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1. Riff-Raff
Mark 2:13-22
Sermon
David E. Leininger
Do you remember The Wonder Years on television? It was all about the trials and tribulations of growing up in the '60s. In one episode, two of the youthful heroes were coming into the school cafeteria — "Where do you want to sit?" one asked the other ... a critical decision for these two seventh graders. Their anxious faces surveyed the options. Over here were the "cool" kids; over there were the ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
Sometime ago Sydney Harris, the syndicated columnist, wrote a "fascinating piece about Anita Bryant that I would like to read to you this morning. As you know, Anita Bryant was a self-appointed crusader against gay rights a few years ago. Then she went through a divorce, and acquired a drug habit, and was hospitalized for a long time. And today, she's not the same person she was back then. This i...
Sermon
Mark Trotter
The song we have just sung, "Lord of the Dance," declares that the proper response on learning the meaning of the Gospel is to celebrate, to dance. This hymn is one of the less traditional hymns in our hymn book, written in the 1960's, which you may have guessed, when the Church began experimenting with new music. It was finally included in the 1988 hymnal. It was written by an Englishman, a man ...
Sermon
Richard Gribble
Once upon a time there was a great teacher, a guru, who had many followers. People came from far and wide to listen, learn, and be enlightened by this man. There were one-on-one classes and apprenticeships for those who came to learn. When the students had finished with their lessons, the guru sent them into the world to share their knowledge with others as masters in their own right. Just before ...
5. A Taxing Encounter
Matthew 9:9-13, Mark 2:13-17, Luke 5:27-32
Sermon
Lori Wagner
Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. (1 John 4:8) Prop: Envelope…junk mail marked IMPORTANT You know those envelopes you get in the mail sometimes marked IMPORTANT! Here is one of them. You scramble to open it, thinking it’s a check or some important document that you need . . . only to find that it’s an ad to buy life insurance or something you don’t need! Yikes! Fooled aga...
Sermon
Daniel G. Mueller
For seven days King David fasted. Day and night he went without food as he prayed desperately for the life of his newborn child. The baby had been born as a result of his affair with Bathsheba, an adulterous affair that had led to the murder of Bathsheba’s husband. From the moment the baby was born, it was evident the child’s life was hanging by a slim thread. So David prayed for the life of the c...
Sermon
Paul E. Flesner
We humans are often schizophrenic when it comes to the old and the new. On one hand, we are creatures of tradition. We follow the same daily routine. We sit in the same pew at worship. We find comfort in things which are familiar. Change is something we'd rather avoid. On the other hand, we often seek those activities and items which have the potential to rescue us from the abyss of boredom -- big...
Sermon
John A. Stroman
... but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins. -- Mark 2:22 Jesus knew that his message was different. In a sense it was startlingly new. He knew that his life was drastically different from that of the orthodox rabbinic teacher. He also knew that it was difficult for his hearers to entertain such new truth. Therefore, he gave them a vivid illustration to show them how important it was to have a...
9. Party Time!
Mark 2:18-22
Sermon
King Duncan
In an interview with a London newspaper, actor Christopher Walken revealed that he likes to bring a little fun to a movie set by pretending that it’s his birthday.  In the morning, as the makeup crew is preparing him for the shoot, he will act a little sad.  Invariably, some kind-hearted makeup lady will ask if he’s feeling all right.  Walken will mention off-handedly that today is his birthday, b...
Sermon
Eric Ritz
As we open our lesson today, we see a conflict brewing. Actually there are two conflicts. Let's label them "the fast" and "the past." Let's deal first of all with the fast. When our lesson opens, the Pharisees and even the disciples of John the Baptist are fasting. Jesus and his disciples are not. To the casual spectator it might appear that Jesus is not paying proper tribute to his faith. Other ...
Sermon
Robert J. Elder
Every pastor, on occasion, feels the need to remind a congregation that we need not fear things that are new. Indeed, the apostle Paul declared that if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation ... things that are new ought to be things in which we feel free to take part. Once, the chair of a denominational committee on worship, when speaking of new things and strong opposition to them by congr...
Sermon
Donald B. Strobe
Doesn’t it seem sometimes that the people who are NOT religious are a whole lot more fun than the people who are?  At times the church suffers more at the hands of its friends than at the hands of its enemies.  It suffers more from the rigidly righteous than from the blatantly irreligious.  There are those who in their self-righteous zeal appoint themselves as monitors of other people’s morals and...
13. Song of the Sabbath
Genesis 1:1-2:3, Luke 5:33-39, Luke 6:1-11, Luke 7:18-35, Mark 2:18-22, Mark 2:23-3:6, Mark 3:7-12
Sermon
Lori Wagner
Props: Visuals of Hubbel Space Photos and/or eclipse photos [Begin running about 30 or more Hubbel photos as you begin your sermon. If you want to take an especially creative field trip, deliver your sermon inside of a conservatory or planetarium with stars above and the Creation story displayed.] Part of the “human” in human being is to be fascinated with space. We lie back and imagine images i...
14. Old and New
Mk 2:22 · 2 Cor 5:17 · Is 43:19
Sermon
Robert Noblett
Something old, something new; Something borrowed, something blue. That’s what the old rhyme suggests every new bride ought to have on her person come the wedding day. We’re not going to spend any time talking about "borrowed" and "blue," but we do want to spend some time on "old" and "new." Those words have a way of cropping up more than just occasionally. Nearly every day we hear them used. They...
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