Sermon and Worship Resources

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Psalm 138:1-8

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... 'm amazed. I find life to be amazing! That's the "awe factor"...to be amazed in all of life. I don't know if kids in school learn poetry anymore, but I am thankful for Mrs. Loll in fourth grade who made us memorize great poetry, like this. Edna St. Vincent Millay sings the song of awe and wonder: O World, I cannot hold thee close enough! Thy winds, thy wide grey skies! Thy mists that roll and rise! World, World, I cannot get thee close enough. Long have I known a glory in it all, But never knew I this ...

2. The Unexpected Universe

Matthew 11:1-19

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... to the profit motive, are committed to Christ's unexpected universe. So our hospitals often are named St. Luke's or St. Mary's or St. Vincent's or Methodist or Presbyterian. Is this unexpected universe in place and working, you ask? My ... farther to New York or Chicago or San Francisco, or farther to Honolulu or Hong Kong or Beijing or Tokyo or Moscow or St. Petersburg -- travel on and you will find them, monuments not to Alexander the Great, but monuments to King Jesus, working, living monuments, beautiful ...

3. David's Turn From Wisdom

2 Samuel 11:1-27

Sermon

Sue Anne Steffey Morrow

... section or a poem I'd like to find with dispatch. Some are helpful in a direct manner, some reflective. My line-up includes Strunk and White's Elements of Style, Willa Cather's My Antonia, St. Exupery's The Little Prince. William Zinnser's Willie & Dwike is the one I read last summer. I have Edna St. Vincent Millay's Collected Poems, in which the poetry reflects labor, love, loss. Her sonnet on grief moves me no matter how many times I reread it. "Time does not bring relief. You all have lied. Who told ...

4. The Bodily Glorification of God

John 1:29-34

Sermon

... for. Maybe that is what Saint Paul meant when he said, "Glorify God with your body." Maybe he meant, "Quit sitting around talking about it and be there. Go there and put it on the line." In a few weeks, people of this church are going on a mission to St. Vincent. They are going to bodily witness their faith in Jesus Christ and their faith in his power to heal and to set people free. It is one thing to sit in church and think about witnessing or to sit in a committee and reflect on it, but it is another ...

5. No Freudian Slip!

Matthew 6:25-34

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... I had some anxiety wondering what was so important that this fellow had to see me immediately and in private. It was then that Ronald Reed told me a most extraordinary story. He was apologetic and self-conscious. He had just been discharged from St. Vincent's Hospital. He had been a patient there, receiving dialysis courtesy of government welfare. He pulled out his discharge papers and showed me that his story was true. He then rolled up his shirt sleeves and showed me his forearms, both grossly misshapen ...

6. The Season Of The Holy Spirit

Mark 7:1-23

Bulletin Aid

Wayne H. Keller

... small, uncaring ways ... Always and always, life can be lost without vision, but not lost by death. Lost by not daring, willing, going on beyond the ragged edge of fortitude to something more, something no one has seen" (Edna St. Vincent Millay). Response Alleluia! Yippee! Amen! followed by lively and energetic "Threefold Amen!" Meditation "Many go through their years without changing, but they do nothing more than huddle on a chronological treadmill, searching for an illusionary security and something ...

7. The Aim Of Preaching: To Bestow The Kiss Of Life

John 20:19-23

Sermon

James Angell

... of the implementation of our own petitions by being alive to the grandeur of the world itself, alive to the differences that keep it interesting, alive to children, alive to love, and to the divine within the ordinary - the kinds of awareness that prompted Edna St. Vincent Millay to write:"God, I can push the grass apart, and lay my finger on Thy heart." The church, too, is on its own quest for renewal. Statistics about growth, if Presbyterians are normative, continue to be dismal. But if I had my life to ...

8. COMMAND TO SHARE

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

Ewart E. Turner

... religion of the day. With loving pride the Master commented, "Yes, indeed. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of heaven suffereth violence (according to the endangered hierarchy) and men of violence (John and his militant followers) take it by storm." Quotation from Renascence. By Edna St. Vincent Millay; Harper & Brothers, New York, 1917. Page 5.

