Sermon and Worship Resources

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2 Kings 2:1-12

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

Each one of us gathered here today comes bearing the echoes of great people in our lives. Each one of us bears the mark of someone who touched us in a powerful way. It might be a mother or father, a grandparent, or an aunt or uncle. It could be a neighbor who took you under his or her wing, or a teacher, or even, dare I say, a pastor. If you're really blessed, you might even receive more tha...

2. A Level Playing Field for God

Isaiah 40:1-11

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

I remember some years ago taking one of my first walks in San Francisco with my then three-year-old twins. I looked at the map, and it didn't seem like such a big deal to go from one place to the other. After all, it looked flat on the map! But as my wife and I began the trek we quickly realized that this was going to be no easy stroll. Shouldering backpacks filled with three-year-old paraphernali...

3. A Sure-Fire Way to End Burn Out

Isaiah 40:21-31

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

We live in a crazy time. There is, in the air we breathe, a sense of freneticism that buzzes around us all the time. People are busy. Too busy. It can be seen in the life of the church, where people who once gave of time and energy, now curtail their efforts because "work" demands so much. Many churches, ours included, now offer dinner at Bible studies and church meetings because people work ...

4. Are All Your Sons Here?

1 Samuel 16:1-13

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

I remember sixth grade as though it were yesterday. Those shy, awkward times when we were all sliding down the slippery slope of adolescence. The young people I was growing up with, including myself, were walking this line between childhood and adulthood. One day we would step on one side of the line, and on the next day we would fall down on the other. There was no plan or intention about any of ...

5. Are We There Yet?

Acts 1:6-14

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

On long family car trips, one of the favorite questions asked by children from the backseat is, "Are we there yet?" It is a question that drives certain parents to distraction, and one that kids love to ask. Even though the family has only been in the car fifteen minutes, the question comes. Even though the car is hurling down the freeway with no indication of slowing down, the question comes. And...

6. Being a Blessing

Genesis 12:1-4a

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

Have you ever been blessed by someone? By this I mean has someone ever stopped, placed a hand on you, and declared a blessing on you in some enterprise or undertaking? I know that in the life of our church, we often pause to lay hands on sisters and brothers who are about to take leave of the community. Sometimes they are leaving on mission trips. Sometimes they may be moving away to a new job or ...

7. Being a Witness

Acts 2:14, 22-32

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

The other day I was driving along when all of a sudden, out of the blue, this car went whizzing by me on the right. The car was going about 65 miles per hour in a 25 mph zone. Just as he whipped by me, another car pulled out on my right just ahead of me. You guessed it. Wham! I was fortunate to be able to steer away from the mess and not get cracked up myself. As soon as I stopped, though, I jumpe...

8. Can These Bones Live?

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

I remember, not too long ago, I was reading some history about our nation and its westward expansion. This particular book had to do with the disappearance of the buffalo on the plains. Before white settlers happened upon the scene, buffalo were so numerous that vast herds stretched literally as far as the eye could see. There were millions of buffalo. So great were there numbers that it didn’t re...

9. Claiming a Do-Over Faith

Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

What do you think of when you hear the word "jubilee"? If you're like me, the first thing that comes to mind is sales. There's the big sales jubilee at the Chevy dealer, or the jubilee marathon sale of freezers and refrigerators at the local Sears. Those are just the things that come to my mind, but there are quite a few things that bear the jubilee label. Let me just list a few that came from rec...

10. Converting to Christianity

Acts 2:14, 36-41

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

"Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven." I can't speak for any of you, but I can tell you that in my twenty-plus years of ministry, I have seldom heard a preacher or a layperson stand up and call the people to repentance and baptism in the name of Jesus Christ. Oh, yes, I have heard it at a few tent meetings over the years, but in th...

11. Day One: a New Beginning

Genesis 1:1-5

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

Well I don't know about you, but I took down my Christmas tree on New Year's Day. I rallied the troops and my family and I did what we have come to call "de-Christmasing." The ornaments are removed from the tree, wrapped carefully, and placed in their boxes. The lights come off the tree and are placed under the basement stairs where they go. The angel on top of the tree, a gift from a member ...

12. Death Shall Be No More

John 13:31-35 · Revelation 21:1-6

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

Every once in a while something happens that totally shifts the landscape of our perceptions. Every once in a while something profound takes place that makes all our old discussions and ways of understanding move to a new location. Examples abound in history. Life after Mr. Watt’s steam engine was different forever. The invention of the assembly line catapulted us into an economic world that, for...

