Sermon and Worship Resources

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1. Nursery Rhyme Hermeneutics

Illustration

Michael P. Green

In all innocence, children have for centuries sung a nursery rhyme that is in truth anything but an innocent verse: Ring-a-ring o’roses, A pocket full of posies, A-tishoo! A-tishoo! We all fall down! The rhyme arose about 1665 in the streets of London during a plague epidemic of the Black Death. Each phrase of the rhyme refers to an aspect of the plague. “Ring o’roses” is a reference to the small, red rashlike areas that developed on people infected with the plague. “Pocket full of posies” is a ...

2. DNA Nursery Rhyme

Humor Illustration

Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was slightly gray. It didn't have a father, just some borrowed DNA. It sort of had a mother, though the ovum was on loan. It was not so much a lambkin, as a little lamby clone. And soon it had a fellow clone, and soon it had some more. They followed her to school one day, all cramming through the door. It made the children laugh and sing, the teachers found it droll. There were too many lamby clones, for Mary to control. No other could control the sheep, since their ...

3. Mother Goose

Luke 19:1-10

Children's Sermon

King Duncan

... after they brought 10 children into the world. Can you imagine trying to look after 10 children as a single parent? It was hard. But Mother Goose kept all her children entertained by composing nursery rhymes. Her nephew collected and published her nursery rhymes as a book. Millions of children have enjoyed Mother Goose nursery rhymes since then. Imagine that--ten children! Mother Goose's story reminds me of the old lady who lived in the shoe. She had so many children--what? That's right. She didn't know ...

4. A True Story

Luke 24:1-12

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

... . Good morning, boys and girls! I am sure that all of you have heard some nursery rhymes. I brought along a book of nursery rhymes today. This book has some of the all-time favorite nursery rhymes inside it. One that I always liked when I was your age was the one called, ``Hey, Diddle Diddle.'' It was about a cat and a fiddle and a cow jumping over the moon. How many of you know that one? (Let them answer.) Of course, it couldn't happen, ...

5. The Joy of Sorrow?

Matthew 5:4

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... no home without heartache or grief. Sorrow is a universal emotion. Grief is something all of us experience. There is a nursery rhyme that most of us have been repeating since childhood: Hark, hark ... the dogs do bark! The beggars are coming to town: Some in rags, ... and Some in tags, and Some in velvet gowns. Some of the truth of that nursery rhyme finally dawned on me last week: the grievers, those who sorrow, are dressed all sorts of ways in rags, tags, velvet gowns. ...

6. Under the Rainbow

Genesis 9:1-17

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... disarmament. The covenant is perpetual, and the covenant is universal - with "all living creatures." An aside here. In the Hebrew there is a "sing-songy" emphasis-by-repetition style that is not reflected well at all in English translation. It is almost in the meter of a nursery rhyme - a teaching device that every culture has used to great advantage. That reminds us that these early chapters of the book of Genesis are not to be understood as history. Rather, they answer, in story form (and even in ...

7. Lord of the Harvest

Matthew 9:35-38, Luke 10:1-24

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... immediately follow their own shepherd. Sometimes though a sheep could get distracted and if one went astray, others could follow. Sheep are natural followers. So it was very important to have a shepherd who was paying attention. And not sleeping on the job, as the nursery rhyme suggests little boy blue was. The shofar is a Jewish instrument. I’ve got one here today. [Blow it if you can and dare.] It is one of the prominent metaphors in our scriptures for the sound of God’s voice. And in fact scripture ...

8. Easter 2

Jn 20:19-31 · 1 Pet 1:3-9 · Acts 2:14a, 22-32 · Ps 16 · Ps 111

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... 's evil impulses for the salvation of the world. Humpty Dumpty. "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king's horses and all the king's men could not put Humpty Dumpty together again." Nursery rhymes contain truths about life. The Humpty Dumpty rhyme, for instance, reveals the truth that certain actions cannot be undone. It teaches us to be circumspect concerning how we live our lives. Even God cannot undo what we have done, but he can put the pieces back together again. Peter ...

9. Finding Life!

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

... of living can be done. A good book is not all title and "finis" - the book is what's between. There is a nursery rhyme, a rather stupid one, which tells us of Solomon Grundy who was born on Monday, christened on Tuesday, and married on Wednesday; he took ill ... on Thursday, was worse on Friday, died on Saturday, and was buried on Sunday - and, so the rhyme goes, that was the end of Mr. Grundy! Not a very good biography, is it? It is too much like a volume of numbered ...

10. The Foolish Farmer

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Carveth Mitchell

... are sixty-one words in this procession of abundance; twelve of them are the first person singular: my. A grand Christian man once said, "It is not how much of my possessions I use for God; it is how much of God’s possessions I keep for myself." Recall the nursery rhyme: Little Jack Horner sat in a corner Eating his Christmas pie. He stuck in his thumb And pulled out a plumb And said [of all the ridiculous things to say!] "What a good boy am I." Not "What a good farmer my father is." Not "What a good cook ...

11. The Foolish Farmer

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

12. A "Somebody Done Somebody Wrong" Song

Hosea 1:2-10

Sermon

Lee Ann Dunlap

... on a wall; Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty together again. This is a nursery rhyme we learned as children, and somewhere along the line in history class we were taught that its composer, "Mother Goose," was, in fact, a political satirist. If we look between the lines of these playful rhymes we will find some kind of hidden message poking fun at royalty. (I guess you had to be there to get the joke.) Whether Sir Dumpty was some courtier ...

13. The Locust Years

Joel 2:23-32

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... like that is almost ingrained in us from the time we learn: Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet Eating her curds and whey. Along came a spider and sat down beside her And frightened Miss Muffet away.[1] I don't know if Israel had a nursery rhyme to describe their feelings about bugs. If they did, it might have been about locusts rather than spiders. In Palestine, locusts have always been a problem. They are much more than a creepy inconvenience. They can devastate an entire area with all the horror of an ...