9. Internal Medicine

Matthew 6:16-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... made a point of it in the article. But the truth of it remains: Jesus expected us to fast. And when we do we find the contours of our souls. We find the definition of our characters. We find out who we really are before God. Says the poet (Edna St. Vincent Millay): I drank at every vine The last was like the first. I came upon no wine So wonderful as thirst. I gnawed at every root, I ate of every plant. I came upon no fruit So wonderful as want. Feed the grape and the bean To the vintner and ...

10. A New You in a New Year (Part X)

Philippians 3:1-11

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... I believe the Apostle Paul, writing to the church at Philippi, gives a time-honored principle that worked in 63 A.D. and will work for us in 1993. FIRST, IF YOU WANT TO MAKE EVERY DAY COUNT, YOU MUST CHOOSE A PRIORITY. I believe it was Edna St. Vincent Millay, who once shared, "I know that life must go on, but I forget just why." We sometimes miss the great opportunities of life because we get sidetracked. I once heard the tale of a talented bloodhound in England that started a hunt by chasing a full grown ...

11. A New You or a New Year

Philippians 3:1-11

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... New You in a New Year." I believe the Apostle Paul, writing to the church at Philippi gives a time-honored principle that worked in 63 A.D. or today. First, if you want to make every day count, you must choose a priority. I believe it was Edna St. Vincent Millay, who once said, "I know that life must go on, but I forget just why." We sometimes miss the great opportunities of life because we get sidetracked. I once heard the tale of a talented and gifted bloodhound in England that started a hunt by chasing a ...

12. Curiosity Or Consecration

Romans 12:1-8

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... him reach that stolid, tight shut mind. Now you may not be as much the mystic as Frank Laubach, I’m not. I wish I were. The truth still is - wholeness comes only through an intentional, intimate, ongoing communion with the living Christ. This is the way Edna St. Vincent Malay felt about it - the world stands out on either side, no wider than the heart is wide. Above the world is stretched the sky, no higher than the soul is high. The heart can push the sea and land farther back on either hand. The soul ...

13. Speaking of the Spirit

Romans 8:12-17

Sermon

William G. Carter

... and testing the adults all around them. I know some adults who might think that taking a trip like that, with kids so full of energy, would be more trouble than it was worth. But that was not the case. At lunch on that Saturday, we went to St. Vincent's Catholic Church in Germantown. That parish runs a soup kitchen in their fellowship hall. The kids in our class dished up canned ravioli and vegetables for about 200 people who came through the food line. They themselves didn't get to eat lunch until almost 2 ...

14. Eating in the Echoing Hall

2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... did, I should have dealt with Absalom about it and not let him get away with murder. If only I had acted differently." "If only" could have been the title of the sermon today, but I chose to use a phrase from the twentieth-century poet Edna St. Vincent Millay who, in one of her poems, captured that sense of opportunity forever gone that underlies regret, referring to things she'd said or done and later wished she could call back: I have loved badly, loved the great Too soon, withdrawn my words too late; And ...

15. Blessed Are the Abnormal

James 2:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... dressed in shabby clothing. One day, a baker’s wife with whom he had boarded saw him and asked why he had given away his good clothing. Vincent van Gogh replied, “I am a friend of the poor like Jesus was.” Not impressed, the baker’s wife told him, “You are no longer normal.” ... of the Mustard Seed (Colorado Springs, CO.: NavPress, 2002), pp. 27-28. 4. Craddock Stories (St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2001). 5. http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_b_james_clothes_talk_money_talks.htm. 6. Bill Hybels. ...

16. People Who Inspire Us

2 Thessalonians 1:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... love God." 1. Bruce Nash and Allan Zullo, The Hollywood Walk of Shame (Kansas City: Andrews and McMeel, 1993). 2. Succeeding Sane by Bonnie St. John Deane, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1998, p. 184. 3. Les Sussman. Praise Him! (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998), pp. 63-68. 4. “How to Stop Troubles from Overwhelming You" by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale (Pawling, N.Y.: Foundation for Christian Living, 1964), pp. 10-12. 5. Illustrations of Bible Truths, compiled by Ruth Peters (Chattanooga, TN.: AMG Publishers ...

