Sermon and Worship Resources

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1. What Ever Happened to Norman Rockwell?

Colossians 3:1-17

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... single persons, or those who choose to remain childless? We had difficulty having children and always ran into the same thing on Mother's Day. I realize this is something you can't fully appreciate, but I ask for more sensitivity in the future. No, Norman Rockwell doesn't live here anymore. And for that matter, neither does St. Paul. Which brings us to the reading of the morning. This text and its parallel in Ephesians can be troublesome for those of us who want to take scripture seriously, so we might ...

2. Praying for the People

Luke 4:14-30

Illustration

Gary L. Carver

... mama taught me that when people speak mean of you, you pray for them just like Jesus prayed for the people who spoke mean of him." You see, when Jesus lives in your heart, you just can't hate anybody. Note: Ruby was the subject of this famous and controversial Norman Rockwell painting. Notice the graffiti on the wall.

3. Updating Some Ancient Laws

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... stood watching the weighing in. Each of them had a pleased look as if each knew a secret joke. There’s nothing unusual about a butcher and a customer watching as a turkey is being weighed. The expression on their faces indicated that something unusual was going on. Norman Rockwell lets us in on the joke by showing us their hands. The butcher is pushing down on the scales with a big, fat thumb. The woman is pushing up on them with a dainty fore-finger. Neither is aware of what the other is doing. (T. Cecil ...

4. "Hands Off!"

Exodus 20:1-21, Luke 19:11-27

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... and the butcher is standing back of the counter, apron pulled tight over his fat stomach, a pencil tucked behind his ear. The customer, a lovely lady of about sixty, is watching the weighing-in. Each of them has a pleased look as if each knows a secret joke. Norman Rockwell lets us in on the joke by showing us their hands. The butcher is pushing down on the scales with a big fat thumb. The woman is pushing up on them with a dainty forefinger. Neither is aware of what the other is doing. Both the butcher and ...

5. Soul Food

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Larry Goodpaster

... all it’s just a picture of bread, like that bread I have on my counter back in my kitchen at this very hour. Let’s try another picture, if I can punch the correct button again. Here it is, and you will recognize it as a Norman Rockwell painting. Yes, there is the ever-popular, familiar picture of a family Thanksgiving dinner, complete with all the trimmings and all the members of the family about to partake of dinner. Many of us can identify with those warm memories of family gatherings such as this one ...

6. Free to Live as Victors

1 John 5:1-12

Sermon

Charles L. Koester

... years ago, McCalls magazine featured a portrait painted by the famous artist, Norman Rockwell. Perhaps you recall this one. Rockwell here protrayed, in striking terms, a truth about ourselves, a truth about our ... an enigma! We who share in Christ’s victory over death, we who have overcome even the world, are among the depressed. Like the passing crowd of Rockwell’s painting, our eyes are cast upon cold concrete. Some only look up when they are flat on their backs. Where is the victory that overcomes the ...

7. I Never Promised You a Rose Garden

Jeremiah 20:7-18

Sermon

... , confronted and committed. 1. Compelled (Verses 7-9) The prophet says, "God has deceived me ... I have become a laughing-stock and a joke." People are making fun of him because he proclaims God’s message, shouting "Violence and destruction!" One of Norman Rockwell’s classic Saturday Evening Post covers shows a boy all dressed up in a suit, pushing a baby buggy. He is obviously unhappy, especially since two other boys are passing by, wearing their baseball uniforms, mocking him. No one likes to be ...

8. Is God With You, Or Not?

Exodus 17:1-7

Sermon

... with his underhanded dealing. Because we do wrong and seem to "get by with it" does not mean God puts his approbation upon it. Rather, God knows character is often wrought through adversity, so having it too easy is not always good for us. Norman Rockwell, the great American artist, said, "When I want a dog model, I always go to the city pound. Dogs that have taken a beating from life have character." "Difficult" Doesn't Mean God is Absent The Israelites are hungry now, and their first thought (after ...

9. The Therapy of Song

1 Samuel 16:14-23, Exodus 15:1-21, Psalm 5:1-12

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... played it with his hand; so Saul was refreshed." Finally, let me suggest that in regard to religious faith, music performs two important functions. First, it heals. You may remember that cover of the Saturday Evening Post, published several years ago, which featured a Norman Rockwell painting of a boy practicing his violin. In obvious pain, he stood before his music stand complete with ear muffs so he couldn’t hear the music he was creating and a time clock so he could stop just as soon as possible. That ...

