Sermon and Worship Resources

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Isaiah 9:1-7

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

"The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light" (v. 2). These words are the joyous introduction to an oracle proclaiming the glorious reign of an unnamed Judean king. The primary symbol is that of light, a glorious light penetrating the darkness of night and despair. But that is particularly hard, since, with our technology, we have managed to banish darkness. Our highways, our cities,...

2. A Tale Of Two Cities

Micah 5:1-4

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

Our story today is a tale of two cities. The first is named in our text: "But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah ..."(v. 2a). If Bethlehem is little, with what is it to be contrasted? With Jerusalem, of course, the great holy city. Jerusalem was the capital of Judah, the home of the king. It was more than a royal center, however, since it was also the site of ...

3. A Tree Well Watered

Jeremiah 16:1--17:18

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

In Washington, D.C., where the city thrives on politics, there is something called "conventional wisdom." It is what people perceive as the present judgment of the community on the present status of people: who is in and who is out, who has a future and who does not, what is stylish or socially acceptable, and what is not, who has the clout and who is ineffectual. The Bible also has wisdom, which...

4. All Is Restored?

Job 42:1-17

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

Our text brings us to the climax of the book of Job. Last week, the denouement began in chapter 38, with the ominous voice of God speaking to Job out of the whirlwind: "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me" (Job 38:2-3). Then, for two chapters, God thunders at Job, hammering away at his ignoranc...

5. An Answer Out of the Whirlwind

Job 38:1-7 (34-41)

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

What does it mean to be great? That is the question our texts raise today. "Great" is a wide-ranging word: You can have a great king, great skill, a great storm, a great number, great joy, or great fear. You can use it in its Greek form, mega — as in megachurch; or in its Latin form, magna — as in magnify. It can refer to physical form, size, or height. Pull yourself up, stand tall, like the cedar...

6. Are You a King?

2 Samuel 23:1-7

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

Are you the king of the Jews? We are familiar with that question, which is asked of Jesus in the passion story. Everyone in those days knew what a king was! We are not talking here about best sport, or Miss Congeniality — we are talking kings! When Alexander the Great was the greatest king of the then-known world, he decided to conquer all of Asia Minor. Darius, the King of Persia, the only other ...

7. Arise! Shine! For Your Light Has Come

Isaiah 60:1-22

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

Doubtless you remember the television commercial in which a man steps up to a bar and says: "Give me a light." After he is blasted with every possible sort of light, from fire to laser beams, he sheepishly corrects himself: "Give me a Bud Lite." This is a modern parable. Like all living beings, we look for light, but often we are willing to settle for lite beer! It is just something to get us thr...

8. Called! Cleansed! Sent

Isaiah 6:1-13

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

Today's lesson is about the majesty and mystery of God. It is about our creatureliness and God's might. It is about that which is holy, grave, dreadful, incalculable, incomprehensible, unspeakable, tremendous, awesome. It is about something which we hardly have any sense of in our age. Just take that last adjective, awesome. It has been reduced to a description of a slam dunk or a video performanc...

9. Called To Pull Down; Called To Rebuild

Jeremiah 1:1-19

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

This text is a narrative of the call of Jeremiah; but before the call narrative, we have a preface by the editor of the tradition, placing the call in its historical context (1:1-3). The word of the Lord does not exist in a vacuum and it does not work only in some spiritual realm. It is rooted in our history and related to our chronology. It came in all its specificity to Jeremiah, son of Hilkiah ...

10. Death Is Swallowed Up Forever

Isaiah 25:6-9

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

All Saints is a time to celebrate the victory over death we share with all the saints and our risen Lord. Still, we must never think that victory is an easy one. Death is an overwhelming power that interrupts our communion with God and with one another. It is the destroyer of all that is true and good. Israel had known that power at work in her own communal disaster, the destruction of Jerusalem. ...

11. Do Not Forget Your Servant

1 Samuel 1:4-20

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

How to have law and order without tyranny? That is the question. Israel began as a rather loosely connected tribal confederacy. The Israelite tribes were led by charismatic leaders, or judges, under the divine direction of Yahweh. They were supposed to be knit together in one harmonious unit. They would avoid the tyranny, which was the result of being governed by a king. Instead, they would have Y...

12. From Emptiness to Fullness

Ruth 3:1-5, 4:13-17

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

Today, we learn from two women. The first is the woman we met last week, Ruth. Her story takes up a whole book of the Bible. We hear her speak, listen in on her deliberations, and follow her story. The second woman is nameless and speechless. She appears in only one short vignette in Mark and functions as an object lesson that Jesus uses in the gospel narrative. We are to learn from what she does....

