Sermon and Worship Resources

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John 1:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... there was a problem in paradise . . . a problem within the heart of humanity. For, you see, God created man and woman in His own image. God created man and woman, not to be puppets in a paradise, but to be God’s partners. Maybe James Weldon Johnson was right. Maybe God was lonely, for God created humans to mirror many of His own attributes. He created these beings with the potential for spiritual communion with Himself. The critical attribute that he gave to humanity was the ability to choose to choose ...

2. Chapter II

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Frank H. Seilhamer

... to put a world together and then leave it to spin in isolation while he went off to roam his heavens. In fact, to have someone to whom to relate, and with whom he could stay in touch, God hit on the magnificent idea of creating man. James Weldon Johnson, that most sensitive black poet, in his book God’s Trombones, depicts God in the act of creating the universe. With incomparable zest he portrays God rolling the sun into shape in his palms, flinging the stars into the heavens to add sparkle to the night ...

3. The Story of Abraham versus the Story of Israel

Romans 4:1-25

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

... ’s love for God’s created world; it notes that all of creation get its life from God and should live in dependence, giving glory to God. “Let all things their Creator bless / and worship him in humbleness.” Poetry: “The Creation,” by James Weldon Johnson. Johnson’s short retelling of God’s work in the Genesis creation story is full of energy and delight. It is intended to be poetical, not theological, but certainly it is usable. Audiences love it. The relationship between faith and fact is ...

4. A Name To Be Remembered

Exodus 3:1-22

Sermon

Walter Kimbrough

... Jesus, very God and very man was bold enough to declare that I have come so that the rejected society might know that they are somebody. The downtrodden can receive a new lease on life. The hopeless of the world can refrain from singing the words of James Weldon Johnson, “When hope unborn had died.” Abortions will never again be performed in order to kill the hope of the least of these. God has a mission in place for the persecuted of society. God’s mission is for us to be brought up out of our misery ...

5. Counsel for Discouraged Disciples

Habakkuk 1:1-4

Sermon

... in the Christian Gospel is a positive one, affirming life, the world, and the goodness of God. This is why Christians have the reputation of being incurable optimists. For all of us who walk the tightrope of faith between hope and discouragement, James Weldon Johnson, the eminent black scholar, has provided a useful prayer formula. It is found in the Introduction to his little volume of Negro sermon poems entitled God’s Trombones. A black layman is praying for the preacher before the sermon begins. He ...

6. It Was for Us

Luke 23:26-43

Sermon

James McCormick

... us very much like himself: able to think, to make value judgments, to make choices, to enter into relationships or not. God wanted creatures much like himself, creatures whom he can love, creatures who will respond to his love by loving him in return. James Weldon Johnson expressed that beautifully in his poem, “The Creation”. He wrote: “And God stepped out on space. And he looked around and said, ‘I’m lonely. I’ll make me a world.’” So he did. He created the mountains and the rivers, the ...

7. Nothing Is Impossible

Exodus 13:17--14:31

Sermon

Walter Kimbrough

... tell us that the cloud was two-dimensional. It was light on Israel’s side, but it was darkness on Egypt’s side. Genesis tells us that God controls night and day, darkness and light. God spoke one day and light was introduced to the world. James Weldon Johnson says in the Creation that God spoke and darkness rolled up on one side, whole light stood shining on the other. The cloud was day and night. The cloud was day to Israel and night to the Egyptian army. In other words, nothing is impossible. If you ...

8. Been There, Done That, No Thanks!

Philippians 3:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... ? It's unconditional love. There is life-changing power in unconditional love. Rep. Maxine Waters, a Congresswoman from Los Angeles, said that one of the first people to make a difference in her life was a fifth-grade math teacher at the James Weldon Johnson Elementary School in St. Louis named Louise Carter. "Beyond her skill at teaching math, Ms. Carter was a very loving woman," Waters says. She recalls one Saturday morning in particular. Ms. Carter had planned a class picnic. However, Waters' mother had ...

9. Reality Maps And Rolling Stones

John 20:1-9

Sermon

King Duncan

... many it appears to be an end: the end of a life, the end of a relationship, a time of great sadness, a sunset, if you will. But for those who believe in Christ it is a sunrisea beginning, the beginning of life with God. Black poet James Weldon Johnson wrote of Sister Caroline in "Go Down, Death": "She saw what we couldn't see/She saw Old Death/Coming like a falling star/But Death didn't frighten Sister Caroline/He looked to her like a welcome friend." Easter Sunday changes our reality maps concerning death ...

10. Stumbling in Darkness, Looking for Light

Isaiah 9:1-7, John 1:5

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... could feel my eyes straining unsuccessfully to pick up the slightest glimmer of light. I literally could not see my hand in front of my nose. The darkness seemed to penetrate my skin and sink deep into my soul. In the words of James Weldon Johnson, "It was darker than a hundred midnights down in the cypress swamp." Writing in a day before electricity and ever-present ambient light, Isaiah understood darkness— real darkness, deep darkness—and into that kind of darkness Isaiah brings the word of hope and ...

11. What Can Christians Learn From Jews?

Genesis 12:1-3

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... children that scripture. This transcendent, relational, holy God created the universe and all that is within it. God said let there be light and there was light. God said let birds fly through the air and the animals inhabit the earth and it was done. Then as James Weldon Johnson puts it in that great piece he entitled Creation: God looked around and said, “I am still lonely." So God sat down on the side of a hill where he could think. By a deep river, he thought and he thought until he thought, “I'll ...

12. By Enduring

1 Peter 2:19-25

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... train got closer to home. It didn't have to make it to Paradise; it only had to transport a person to Detroit. That is what endurance does for you. It helps you hang on until the time is right and the power is available for radical change. James Weldon Johnson eloquently says: Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod, Felt in the days when hope unborn had died, Yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet Come to the place for which our fathers sighed? We have come, over a way that with tears ...

13. Can These Bones Live Again?

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... , you alone know.” Maybe you’re asking that question about your life or the life of someone you love. Well, hear the word of the Lord. Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones, dem bones gonna rise again. 1. Words and music by James Weldon Johnson. 2. God’s Little Lessons for Graduates, (Honor Books). Cited by Dr. Keith Wagner, http://www.lectionary.org/Sermons/Wagner/OT24Jer-Dan/Ezekiel%2037.1-14,%20FreshBeginnings.htm. 3. Blake Ellis, “Social Security Wrongly Declares 14,000 People Dead Each Year.”

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