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Sermon
Bill Bouknight
A brand new pastor, fresh out of seminary, was preaching his first sermon in his first church. In seminary he had been taught to repeat his text numerous times for emphasis, and to pound on the pulpit occasionally. His text happened to be that promise of our Lord: "Behold I come quickly." At the beginning of the sermon he slammed the pulpit rather smartly and declared, "Behold I come quickly." The...
2. THE WATCHERS
Luke 2:21-40
Sermon
Theodore L. Yewey
May I share with you one of my favorite Christmas memories? It took place several years ago when the children in our home were young and filled with all of the enchantment and enthusiasm of Christmas that captures young minds. It was the Sunday just after Christmas and we had packed the entire family in the car and driven several miles to a nursing home where I led a short devotional time for the ...
3. Memories
Luke 2:21-40
Sermon
Daniel G. Mueller
Hidden away in just about every family’s photo album is a cute little picture of a baby’s buns. Along with all the other photos of baby’s first haircut, first birthday, first bike ride, and the like, there’s also that one picture, that infamous photo showing off baby’s buns. Parents love to have at least one such photo; but the individual whose anatomy is so displayed grows up living in fearful dr...
Sermon
John R. Brokhoff
On the Sunday after Christmas we were asked to come to a church to preach. The pastor of the church asked us to come early and have dinner with his family. We said we would but we urged him and his wife not to go to any trouble with the dinner. He replied, "We will not be having much, just some Christmas leftovers." On the first Sunday after Christmas that is just about the way it is in various wa...
5. You Are A Name!
Luke 2:21-40
Sermon
John R. Brokhoff
Today a name does not seem to mean much. We glibly ask, "What is a name?" As children we chanted, "Sticks and stones can break my bones, but names can never hurt me." A person's name is only a label, a mark of identification. A name answers the question, "Who are you?" Because a name seems to mean little in our time, some give their children odd names. One had the name "Miss Ima Hogg." One mother ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
Now will you hear the scripture lesson of the morning, from the 2nd chapter of Luke’s gospel, beginning with the 22nd verse and reading through the 35th verses?  “And when the time came for their purification, according to the Law of Moses, they brought Jesus up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.  As it is written in the law of the Lord, every male that opens the womb shall be called Holy to...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
Passwords. Passwords. And more Passwords. Anyone here tired of passwords? Anyone here have a good way of remembering your passwords? Passwords are the open sesames to protected systems on the Internet. Want to pay for on eBay with PayPal? Password. Want to sign in to AOL, or Yahoo? Password. Want to micro-blog on Twitter? Password. Want to see your kids while you talk to them on Tokbox or Skype? ...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
God called creation into being with the words “Let there be.” Son of God was called into creation with the words “Let it be.” May you “Let Be” Christ in you this 2015. May you “Let Be” you in 2015. The first sound of God’s voice we hear in Scripture is the divine round of “Let there be....” The first sound in that “Let there be” round was “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3). To “see the light” has ...
Sermon
Charley Reeb
Let’s be honest. Many folks have a strong faith in God and are seeking his will in everything they do, but they are still waiting on God to answer their prayers. They could be praying for a new job, a relationship, an illness, a problem at work, or a personal struggle. They have prayed repeatedly and have sought God’s will and still there is no answer, no sign, no movement. Maybe you know someone ...
10. Simeon
Luke 2:22-40
Sermon
David E. Leininger
I am old and ready to die. To be truthful, I have been ready to die for years, but right now, I feel ready as I have never been before. You see, earlier today, in the temple in Jerusalem, I met a young couple who had come with their young son for the ritual of purification, and I knew when I saw them that a promise that God had made to me had been fulfilled. Now I am ready to die. I suppose I sho...
Sermon
(Note: This is the shortest text in the lectionary. It poses the problem of how to preach on it. Should the preacher simply construct what used to be known as a textual sermon, emphasizing and expounding a single verse of the Bible, or are there other homiletical possibilities? I suggest it has to be preached in the context of the Christmas story and as the heart of the Christmas cycle. A type of ...
Sermon
King Duncan
There is always a letdown the week after Christmas. How could it be otherwise? Christmas demands so much of us. Now it’s back to the humdrum of ordinary living. Plus a few extra bills to pay and a few extra pounds to work off. Some unknown author spoke for many of us: Twas the month after Christmas and all through the house Nothing would fit me, not even a blouse. The cookies I'd nibbled, the egg...