14. The Clop, Clop, Clop of a Donkey

Luke 19:28-44

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... her fingers and bells on her toes,She shall have music wherever she goes. Sometimes they would have to hang on for dear life. The ride delighted them, and I was delighted at being a young father. I assume parents of young children still do this. Maybe they sing another nursery rhyme: This is the way the ladies ride ...This is the way the gentlemen ride ...This is the way the farmer rides ... Most of us have engaged in such simulated horseback choreography. When they outgrew this ...

15. Easter Power

John 20:19-23, John 20:24-31

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

... be obvious and apparent to everyone. We all suffer from the problem at one level or another, and generally from more than one level at a time. However, what is not so obvious is that people are inept at overcoming the destructiveness of bad human relations. The nursery rhyme is correct about Humpty Dumpty, who had the great fall. "All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together again." But God can and does through the power of the forgiveness he shares with us. Husband and wife can ...

16. Getting and Giving

John 13:31-38

Sermon

Glenn E. Ludwig

Solomon Grundy, Born on Monday, Christened on Tuesday, Married on Wednesday, Took ill on Thursday, Worse on Friday, Died on Saturday, Buried on Sunday. This is the end of Solomon Grundy. It is an old nursery rhyme that some of you may recall. Now, I'm not suggesting that we use it to replace the gospel text for today, but I did begin with it because it picks up one of the central themes of our text: the shortness of life on this earth. Jesus said to ...

17. I Am The Light Of The World

Sermon

Ronald Lavin

... line from the play Butterflies Are Free describes the problem of spiritual blindness well: "There are none so blind as those who refuse to see." That's the Pharisees' problem. They aren't physically blind, yet they do not see. They are not paying attention. An old nursery rhyme describes the blindness of those who refuse to see: Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been? I've been to London to visit the Queen. Pussy cat, pussy cat, what did you there? I frightened a mouse under the chair. The cat didn't see ...

18. Know What Time It Is!

Luke 16:1-15

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

... will not only have to carry our own cross, but that we can carry it. The grace of God is found, not by having crosses miraculously disappear, but in the discovery that we can, in fact, bear them. The Bible is not a book of nursery rhymes in which God is our fairy godmother who waves her magic wand thereby changing pumpkins into royal coaches. Prayers bombarding the throne of grace stemming from that assumption result in frustration if not futility. But the Bible does suggest that behind the scenes stands a ...

19. Dapple Gray

Sermon

Thomas Slavens

... His name was Dapple Gray; I lent him to a lady To ride a mile away. She whipped him, she lashed him, She rode him through the mire; I would not lend my pony now For all the lady’s hire. “Dapple Gray” is one of our finest nursery rhymes on the subject of stewardship. The lady to whom Dapple Gray was “lent” was a steward, a poor steward to be sure, but, nonetheless, a steward, one to whom had been entrusted the property of another. Dapple Gray’s rider lacked an adequate sense of her stewardship ...

20. From Rooftop to Valley and to Heaven Again!

2 Samuel 11:1-27

Sermon

Donald Zelle

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the King's horses and all the King's men Could not put Humpty Dumpty together again. This nursery rhyme tells the story of King David of our text. Those who live in the crowded cities, surrounded by privacy fences, can easily imagine how it happened. Of course, it is not proper to set up a stepladder against a privacy fence to see what it is the neighbors are grilling ...

21. The Friend At Midnight

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

Brett Blair

... . It goes like this: Late one evening an unexpected visitor came to a certain man’s home. The householder was certainly glad to see him but he was also concerned because he had no bread in the house to set before him. It is a reminder of old nursery rhyme Old Mother Hubbard who found her cupboard bare. It was the custom of the frugal Jewish mother to make only as much bread as was absolutely necessary for the day so that none would be wasted. But in the Eastern part of the world hospitality was a sacred ...

22. Sermon Opener - The Friend At Midnight

Luke 11:1-13

Illustration

23. Easter 4

Acts 2:14-41, Psalm 23:1-6, Acts 6:1-7, Acts 7:54--8:1a, 1 Peter 2:13-25, John 10:1-21

Sermon Aid

... in his passion and death, is to give life - abundant and eternal -to those who will have him as their shepherd and their Lord. SERMON SUGGESTIONS A sermon on the Gospel, John 10:1-10 - "A Question for the Sheep." No one ever forgets the nursery rhymes that are learned as little children, including the one with the question in it: "Baa, baa, black sheep, have you any wool?" There is a question, which is put before all sheep, not just "black sheep," that takes precedence over this question. It is: "Sheep ...

24. Do We Want to See?

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... indeed earnest. We want to see him enough to put our whole heart into it. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Throughout life runs the principle that what we see depends in large measure on what we want to see. We find it in nursery rhymes: "Pussycat, pussycat, where have you been? I’ve been to London to visit the queen. Pussycat, pussycat, what did you do there? I frightened a little mouse under a chair." A cat would not be a cat if it looked at a queen and forgot the mouse. We see ...

25. A Thanksgiving Question

1 Corinthians 4:1-21

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... ; therefore, we can have thanksgiving." "We won an election this year; therefore, we can have thanksgiving." But thankful to whom? Mostly to ourselves that we did so well. Sometimes we sound a bit like Little Jack Horner at Thanksgiving. Do you remember the old nursery rhyme? "Little Jack Horner sat in a corner, eating his Christmas pie. He stuck in his thumb and pulled out a plum, and said, 'What a good fellow am I."' There were lots of little Jack Horners in the ancient church at Corinth. Those Christians ...

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