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Sermon
James Garrett
The Beatitudes are familiar to us. We have heard them many times. Someone gave me an interesting article about the Beatitudes. It is titled: “The Lesson.” “Then Jesus took his disciples up the mountain, and gathering these around him, he taught them saying: “ ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are they that mourn. Blessed are the mer...
Sermon
Wesley T. Runk
Hatred rings out in the world like the shrill clash of metal against metal; the hammer against the nail. Hatred is the force of darkness that covers the face of the earth, reaping destruction where it goes. Hatred is most often aroused by our self-righteous resentments. It is easier to shoot the villains, to seek retribution for the satisfaction of our moral feelings, than to get at the root of vi...
Sermon
Brett Blair
Jesus died penniless. Roman soldiers cast lots to divide among themselves Jesus' only possessions--the clothes on his back. And he looked at his disciples and said, blessed are you who are poor. Jesus died hungry. There is no record that Jesus had anything to eat the day of his death. What we call The Last Supper on Thursday evening may very well have been Jesus' last meal. He died on the cross Fr...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
Most of us spend considerable time and energy trying to make our lives as safe and secure as possible. We want to be able to sit back and count our blessings - such as our jobs, our homes, our net worth. Jesus turns our notion of a blessed existence upside down, finding strength in vulnerability and warning us about the dangers of contented complacency. A blessed existence involves being sent...
Sermon
Billy D. Strayhorn
How many of you like Chinese Food? I love Hot and Sour soup and generally judge a restaurant by the quality of their soup. That's not always the case because I like nearly anything with seafood in it, so if they've got a lot of seafood dishes and their soup not the best, I'll still go back. One of the best parts of the Chinese Restaurant is getting the Fortune Cookie at the end. Some of the ...
6. Topsy-turvy Christianity
Luke 6:17-26, Luke 6:27-36
Sermon
J. Will Ormond
Do you know anyone who is financially well off and secure, who has an abundance of things and often dines in the best restaurants, who enjoys life and has a good time, and who is well thought of in the community? You may be such a person yourself, but if not, wouldn't you like to be? In such a situation we could declare that life is good, that we are content, and that the future looks bright. Do y...
7. Flatliners
Luke 6:17-26
Sermon
Richard A. Wing
What would happen if on this Sunday we were to come to Jesus and ask, "Tell us flat-out what you're about?" Jesus might, on this particular day, say, "I have come to give comfort to the uncomfortable and to make uncomfortable those who have comfort." He has a way of flattening things out. Jesus is a flatliner. What if we were to ask that question of the entire Bible? "Don't give me the six-week c...
8. WWE Raw, Jesus Style
Luke 6:17-26, Luke 6:27-36
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
When pop culture transforms a “holy day” into a “holiday,” it almost always manages to focus on the wrong side of the equation. For example: *The number of shopping days left til Christmas is NOT as important as the 12 day period between the Christmas day miracle and the season of Epiphany. *A huge party, Mardi Gras, on “Fat Tuesday” is NOT as important as the forty days of Lent that follow. *...
Sermon
Gary L. Carver
One of my all-time favorite television programs was M*A*S*H. In the early episodes, Frank Burns and Hot Lips Houlihan were an item. Often they were pitted against Trapper John and Hawkeye. In one such episode, Frank and Hot Lips had been trying to "do-in" Hawkeye but had failed. Hawkeye now had the upper hand, and Radar said, "Why don't you do to them what they were trying to do to you?" Hawkeye s...
Sermon
The word that Christ our Lord would like to have us hear this All Saints’ Sunday is a firm word, gently spoken, lovingly applied. Faintly we recall that he said something similar to this before, in a sermon everyone applauds, but few apply, The Sermon on the Mount. "Blessed are the poor in spirit," we remember, and we like that. It doesn’t touch our assets. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirs...
Sermon
Molly F. James
A phone rang on a Sunday morning in September 1959. It broke into the joyful chaos that is life with five children between the ages of three and fourteen. It was a phone call she knew was coming, but that fact never does prepare one fully for the reality. It was the phone call that told her that her beloved husband, her soulmate, the father of her children was dead at the age of 38. The brain tumo...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
In every machine, gizmo, tool, and implement designed by human ingenuity, there always seems to be one malfunction, one fatal flaw, one fault that spells doom for the entire contraption. You know its bad when the auto mechanic solemnly pronounces over your unmoving carcass of a car "it's the transmission." You know you're in trouble when the washing machine repairer proclaims "it's the water pump...
Sermon
Frank Lyman
In his book, South Carolina Off The Beaten Path, William Fox tells an apocryphal story of two wealthy Charleston matrons who escaped Charleston's oppressive heat by summering in Paris. When they fell upon hard times and could no longer afford Paris they shuttered themselves inside their home, venturing out only at night to catch the ocean breeze. One night a boy recognized them and was ready to gr...