Sermon
Richard Gribble
Once upon a time a bowl was born. It was not much of a birth — no long months of planning and no great anticipation, no patient shaping under loving hands. Scarcely a thought went into the creation of this little bowl. The quick impersonal movement of a few machines and a trip through a hot oven was all it took for him to be created. There was really nothing to look at, no warmth and no beauty. He...
14. Simeon's Song
Luke 2:21-40
Sermon
Mark Trotter
We heard Simeon sing his song this morning not only in the gospel lesson, but in the anthem, in the beautiful and dramatic piece from Randall Thompson's, The Nativity According to St. Luke, interpreted wonderfully this morning by Ronald Banks. It is appropriately heard as a song, because Luke divides the story of the birth of Jesus into several acts, each act with dialogue, and a song, the way an ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
There is an old Rabbinic story about a poor man who left the village of his birth, and set out to find the city of his dreams, where all was bright and perfect. After a day's walk he lay down to rest the night in a forest. Before going to sleep he removed his shoes and placed them carefully in the path, pointing them in the direction of his journey toward the magical city. While he slept, a pract...
Sermon
King Duncan
It is fortunate that New Year’s Day rarely falls on a Sunday. Many who stayed up last night to greet the New Year are in no condition to worship today. [Though I understand that a few could be heard this morning moaning, “Oh God . . . Oh God . . . Oh God  . . . “]  And then, of course there is football, the real religion of many in our land. New Year’s Day is always a day of worship for the true f...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
In the movie, “A Patch of Blue”, the blind girl asks her grandfather, “Old Paw, what’s green like?” The irritated man answers: “Green is green, stupid. Now stop asking questions.” There follows a poignant scene in which the young girl claws the grass with her hands and gently rubs a leaf against her cheek, trying to experience the reality of “greenness”. That is a parable of the human situation. W...
Sermon
Billy D. Strayhorn
Years ago a young man was riding a bus from Chicago to Miami. He had a stop-over in Atlanta. While he was sitting at the lunch counter, a woman came out of the ladies' rest room carrying a tiny baby. She walked up to this man and asked, "Would you hold my baby for me, I left my purse in the rest room." He did. But as the woman neared the front door of the bus station, she darted out into the crowd...
Sermon
David J. Kalas
The Christmas story is so familiar to us and to our people that we may no longer see it clearly. Specifi­cally, I wonder if we can fathom how full of surprises was that event — and the days preceding it — for Joseph and Mary. Between the two Christmas accounts (both Matthew and Luke offer versions of the story), we see both Joseph and Mary having angelic visitations and communications. Likewise, ...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
Today is a national day of prayer. Okay, not “officially.” Not sanctioned by any denomination or government decree. But there will still be more prayers hurtled heavenward today than on any other given Sunday. Yes, it is Superbowl Sunday — and there are prayers going up for that favorite team by player, family members, coaches, investment brokers, and, of course, fans, all over this country. And...
Sermon
Robert J. Elder
Luke wrote his gospel to a man we know only by name. He addresses him as "most excellent Theophilus." The gospel of Luke, unlike other gospels, was written for a person who was high in the Roman government — written during a time of religious persecution; and it was the hope of Luke that this would be read by those outside the faith so that they might learn that they had nothing to fear from the C...
Sermon
J. Howard Olds
It has been reported that the average American in a lifetime will spend five years waiting in line, two years returning telephone calls, eight months opening junk mail, and six months staring at traffic lights. In spite of all our modern technology, the first words we often see on the computer screen is “please wait". Anyone who makes a telephone call these days is likely to be put on hold long be...
Sermon
Paul E. Flesner
My message this morning is about two biblical senior citizens and what we can learn from them about the nature of faith. The setting for today's Gospel jumps from the stable in Bethlehem to the temple in Jerusalem where Mary and Joseph had brought Jesus to be "presented to the Lord." It was there that they met Simeon and Anna. Their reactions to Jesus suggest a question that I have for you this m...
Sermon
King Duncan
We're only two days away from the New Year, and I can feel the anticipation--or dread, depending on your point of view--growing. I heard one guy say he already dreads the new year. He said, "The holidays aren't quite over and already I'm about 90 days ahead on my calories and 90 days behind on my bills." Some of you can identify with him. Our calendar did not come down from above. It was establi...
Sermon
Leonard Mann
The first thing about anyone is his name. A human person is born into the world, and almost immediately a word is chosen to denote him. Not a number, not a sign, not a shape - but a word. And that word becomes everyone’s way of saying who he is. For all of his lifetime that word is used to indicate him. By means of it, he says, "This is I." By means of it, others say, "That is he." In a very real ...
Showing 1 to 25 of 47 results