Sermon and Worship Resources

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Hosea 1:1-2:1

Sermon

John W. Wurster

I have a friend who wanted me to preach on this passage at his wedding. A good friend, a minister friend, someone I love and trust, wanted me to read and preach from Hosea before some 300 people, his own parishioners, at his own wedding: “Go take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord” (1:2). I protested loudly, not ...

2. At The Potter's House

Jeremiah 18:1--19:15

Sermon

John W. Wurster

(Note: This monologue is from the point of view of an imagined contemporary of Jeremiah.) I was down at the potter’s house yesterday. Have you been recently? I haven’t see you there. In fact, I haven’t see many people there at all recently. Nobody much comes to the potter’s house these days. It’s certainly not how it used to be when the potter’s house was a gathering point for the community. Well,...

3. Changing Seasons, Constant Love

Jeremiah 8:4--9:26

Sermon

John W. Wurster

Another season has come and gone. Promises that were made have not been fulfilled. Good intentions haven’t yielded any tangible results. Dreams have not come true. High hopes have proven to be only wishful thinking. Nothing has really changed; nothing has really improved. The time keeps moving along, but we seem stuck in the same ruts. Old routines remain, prejudices persist, dullness and anxiety ...

4. Do You Know?

Hosea 11:1-11

Sermon

John W. Wurster

“ ‘It was I who taught Ephraim how to walk, I took them up in my arms; but they did not know that I healed them’ (11:3). They did not know me. Do you? “‘I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love. I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down to them and fed them.’ (1:4). But they did not know me. Do you? “I fashioned a world in love, bringing forth order ...

5. God Knows

Isaiah 5:1-7

Sermon

John W. Wurster

It’s a phrase meant to underscore the limits of our knowledge. We use it to describe our lack of understanding. It’s a way of admitting that we just don’t know everything. Having reached the end of our abilities to comprehend, we roll our eyes heavenward and say with varying measures of exasperation, confusion, and befuddlement, “God knows.” “God knows why that happened.” “God knows what I was thi...

6. God Notices

Amos 8:1-14

Sermon

John W. Wurster

It was the best of times. A time of prosperity and confidence, a time of relative peace, a time when most everything looked pretty good, a time when most everyone felt pretty good. It was a time maybe not unlike our own time. In such a time, among such a people, naysayers are hardly welcome. Who wants to hear about the bad that could be coming in the future when what’s going on in the present look...

7. There Could Be, Couldn't There?

Jeremiah 2:1-3:5

Sermon

John W. Wurster

Jeremiah tells us that there was a time and a place when God was upset, when the heavens were shocked, and appalled, and utterly desolate (2:12). It sounds like it was a time and place when God was weeping, a time and a place when God hurt. Can you believe that there could be such a time, such a place, such a God? In this time and place God was upset because the people had strayed. God’s very own...

8. True or False?

Isaiah 1:1-31

Sermon

John W. Wurster

“Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom. Listen to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah” (1:10; cf. Genesis 19). Sodom. Gomorrah. Remember? Places of wickedness, of violence, of perversity. Do you know any place like that? Places where sexuality is twisted and relationships are corrupted and social order is breaking down? Places where people seek to gratify personal desires at ...

9. What If What They Say Is True?

Jeremiah 1:1-19

Sermon

John W. Wurster

Whether through the complicated process of socialization or good manners or simple maturity, somehow we learn how to respond appropriately to particular phrases in particular settings. “Paper or plastic?” “Cash or charge?” “Smoking or non-smoking?” We negotiate and navigate our lives by knowing what to say and when to say it: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” “And also with you.” ...

10. "...Yet"

Jeremiah 4:5-31

Sermon

John W. Wurster

Some of the hardest weeks of my life were spent in an intensive eight week Hebrew course at Princeton Seminary. For those two months, Hebrew was my life. Morning, noon, and night, my time was filled with mastering vocabulary, deciphering grammar, and conjuring up English translations for this very old, very strange language that the writers of the Old Testament used to describe their experiences o...

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