13. Denial Ain’t a River in Egypt

Isaiah 64:1-9

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

Have you ever denied something that, deep down, you know to be true? Have you ever turned from a situation or circumstance in order to avoid the uncomfortable process of dealing with it? Or maybe you have had the experience of keeping a stiff upper lip and pretending that something is not ... well, what it is. The term we use for this, of course, is denial. We all practice it to some extent or ot...

14. Dirty Feet

John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

When I was a kid, we spent our summers on the family farm in upstate New York. We would leave as soon as school was out at the end of June and remain there in a state of liberated bliss right through the Labor Day weekend. We were liberated in lots of ways. The family farm had over a hundred acres over which we could freely roam. We built forts and went swimming in the creek that ran through the p...

15. Doing a New Thing

Isaiah 43:18-25

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

Robert liked new things. He was one of those personalities who sought out new experiences and new approaches to life. He thrived on things different and new. He really couldn't help it. It was just the way he was. He was amazing. He would buy tickets to concerts by musicians he had never heard of, just so he could hear something new. If there was a new restaurant in town, particularly of an ethnic...

16. Everything You Do Bears Witness

John 10:22-30

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

I remember once a few weeks ago, I was having a bad day. Have you ever had a bad day? Bad days can cover a pretty wide arc of human reality, but my day began with not being able to find my bedroom slippers. Then, as soon as I got in the shower, someone downstairs ran the dishwasher and I was suddenly receiving cold water therapy at no extra charge! Then I tripped getting out of the shower and brok...

17. False Prophets

Deuteronomy 18:14-22

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

What is a prophet, anyway? The Oxford English Dictionary says that a prophet is "one who speaks for God." Actually the definitions and their roots go on for most of a whole page, but the "one who speaks for God" sums it up as far as we are concerned. Now let me ask you if you have ever known anyone who speaks for God? It seems a pretty tall order, doesn't it? Indeed, we often will look at someone ...

18. Feed My Sheep

John 21:1-19

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

I used to have this great old guitar. It was a “Harmony F-Hole, which was a copy of a much more expensive model, and it was old. I liked it, a lot. It had accompanied me on my many excursions into cafés and coffeehouses. It thumped around in the back of my old Subaru to church outings and late night jam sessions. It was, well, familiar. The varnish was all worn off on the neck and it was scratched...

19. Following a God Who Flip Flops ...

Jonah 3:1-5, 10

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

I'd like to share an observation that I've made over the past couple of decades. Perhaps you haven't noticed this, but it seems to me that one of the standards of judgment that we hold for our political leaders is that they must be consistent. We want leaders, it appears to me, who never budge, who never change, and are resolutely the same no matter what happens. Does this ring true for you?...

20. Great Expectations

2 Kings 5:1-14

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

I suspect that if pressed, we would all be able to list at least one person we could name as a hero. Mine is Martin Luther King, Jr. His ministry, his life, and his death have had a profound influence on me. He is, in my life, a giant. I read and reread his works and have made a point of finding people who knew him so they could tell me about his work. As part of my exploration of the life o...

21. Greater Works Than These?

John 14:8-17

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

What a blessing to be with you all on this Pentecost Sunday! Today we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the people and thereby giving birth to the church of Jesus Christ. We come to celebrate the wonder and power of God’s love in Jesus that calls us into community and service together. And truly we come this day to celebrate the great gift we have in Jesus Christ himself. This all ...

22. Greater Works Than These?

John 14:8-17

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

23. I Love a Parade

Isaiah 50:4-9a

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

I love Palm Sunday. It's that wonderful day when we march boldly into town waving our palm branches and loving the parade. Yes, yes, I admit. It's probably the parade I like as much as what we're shouting about as the donkey saunters by. But I do. I love Palm Sunday. And did I say, I love parades, too? I remember as a kid going with my mom every year to the Memorial Day parade in the small upstate...

24. I Love a Parade!

Luke 19:28-40

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

I wonder how many of you love parades? I think most of us get excited about a parade with all the people marching down the streets with the bands and the floats and different community groups marching. It’s a time of big celebration. When I used to serve a church in New York City it seemed like there were always these huge parades. There was the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade and the Halloween Parade ...

25. It’s Good to Know Who Is Calling

1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20)

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

When I was a boy, our family used to have a parakeet. The bird's name was "Beauty." Beauty was a bird like most. She spent her life in the cage poking at a mirror and whistling while my mom played classical music. She was quite tame, and we all loved playing with her. One special skill that she acquired, however, was whistling. In fact, she was able to perfectly copy the whistle that my dad u...

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