17. Walking On The Water

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

King Duncan

... people with it; only as long as I try to overcome it myself. It is cast out...when I deliberately remember Jesus." Dr. Norman Vincent Peale tells how he once developed laryngitis because he worried about a speaking engagement at which he would be speaking to over a ... possible hope that such a man will ever walk on the water? The answer is positively yes! The reed did become the rock. St. Paul may be better known to us in the story of the church after Pentecost because of his letters. But Simon Peter was ...

18. Why Jesus Didn't Perform Funerals

Luke 7:11-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... when Elijah offered a prayer to God. It seems clear to me from these lessons that the business of faith is new life. St. Paul understood that. He discusses at length the transformation that took place in his own life when he encountered Christ. Christ did not ... is the most destructive force in our life. We worry because we have never entirely entrusted our life to God. The late Norman Vincent Peale once told about a friend of his who coped in a marvelous way with a long bout with a disease. Dr. Peale asked ...

19. The Look Of Eagles

Philippians 3:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... which some scholars think was epilepsy, but he called simply, his thorn in the flesh. And yet, in spite of all the strikes against him, St. Paul may be the second most important man who ever lived second only to Jesus. What was his secret? What was it that put the ... could defeat him. Author Irving Stone has spent a lifetime studying greatness, writing novelized biographies of such men as Michelangelo, Vincent van Gogh, Sigmund Freud and Charles Darwin. Stone was once asked if he had found a thread that runs ...

20. "Can Do" Christianity

Philippians 4:10-20

Sermon

Raymond Gibson

... of God. To open the heart to the love of God, To devote the will to the purpose of God.2 That is the same power which enabled St. Paul to say, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." That same power is available to you and to me. It is the power which ... on the switch of faith.3 St. Paul, however, was one who did "turn on" the switch of faith. Because he did, he was "able to do all things through Christ which strengthened him." We can, too. 1. Norman Vincent Peale - "Believe You Can and ...

21. Victory on a Broken Knee

2 Timothy 4:6-8

Sermon

King Duncan

... of you own a copy. It’s known as The Living Bible. Few things in life of real worth come easily. No pain, no gain. St. Paul understood that. He gave his all and today Paul is remembered as one of the most influential men who ever lived. Here is the ... a worthy purpose to which we give our lives. Service to Christ, of course, is the worthiest purpose of all. 1. Norman Vincent Peale, Faith is the Answer (Cedar Books). 2. Kenneth Hildebrand, Achieving Real Happiness (New York: Harper & Row). 3. Cited in Julie ...

22. A Life Without Apology

2 Timothy 1:1-2:13

Sermon

King Duncan

... will have to explain away. Nothing he will have to hide. How does a person live such a life? Paul tells us in this passage. First of all, says St. Paul, honor your commitments. He writes to Timothy, "The saying is sure: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will ... from much loving support. In her book God Knows My Heart, journalist Christine Wicker interviewed a man named Vincent Hall. Mr. Hall is known throughout Dallas, Texas for two things: he is chairman of the board of ...

23. When I Am Weak, I Am Strong

2 Corinthians 12:7-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... difficult circumstances. Author Irving Stone spent a lifetime studying greatness, writing novelized biographies of such men as Michelangelo, Vincent van Gogh, Sigmund Freud and Charles Darwin. Stone was once asked if he had found a thread ... even when the world acclaims you as a success--you feel so empty. You are trying to live your life without God. That is the lesson St. Paul learned. Can you hear him testifying about what God had done in his life? “Look at me,” he would say, “I once persecuted the ...

24. Finding Glory

Galatians 6:11-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... begin his message by praying, "O God, hide me behind the cross." (5) Somehow I don~t think he really wanted to be hidden, do you? St. Paul gloried in the cross of Christ. And so can we. All we need to do is spend a few minutes thinking about the meaning of ... . There are people who are engaged in all kinds of destructive behavior because they do not know how to heal the past. Norman Vincent Peale tells about a young mother who had been unfaithful to her husband. She could not get rid of the guilt. She asked ...

25. A Date With Destiny

Philippians 2:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... Stone Blackwell, to her side just before she passed away. These were her parting words: "Make the world better." (3) Norman Vincent Peale told an amusing story of the very early Kentucky frontier. It was after the year of 1782, during which about ... live out the best we know. We are called to make this world a better place. We are called to follow in the footsteps of him of whom St. Paul wrote: "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be ...

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