Sermon and Worship Resources

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Exodus 3:1-22

Sermon

Lori Wagner

We hear a lot about covenants in scripture. Anyone know what a covenant is? How would you define it if someone asked you, “What’s a covenant?” That’s right. It has “legal” connotation. It’s actually ancient legal language. You might call it a kind of agreement or contract between two or more parties in a legally binding promise or vow. If you look at our marriage liturgy, you can see it there! You can also see it in our communion liturgy. In the marriage contract, the covenant of marriage refers to the ...

2. A Servant in Saigon

Illustration

Keith Wagner

To be servants requires courage, sacrifice and lots of love. Jack Canfield and Mark Hansen tell the story of Betty Tisdale. (Chicken Soup for the Soul) She was the wife of a Naval Doctor in Vietnam. She had compassion on the hundreds of orphans in Saigon. She made 14 trips to Saigon by using her life savings. With great determination she managed to airlift orphans from Vietnam during the time it was falling into the hands of the North Vietnamese. It was not a simple task. First, she needed birth ...

3. The Call of the Wild Within

Genesis 12:10-20, Genesis 12:1-8, Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Coming into movie theatres this week is a remake of Jack London’s famous novel, “The Call of the Wild.”The story begins with the kidnapping of Buck, a pet St. Bernard dog, owned by a wealthy family in the Santa Clara Valley, CA. Abruptly, Buck is removed from his comfortable, genteel life and thrust into the wild Canadian frontier in the midst of the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush. Made to serve as a sled dog, Buck must leave behind his civilized nature and rely instead on his natural instincts to survive. For a ...

4. Syrophoenician Lives Matter!

Mark 7:24-30, Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

Lori Wagner

“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:6) Animators (Props): cornucopia….apples…..pumpkins As we enter the fall season, we prepare for a lot of celebrations. Halloween, All Saints Day, Thanksgiving, Advent. In the midst of all that, there are festivals for families and celebrations for children too. It’s the ...

5. Soul Soup

John 2:13-22

Sermon

Lori Wagner

We all know the importance of maintaining a healthy body, mind, and spirit. We hear all the time that we need to pay attention to the food we eat, to exercising enough, to lowering our stress levels, to keeping ourselves fit and well, so that we extend our age span and live a happier, more fulfilling life. We know that listening to our bodies is an important part of caring for ourselves. We need to pay attention when we are tired and when we feel off. We need to pay attention to our body’s natural rhythms ...

6. I Saw the Light

Luke 9:28-43

Sermon

Lori Wagner

In February of 1971, a man named Edwin Robinson from Falmouth, Maine sharply jack-knifed his tractor-trailer to avoid hitting a car sliding across the roadway. As a result of severe head trauma caused by the accident, Robinson lost both his vision and his hearing. On June 4, 1980, 62-yearold Robinson was unexpectedly struck by a bolt of lightning. After lying stunned and unconscious for about 20 minutes, he woke to find both his sight and hearing restored![1] Sounds like the apostle Paul, doesn’t it? ...

7. You Can't Handle It!

John 16:12-15

Sermon

Lori Wagner

One of the most famous lines in film history comes from Rob Reiner’s 1992 film based on Aaron Sorkin’s 1989 play, entitled “A Few Good Men.” In the movie, a military court scene plays out in which Navy lawyer Tom Cruise (Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee) pushes Colonel Nathan Jessup on the stand (played by Jack Nicholson) to admit that he ordered a “code red,” a hazing, violent disciplinary measure that allowed two marines, Dawson and Downey, ultimately to kill fellow peer, Private First Class William Santiago. ...

8. The Grip

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Readiness. This is a word that our culture often has lost sight of. We tend to be a rather impulsive people today. When we want something, we want it now, …or better yet, yesterday. We leap into new ventures without checking them out fully. We rush headlong into situations that may or may not do us harm. We rack up credit by the thousands without a plan to pay it back. We have children without thinking through what those responsibilities will mean for us. We lash out at our friends, partners, and spouses ...

9. The Contestant

Matthew 14:22-33

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Everyone loves a good duel! At least in the movies we do. Our hero goes up against a worthy foe, and we hold our breath while the opponents or contestants raise their swords, commence, and fight to the bitter end. The “dual” usually comes about in order to defend someone’s honor –whether one’s own, a friend’s, or a maiden’s. In the end, we hope that our hero will win, and honor will be restored. When we think about contestants today, however, we rarely think about duels. We think primarily of game shows. ...

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