Sermon
King Duncan
A family had sold everything possible to pay bills and to put food on the table. Nevertheless, a burglar broke in one night when the family was gone. The family returned and found the door knocked off its hinges. "What did the burglar get?" the police officer asked. The head of the house just shook his head. "Practice," he said. It's not easy being poor. What did Jesus mean, "Blessed are the poo...
15. Plain Talk
Luke 6:17-26
Sermon
Mark Trotter
Some months ago when Dan Burton and I were planning the order of worship for this Sunday, he suggested that he write an anthem on the Beatitudes for this service, since the gospel lesson for this morning, as you heard, is from the Gospel of Luke, and Luke's version of the Beatitudes. The only problem is that Luke's version of the Beatitudes is not the one that we are familiar with. The much more ...
Sermon
J. Howard Olds
“Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ...For when I am weak, then I am strong” (II Corinthians 12:9-10). Let me tell you a very personal story. As a kid I was bullied a lot by older siblings and teased to tears almost daily by adults who somehow saw something humorous about intimidating a small child. In elementary school, I stayed...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
Advertisers know that in marketing any product the right packaging is crucial. No matter what you are trying to sell soap or semi-conductors the image projected by the packaging is the first experience of the product for the potential consumer. So it had better be a great experience. One of the trendiest marketing ploys is intentionally dressing down the product. Lining my shower is a whole row o...
Sermon
J. Howard Olds
On that tragic Tuesday of September 11, 2001, a New York City parish priest standing on the corner of 14th Street and 1st Avenue witnessed the first terrorist plane plunging into the Twin Towers. “I stood there in shock and disbelief,” says the priest. “Without fully comprehending what was happening, I walked into the church and said the morning Mass.” Normally, about a hundred persons attend this...
Sermon
R. Robert Cueni
Today we observe All Saints. Because it is an important celebration, we need to come to some agreement on what is meant by a "saint." If you Google the word, you discover many different definitions and understandings. Among some Protestant groups, every Christian becomes a saint upon joining the "Church Triumphant." In that understanding, All Saints honors and remembers all who have died in Christ...
Sermon
King Duncan
There is a time-honored story about a man who walked into a bookstore to return a purchase. “It’s a Bible,” he said, handing it to a clerk at the cash register. “Was it a gift?” asked the clerk. “No, I bought it for myself,” he said, “and I made a mistake. “Didn’t you like the translation?” asked the clerk. “Or the format?” “Oh no,” the man said, “the format was clear and the translation was f...
21. Holy Happiness
Luke 6:17-26
Sermon
Susan R. Andrews
Psychiatrist Robert Coles tells a story about a poor black woman in New Orleans who sells her body almost every night to wealthy old men in order to take care of her five children. And each night this woman takes half of what she earns as a prostitute and gives it to the nuns who run the local soup kitchen. Coles asks the question, “Is this woman blessed or is she cursed?” From her perspective, I’...
Sermon
King Duncan
“Who do you think is happier?” asks Marc Reklau in his book Destination Happiness, “people who [have] won the lottery or people who [have become] paralyzed after an accident?” You may be surprised at the answer. “Yes, the lottery winners were very happy, but not for very long,” Reklau continues. “After six months they went back to their previous levels of happiness.” On the other hand, “the acci...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
The classic children’s book, The Phantom Tollbooth (1961), tells the story of a young boy named Milo. One dull, rainy afternoon Milo receives the anonymous gift of a cardboard fold-and-cut tollbooth. Bored Milo builds the tollbooth and “drives through” it with his toy car. Immediately Milo disappears from his room and finds himself traveling along a strange road in a new land. But despite this mi...
24. Risk Takers
Luke 6:17-26
Sermon
Cynthia Cowen
"Louise, can you and Pastor Hal come to Thanksgiving dinner at our house this Friday? I have this really, really big turkey, and I don't want a ton of leftovers," Tracy implored her friend. "Well, I'd love to, but we always invite a widower, Andy Vespa, each Thanksgiving. I don't want him to be by himself with his pork and beans. Of course, Steve and Vicki will be here, too," Louise replied. "And...
Sermon
J. Howard Olds
There is an old parable about a seeker who sought out a mentor for spiritual advice. The mentor welcomed the seeker and proceeded to pour the visitor a cup of coffee. When the cup overflowed, the mentor kept pouring. When the saucer spilled over, the mentor kept pouring. When the hot drink started stinging the seekers fingers, he complained loudly, “What are you doing?” The mentor calmly replied, ...
Showing 1 to 25 of 47 results