13. God Begins Anew

Jeremiah 31:31-34

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

In some ways the Old Testament lesson today (Jeremiah 31:31-34) may seem rather strange for Reformation Sunday. It speaks of law more than gospel and it is futuristic rather than realized. Still, it does speak of the sure saving will of God! It is that will which will result in a new covenant to go with the new act of salvation about to be accomplished by the Lord, namely the return from exile. Th...

14. Growing In The Lord

1 Samuel 2:12-26

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

A human birth, as the beginning of life, is representative of most beginnings that occur in life. Like birth, all beginnings are full of promise. Like birth, all beginnings are hard. The major moves of God's dealings in history seem to be marked by births. The story of the patriarchs is begun with the birth of Isaac (Genesis 12). The beginning of the history of Israel as a people is marked with t...

15. Homecoming

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

"Goin' home, goin' home, I'm a' goin' home." These words from the spiritual song sound the plaintive, universal longing for homecoming. We all resonate warmly to the idea of going home to "see the folks," to return to our roots, to recapture memories. In poetry and in song, homecoming has been celebrated. This text speaks of Israel's homecoming, but it is not an ordinary homecoming. It is not the...

16. Hope Against Hope

Jeremiah 33:1-26

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

Chaim Potok begins his novel In the Beginning, with these words: All beginnings are hard. I can remember my mother murmuring those words while I lay in bed with a fever. "Children are often sick, darling. That's the way it is with children. All beginnings are hard. You'll be all right soon."1 Whether it is the beginning of life, with all its fragility, the beginning of marriage with all its risk...

17. Oh, That I Knew Where I Might Find Him

Job 23:1-9, 16-17

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

Then Job answered, "Today also is my complaint bitter." With those words, we go from the patience of Job to the bitterness of Job, from a docile Job to a defiant Job. Last week, Job was the model of submission. To him we owe the powerful proverbs: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away" (Job 1:21). Last week, we left Job sit...

18. Prepare The Way

Malachi 2:17--3:5

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

Traditionally, the second Sunday in Advent brings us face to face with the forerunner, John the Baptist. But John does not stand alone. He stands knee deep in history, and history is a part of the world Christ came to redeem. Let us look at the gospel lesson (Luke 3:1-6) before we turn to the Old Testament. It begins in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius. So who was Tiberius? He was born of n...

19. Safely Through The Waters

Isaiah 43:1-13

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

By the rivers of Babylon -- there we sat down and there we wept when we remembered Zion. On the willows there we hung up our harps. For there our captors asked us for songs, and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!" How could we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land? (Psalm 137:1-4). The rivers of Babylon were the bitter waters of exile, the devastating wate...

20. The Advent Of Our Lord

Zephaniah 3:1-20

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

In years past the third Sunday in Advent was known as Gaudete Sunday. The name came from the Latin form of the first word of the Introit for that day: "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, Rejoice!" In a season which was known for its solemn preparation for Christmas, this Sunday was a little respite from seriousness. The color of the day changed from violet to rose and flowers were allowe...

21. The Call Of The Tradition: Remember And Return

Nehemiah 7:73b--8:18

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

Ezra read from the book of the law "from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law" (v. 3); and "all the people wept when they heard the words of the law (v. 9). This reading of the word of God stands in interesting contrast to the reading done by Jesus in the gospel for ...

22. The Silence Broken, The Bride Restored

Isaiah 62:1-12

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

"For Zion's sake I will not keep silent" (v. 1). The issue here is silence, the silence of God. Our text comes from the section of Isaiah which is usually dated during the time of rebuilding after the return from exile. It is from the part of the tradition called Third Isaiah. It reflects a time of great discouragement. Israel lived and worshipped among ruins. Foreign overlords seized the harvest ...

23. The Unveiled Truth

Exodus 34:29-35

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

Moses with horns! Have you ever seen a painting of Moses with horns? It was a common artistic convention in the middle ages to portray Moses with two horns, one on each side of his head. It all began with this passage. It says that when Moses came down from the mountain, the skin of his face shown. The root of that verb for shining (grn) is the same as the word for horn. Here it seems to be used ...

24. You Meant Evil; God Meant Good

Genesis 45:1-28

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

"I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt." With this poignant revelation, we come to the primary resolution of the Joseph story; but do we remember the beginning? It all started with a dream! Young Joseph was the favorite son of his father, the son of his old age. He was the one with the luxurious coat from his father. Joseph was too good to be true, the kind brothers can hardly abide...

25. Your God Shall Be My God

Ruth 1:1-18

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

Like the short story that gave structure to the book of Job, so the book of Ruth is considered to be a finely honed literary piece, often called a novella. It is meant to exhibit exemplary behavior. Just as Job proved faithful through good fortune and ill, so the characters in the book of Ruth are equally laudatory. The story starts with an Israelite family in the time of the judges. (This histor...

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