Sermon and Worship Resources

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Acts 5:17-42

Drama

Michael L. Sherer

... a little frightened the first time going there, and even though - to be even more honest - some of you in the class (and yes, Kurt, even you) were so badly behaved I seriously considered walking out after the first session and not coming back. But I’m glad I ... write again sometime. It’s refreshing getting a letter from a former student, and sometimes more interesting than reading poorly-written exam papers by university students. Your friend, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. ANNOUNCER: This late word out of the ...

2. Looking for Shoots or Roots?

Matthew 11:1-19

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... you love God. Finally, to live Adventually is to live with a sense of what I call the magic-of-the-moment. When I was in college, one of my favorite authors was Kurt Vonnegut, who died earlier this year. In many ways, the Canadian fiction writer Douglas Coupland (born 1961) is today’s Vonnegut among college students, but I cut my novelistic teeth reading Slaughterhouse Five, which fictionalizes his experience as a POW in World War II. In fact, when I was right out of seminary I contacted Vonnegut cold ...

3. God Is Not Yet Finished With You

Genesis 1:1-2:3

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... we are sinful and unclean and in need of a second creation. We must admit that many modern folk do not agree with what we have just said. They still have the rosy idea that "man" is basically good as the Father originally created him. Kurt Vonnegut, a leading contemporary author, tells of attending the University of Chicago after World War II. He was a student in the Department of Anthropology. At that time, it was taught that nobody was bad or disgusting. Shortly before his father died, he remarked to ...

4. Pulling Weeds

Matthew 13:24-30

Sermon

King Duncan

... us to the beautiful creation God intended from the first for us to be. There is a parable of God’s plan in Kurt Vonnegut’s strange and disturbing book, Slaughterhouse Five. The central character is an optometrist named Billy Pilgrim who lives a rather ordinary ... wholeness and they are shipped backward to their homes where they turn in their uniforms. Soon they are high school students remember we are going backwards then young children, then mere babies with worlds of potential. Can you see it? In ...

5. Trust Your Upbringing

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Sermon

King Duncan

... believes that "all scripture is inspired by God." That's not an issue for most of us. We also know we ought to be better students of the Word. But I'm not going to give anyone a test on First Condominiums. Somebody might get embarrassed. Television host Jay Leno once ... through. Trust your upbringing. Grow in your understanding--particularly of the Word of God. Live out your faith. Jazz musician Kurt Whalum was scheduled to speak at Texas Southern University. He decided to add a little color to his talk by ...

6. Generations

John 4:1-26

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... generation, they have more of a sense of living in a dying culture than a new culture being born. The suicide of rock star Kurt Cobain was another defining event: for many he symbolized a generation with lyrics like "Oh, well, whatever, never mind," or in the words of ... an identification with animals (at Oberlin College, a veggie dining hall serves over 20 percent of the college's 2,200 students). It will be this generation that will make a McDonald's fortune for the person who creates quality vegetarian fast ...

7. Will 2012 Be the End of the World?

Revelation 7:9-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... wreak havoc on society. It may be only a matter of time until we have another catastrophe at least on the scale of 9/11. Kurt Vonnegut wrote a novel years ago titled, Cat’s Cradle. In this novel an important book comes to light. Its somewhat lengthy title is, What ... the citizens of the Czech Republic overthrew its communist government. You may remember that this revolution was sparked by students in Prague who began chanting to the Communist party leadership, even while they were still in power, “You have ...

8. Leading as Loving

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... over, to insulate oneself from or to create a moat and pull up the drawbridge. Leadership listens and consults. When that does not happen, we begin to see events like the recent, and ultimately tragic, student revolt that rocked China. Kurt Lewin extensively studied the dynamics of leadership and wrote about the “authoritarian” leader, the “laissez-faire” leader and the “democratic” leader. Alvin Lindgren, in summarizing Lewin’s findings, wrote: “Authoritarian” leadership evoked either a ...

9. Show Me Your Baptismal Certificate

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... wallet as a kid? I know my first wallet made me feel more “grown up.” But what could you actually put in it? Your student ID. A few bucks. Your driver’s permit and then later, hopefully, thankfully, your driver’s license. Maybe a few of those “wallet sized ... leader, to the Jesus category of follower. One of the most famous “baptismal scenes” in the world of literature comes from Kurt Vonnegut’s God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (1970). Eliot Rosewater is an eccentric do-gooder. In a moment in the ...

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