Sermon and Worship Resources

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1. The Counter Intelligence of the Cross

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5, 1 Corinthians 1:10-17, 1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... struggle. When he was asked what he was doing, he replied: ‘Because even after I am dead, I would want anyone passing by this way to say, ‘A fellow and his match struggled here.’” As cited on p. 70 of What is the Point of Being a Christian (2007) by Timothy Radcliffe. I love that turtle.

2. What Is Eternal Life?

John 3:1-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... do we traffic in today if we are living the Eternal Now? Have you ever noticed how images of heaven are boring? Eternity can appear too much of a good thing . . . “What is today? Today is eternity.” Meister Eckhart (as quoted on p. 22 of Timothy Radcliffe, What is the Point of Being a Christian?). Woody Allen: “Eternity is a very long time, particularly at the end.” “Everything that is not eternal is eternally out of date.” C. S. Lewis “Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than ...

3. Harmony and Humor: The Ties That Bind Christianity’s Many Christianities

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... (in “Imagine”) a world without religion. John Lennon, the Beatle, said that he gave up going to church after the vicar threw him out for laughter. After that he went to church every morning, in the temple of his own head (as referenced by Timothy Radcliffe, Why Go To Church, page 1, from a 1969 interview broadcast on BBC’s “Sunday,” 13 July 2008). Our ancestors in the Middle Ages used gargoyles to laugh at the devil. Gargoyles with grotesque faces defended the church and its holy places with the ...

4. Put on Some Clothes

Colossians 3:1-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... a mantle of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forgiveness, and love. It is only when the Body of Christ has “put on” all these Christ characteristics that the community can resonate with the harmony of the Prince of Peace. A new book by Dominican Timothy Radcliffe tells the story of Mother Theresa going to a party in her honor attended by important people in Rome. Before entering the party, she stopped to talk at length to a beggar nearby. People began to come out to look for her, and ...

5. Ring Those Bells

1 Peter 3:8-22

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... by what may be called a birthday party. You say, what? A memorial reception as a “birthday party?” Yes, in the early church the day you died, not the day you born, was celebrated as your birthday because your death day is your birthday into eternity. Timothy Radcliffe, a master of the Dominican Order, has written a book on baptism where he explains how in the dunking down into the water and the coming up again and gasping for air, we symbolize how in baptism we share Christ’s death and we share Christ ...

6. Hemlock and Hyssop

Romans 6:1-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... is the opposite of identity protection. Christian baptism is the willingness to give up a protected identity for participation in a ”group” identity, an ecclesial identity, for participation in a new reality known as the “body of Christ.” Timothy Radcliffe, a British Dominican priest, has written a beautiful book on the transforming power of baptism. His book Take the Plunge (Bloomsbury: London, 2012) redefines the moment of baptism for Christians, putting it in 21st century terms. The moment of ...

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