10. Just Common People?

Romans 12:1-8

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... who was describing the illustrations on the cover of the Post. The term that he used for them was pungent - "Insignificance, U.S.A." Well, most of us, I’m sure, have, in the past, found the Post covers, especially those paintings by Norman Rockwell, delightful. Yet, on the other hand, perhaps the artist had his point, because looking back, I discovered that the little, human interest scenes depicted on most of the covers were pretty much just that. They were familiar, homely, friendly stuff - pretty much ...

11. THE NEIGHBORHOOD GAP

Sermon

William McKee Aber

... down in the summer! Okay. That’s the problem. We get annoyed with our neighbor because of the way he is, and let’s at least be realistic enough to realize that that’s how life is! We yearn for the small town neighborhood of Norman Rockwell’s Saturday Evening Post covers, where everyone knew and loved everyone else, when such a world no longer exists ... if, in fact, it ever did. (One reason for the demise of that particular magazine may have been its appeal to a small town America that existed ...

12. The Danger of Discipleship

Luke 14:25-35

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... be a member." "Uh-huh. Well, thank you, Reverend. We will get back to you as we continue our search." Sure! Is that the kind of church that would appeal to you? A few, perhaps. But most would be drawn to something more in the vision of Norman Rockwell, a third grade Sunday School class full of little girls with blond pigtails and little boys with slingshots in their back pockets, all of them bowing their heads in prayer; families lined up in a comfortable pew in a sanctuary graced by the spectrum of light ...

13. Going Home for Christmas?

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... them, studied them, tagged them, and then let them go. The newspaper article then shared that 15 days and many thousands of miles later, the birds were back home on their island of origin. I have always been moved by this homing instinct, which Norman Rockwell captures so beautifully in many of his paintings. The family is gathered around a table with faces reflecting the special joy of the occasion. There is a beautiful song that is popular around this time of year that captures this homing instinct: I''ll ...

14. King Forever!

John 6:56-69

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

Norman Rockwell has a painting titled Lift Up Thine Eyes. Shown in his painting is the magnificent entrance to an urban cathedral. Vaulted high above its carved gothic doors are statues of the prophets, apostles, and martyrs. And right in the center is Jesus Christ, sitting on a throne at the right ...

15. A Life Well Lived

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Sermon

King Duncan

... . I’ve spent an extraordinary amount of time in jail, and for what? I’ve accumulated no real estate, no pension, no IRAs. And none of it has been easy.” That’s what St. Paul could have said. When he gave his life to Christ he probably envisioned a Norman Rockwell kind of world; what he got was a Picasso. Life had been hard for him. Listen again to his words, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” When Paul said he had kept the faith, he meant that he had ...

16. Merry Christmas or Happy Kitschmas?

1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... and light, if the painting pictures perfection, if there is no indecency allowed, it is “kitsch.” Barbie is “kitsch.” Barney is “kitsch.” Thomas Kincaid is “kitsch.” The “Brady Bunch” was “kitsch.” “Ozzie and Harriet” were “kitsch.” Norman Rockwell’s Saturday Evening Post illustrations were “kitsch.” Without the grit and messiness of reality, there is no real, living, organic content. That is why celebrating the real, physical incarnation of Jesus that is so “kitsch ...

17. Luke 1:26-38

Luke 1:26-38

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... us, it just wouldn't be Christmas without reading Luke's eloquent words foretelling Jesus' birth. Tampa's James A. Harnish says that the difference between Luke's account of the Christmas story and Matthew's account is the difference between a Norman Rockwell painting in Saturday Evening Post and a tax collector's report. "If Luke reads like the Saturday Evening Post," Harnish writes, "then Matthew reads like the Wall Street Journal." In Luke's account, all the facets of this expertly crafted scene combine ...

18. Lift Up Thine Eyes!

John 6:56-69

Illustration

Stephen M. Crotts

19. The Whole Family Survival Kit

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... ” whose ancestral links goes back thousands of years, is it any wonder that when just two or three (or maybe four) generations of families gather together for a “picture perfect” Christmas, that there aren’t more merry-hairy-meltdowns? Less Norman Rockwell’s “Freedom from Want” or Thomas Kinkade’s “Hometown Christmas Memories -More Picasso’s “Guernica.” Dealing with the stress of “relativity” is the subject of a U-Tube video put out for the holidays. The video both pokes fun, and ...

20. The Finger and Thumb

Illustration

Michael P. Green

One of the famous Norman Rockwell Saturday Evening Post covers showed a woman buying a Thanksgiving turkey. The turkey was on the scales and the butcher was standing behind the counter. The customer, a lady of about sixty, stood watching the weigh-in. Each had a pleased look, but a quick glance at the painting shows ...

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