Sermon and Worship Resources

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1. A Haunting Moment

Mark 9:2-13

Illustration

John Killinger

John Killinger, the famous pastor and author, tells this story about a haunting moment: "Somewhere in my journals there is an entry about how strongly it hit me one day as I was sitting in the chancel of a church, waiting to deliver the guest sermon. A beautiful woman was playing a violin solo. Her lovely hands worked continuously at the frets and the bow, evoking the most soulful music I thought ...

2. Bright and Loud: What Do You Miss?

Matthew 6:25-34

Illustration

John Killinger

A panel of students at one university was discussing what it's like to be a young person today. They talked of many things - their work, their fears, their ambitions. And then the moderator asked them: "What does it take to get your attention?" One young man was very direct: "Bright and loud," he said. "It's the kind of world we live in, and in that kind of world, that's what it takes." Bright an...

3. God’s Beautiful World

Illustration

John Killinger

Millard Reed is president-emeritus of Trevecca University in Nashville. Millard was on a speaking trip in South Carolina when he suddenly fell ill and was rushed to the hospital. His liver had just stopped functioning. His system was shutting down. The doctors said he would die. But a lot of people prayed for Millard, and when the doctors found a new liver for him and installed it, he began to rec...

4. Individual Success over All

Mark 10:17-31

Illustration

John Killinger

Robert Bellah and his associates, the sociologists who wrote Habits of the Heart and The Good Society, two distinguished books about American life, say that the desire to get the most out of one's life, to be the best or achieve the highest, is a hallmark of our time. We are so intent on fulfilling ourselves and our destiny, say these scholars, that we put our own lives and careers above everythin...

5. Life Shrinks

Illustration

John Killinger

I cannot fully describe the impact this experience had on me. Suddenly I knew, with my whole being, what all the great philosophers from Plato to McLuhan have tried to say to us: that our views of life and the world are shaped by what we are taught and accept, and that once we have accepted these views and ceased to challenge them, life shrinks to their proportions. It was a horrifying realization...

6. The Failure that Looked Like Success

Luke 12:13-21

Illustration

John Killinger

The New Testament paints two pictures of success and failure. The first picture is the rich man whose crops produced so abundantly that he decided to pull down his barns and build bigger ones, and he said to his soul, "Soul, eat, drink, and have a great time, for tomorrow you die." The caption under this painting is: "The Failure That Looked Like Success." The other painting, the companion paintin...

7. The Little Wild Orchard

Illustration

John Killinger

John Leax, American poet, essayist and fiction writer, lived on a small farm in New York State and taught writing at Houghton College. There was never enough time to do all the work on the farm, and the old orchard, planted higgledy-piggledy long ago by someone on a hillside, was neglected and overgrown. One day John was driving through the large, carefully groomed orchards of central Ontario, and...

8. What Law is Operating Here?

Illustration

John Killinger

Note: We do not advise using this illustration in a sermon. In fact, we strongly advise against it, but we thought it a great meditation for us clergy, considering subjects of Law and Grace. Here it it: In Mary Gordon's novel, Final Payments, a book addressing the repression of many young Catholics of the 50s and 60s, a young woman named Isabel Moore has just buried her father after several years...

9. When All You've Known is the Wulitzer

Illustration

John Killinger

William Hinson, senior minister of First United Methodist Church in Houston, tells about the experience of his brother-in-law Miles when he was a boy taking piano lessons. Trained to locate middle "C" just beside the "W" on the family's Wurlitzer piano, he managed to learn one piece well enough to be included in the usual student recital. The evening of the recital, he strode confidently onto the ...

Showing 1 to 9 of 9all results

Showing all results

1. A Haunting Moment

Mark 9:2-13

Illustration

John Killinger

2. Bright and Loud: What Do You Miss?

Matthew 6:25-34

Illustration

John Killinger

3. God’s Beautiful World

Illustration

John Killinger

4. Individual Success over All

Mark 10:17-31

Illustration

John Killinger

5. Life Shrinks

Illustration

John Killinger

6. The Failure that Looked Like Success

Luke 12:13-21

Illustration

John Killinger

7. The Little Wild Orchard

Illustration

John Killinger

8. What Law is Operating Here?

Illustration

John Killinger

9. When All You've Known is the Wulitzer

Illustration

John Killinger

Showing 1 to 9 of 9all results