved with Clinical Pastoral Education in the Boston area and subsequently studied for a Th.M. in Pastoral Psychology at Duke University. Presently, Ms. Sullivan is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, a CPE Supervisor, as well as a Fellow in the American Association of Pastor...

10. Letting Go

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

RICHARD A. GOODLING is an ordained United Church of Christ minister whose Ph.D. is in clinical psychology. In addition to being Professor of Pastoral Psychology at the Divinity School at Duke University, he is the Director and a Staff Counselor with the Pastoral Care and Counseling Institute of Durham-Chapel Hill, Inc. His sermon Letting Go was preached at a chapel service in the divinity school. ...

11. Like Trees Walking

Isaiah 6:1-13

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

A Diplomate in the American Association of Pastoral Counselors and a Supervisor in the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education, HELEN E. TERKELSEN is currently Director of the Lex King Souter Center for Pastoral Counseling and Pastoral Care in Fall River, Massachusetts, as well as a teaching supervisor and adjunct faculty at Andover Newton Theological School. In the midst of these and other re...

12. No Fifth Wheels in God’s Economy

1 Corinthians 7:1-40

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

ALAN RODDA, currently president of Ridgewood Holding Company in San Jose, California, is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist who at the time of delivering No Fifth Wheels in God’s Economy was Senior Pastor of the First Church of the Nazarene in Portland, Oregon. His particular tradition is quite explicit in affirming the Bible as the revelation of the divine word and affords the pastor great authorit...

13. On Loneliness

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

HENRY CLOSE’S (see biographical note preceding A New Perspective) sermon On Loneliness grew out of discussions with people in alcoholic rehabilitation programs. In it he deals with the subject of loneliness, an emotion the well-known American psychiatrist Harry Stack Sullivan used to say was the only motivating force in people stronger than anxiety that could move them toward facing the possibilit...

14. Signposts A Commencement Address

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

In Signposts BRUCE HARTUNG (see biographical note preceding The Big Snow) uses the occasion of a junior high school commencement address to lift up the definite changes that are occurring in both parental and child responsibilities as the family grows together through this particular maturational phase of its life together. Signposts, regardless of how small, always have functions. This signpost i...

15. Smart, Wise, and Foolish

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

The current President of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors is DONALD C. HOUTS. Formerly a local pastor, a chaplain-supervisor, and professor of pastoral care and counseling at St. Paul School of Theology, Kansas City, Missouri, he is presently Director of Pastoral Care and Counseling for the Illinois Area of the United Methodist Church. His sermons offered here were directed to the c...

16. The Big Snow

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

At the time he delivered The Big Snow, BRUCE M. HARTUNG was accepting invitations to preach from various Lutheran churches in the Northern Illinois area while he was Director of the Community Pastoral Counseling and Consultation Center and Senior Pastor of Parkside Human Services Corporation, both in Park Ridge. As of September 1983, he became the new Executive Director of the Onondaga Pastoral Co...

17. The Choice Is Always Ours

Ecclesiastes 9:1-12

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

ROBERT L. BENEFIEL was one of the early pastors to do extensive clinical pastoral training after seminary and then carry the spirit and insight of that experience through a lifetime career in parish ministry. His sermon published here was developed in the context of parish work and reflects his integration of both psychological and sociological perspectives in ministry. The Choice Is Always Ours d...

18. The Courage to Be Me

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." There is a certain courage to be who we are built into the dynamics of Christian faith and grace. DONALD C. HOUTS (see biographical note preceding Smart, Wise, and Foolish) relates this courage to three common debilitating fears in his sermon The Courage to Be Me: The fears of doubt, self-disclosure, and failure. There is a sense in which vi...

19. The Family Was God’s Idea

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

Currently J. Benton and Faye French Tulley Professor of Pastoral Psychology, San Francisco Theological Seminary, San Anselmo, California, and the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, EDWARD V. STEIN has been contributing books and articles to the field of pastoral care for a number of years, especially in the area of guilt formation and therapy. He has also engaged in considerable post-doctoral t...

20. The Flow of Life

Ecclesiastes 3:1-22

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

DICK FRAZIER is presently associate director of the Presbyterian Family Life Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, a multi-service pastoral counseling facility. Before that he was a local pastor and then a Clinical Pastoral Education Supervisor and Chaplain Therapist at a psychiatric center working with institutionalized patients. He also preaches in the context of invitations from local churches t...

21. The Gifts of the Left Hand

Luke 7:36-50

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

JARED RARDIN is a local pastor with an extensive background in pastoral care and counseling. He serves on the staff of the well-known First United Methodist Church of Germantown, Pennsylvania, ministering to that particularly talented and dynamic congregation with duties in both care and counseling as well as social concerns and community involvement. The particular sermon in this volume was preac...

22. The Shadow Ascending

John 21:15-25

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

I. Denial by Any Other Name John 21:15ff GREG JOHANSON is a United Methodist minister who has brought to ten years of parish experience a special training and interest in Clinical Pastoral Education and Pastoral Counseling. He has worked in a variety of clinical settings, taught in a number of colleges, served recently as Chaplain and Director of Counseling Services at the Plaza Santa Maria Hosp...

23. The Struggle of Faith

Matthew 11:1-19

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

A local pastor for ten years, the author of a number of publications in the area of pastoral care and counseling, WILLIAM B. OGLESBY, JR., has been from 1952 to the present Marthina DeFriece Professor of Pastoral Counseling at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia. He is a past president of the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education and a Diplomate of the American Association of Pastoral Cou...

24. The Vulnerable Christ

Philippians 2:1-11

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

Before accepting the position of Professor of Pastoral Theology and Supervised Ministries at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., CHARLES STEWART also taught at the Institute for Advanced Pastoral Studies in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and Illif School of Theology in Denver. His interests and publications have been especially strong in the area of marriage and family counseling. His se...

25. Thomas Didymus: An Honest Skeptic

John 20:24-31

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

The reality of doubt and its relationship to faith is dealt with by HELEN TERKELSEN (see biographical note preceding Like Trees Walking) in her particular unique style in Thomas Didymus: An Honest Skeptic. Since Easter is a week behind us and the life everlasting is a long way out in front of us, I’m going to ask you to visit a little room in Jerusalem where there is a handful of frightened peop...

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