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Sermon
Harold Warlick
The university chaplain was late for a meeting. He roared down the interstate through a sparsely populated area of his state. He was traveling ten miles per hour over the speed limit. As the blue light from the highway patrol car flashed in his rearview mirror, the churning in his stomach was exceeded only by his anger at his foolishness. Putting on his best professional face and a humble demeanor...
Sermon
Mark J. Molldrem
A youngster in Sunday School asked the pastor, "If Jesus died on Friday, why do we call it good?" It seems contrary to reason to call this day Good Friday, when congregations around the world remember Jesus' death with black and an empty chancel. Images like these recount the day: forsaken, scorn, thorns, despised, grief, sorrow, wounded, tears, darkness, and death. How can we use a word like goo...
Sermon
Richard Gribble
One day a man went to his son's bedroom and found him sitting on his bed with a whole stack of comic books around him. The father said to his son, "Matthew, where did you get the comic books?" Matthew responded, "I took them out of the library." "You took them out of the library? You mean you stole them from the library?" The boy responded, "Yes." The father called the library and said he was ...
4. The Forgiven
Hebrews 10:1-18
Sermon
King Duncan
Sometimes it's called sweet revenge. This report is from London. Janine Brooks was a dental student when a man ran into her car and drove away. That was ten years ago. Her damaged car resulted in a considerable financial burden on her student income but the motorist neither apologized nor ever paid for the damage he had done. Now it is 10 years later. Janine Brooks, the former student, is a dentis...
Sermon
King Duncan
Paul Harvey tells about a roadside sign that stands on I-95 as you approach De Land, Florida. The yellow diamondshaped sign warns travelers: NARCOTICS INSPECTION AHEAD. There is no inspection, but drivers who see the sign panic and make an immediate illegal U-turn. They are stopped and searched. The American Civil Liberties Union is objecting. (1) A farmer was trying out his new car. As he approa...
6. The Perfect Man
Hebrews 10:1-18
Sermon
King Duncan
You’ve probably heard the story. A perfect man meets the perfect woman. After a perfect courtship, they have a perfect wedding. Their life together is, of course, perfect. One year, just before Easter, they see a beautiful rabbit hopping along the highway. It is the Easter bunny bringing colored eggs to all the boys and girls. While they are thinking to themselves that it is such a perfect event...
7. Of Mice and Men
Hebrews 10:11-18
Sermon
King Duncan
Dr. William P. Barker tells about a story that appeared in the newspapers back in 1972. The story was datelined Salonika, Greece. The city of Salonika had a real problem on its hands. It seems that many pending court trials could not be held as planned because mice had devoured files in the civil court archives. The evidence against the alleged criminals had totally disappeared. Imagine how those ...
Sermon
King Duncan
A three-year-old boy opened a birthday gift from his grandmother. It was a water pistol. He squealed with delight and headed for the sink to fill it. His father was not so pleased. Provoked, he turned to his own mom and said, “I’m surprised at you. Don’t you remember how we used to drive you crazy with water guns?” His mother gave him a wicked smile and replied, “I remember!” Has anyone here ev...
9. How Do We Make Sense of This?
Romans 8:35-39, Hebrews 10:1-39
Sermon
Nancy Kraft
Good Friday is a hard day. It's depressing and it's confusing. Why did Jesus have to die on the cross? How do we make sense of this? Christians have struggled with understanding the meaning of the cross ever since the very beginning and the struggle has continued through the centuries. We can see that from reading today's passage from Hebrews if we stop to consider the passage in its larger contex...
Sermon
David O. Bales
After our last trip to Israel, a number in our group met to share photos and memories. Several of us said that we didn't respond favorably to the elaborate Byzantine and medieval church buildings. They made none of us feel particularly worshipful. We'd rather be outside and see the place something like it was when the folk of the Bible were there. Yet, our visiting Jerusalem and seeing the places...
Sermon
Patrick J. Rooney
They came day after day in a steady stream, entering the temple with a mixture of excitement and anticipation. They came bearing their gifts, animals of various kinds to be presented to the priests. They came bringing their sacrifice for purification of sins and to make reparation to God. They came to make their offerings to the priests, who would take such offerings to the altar of the Lord and b...
12. Sunday’s Comin’
Hebrews 10:16-25
Sermon
David E. Leininger
"Hope springs eternal in the human breast." "Where there's life, there's hope." You might have heard of that fellow who decided that his life had no hope. He resolved to end it all by jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge.A kind hearted policeman saw what was going on and tried to reason with the man but to no avail. Finally, they struck a deal: The policeman would listen to the jumper for five minutes ...
13. Stirring Things Up
Mark 13:1-8, Hebrews 10:11-25
Sermon
Mark Trotter
The Union Tribune carried a series of articles this last week on the variety of religions that are emerging as we approach the millennium. We used to talk about religion in America as Protestant, Catholic and Jew. Now there are more Muslims in America than there are Episcopalians, and soon there will be more than there are Jews. Now with the largest in-migration to this country from Asia, there wi...
14. Clear to Enter
John 20:1-9, John 20:10-18, John 20:19-23, Matthew 28:1-10, Luke 24:1-12, Hebrews 10:1-18, Hebrews 10:19-39, Genesis 3:1-24
Sermon
Lori Wagner
You’re “clear”! Cleared for entry! Those are the words you hope to hear when passing through the security section of our airports today. Fly recently? If you have flown recently, you went through a security check before being allowed to enter the secured part of the airport where the flight gates are located. Depending upon your “clearance” level, you either waited in a very long line which so...
15. Sharing God’s Love
Hebrews 10:16-25
Sermon
Richard Gribble
There once was a king who ruled over a vast empire, but alas, he was rather old and thus decided that he needed to select his successor from his four sons. He called them in, one-by-one, to discuss the inheritance of his kingdom. When the first son entered the king's chamber, the old man sat down and spoke: "Son, I am very old and will not live much longer. I wish to entrust my kingdom to the son...
16. A Bloody Sacrifice
Hebrews 10:16-25
Sermon
Steven E. Albertin
It is a sad commentary on the state of our world that we are far too familiar with those who have shed their blood ... for noble and ignoble causes. The media has been reminding us of the bloody sacrifice that thousands of our soldiers have made in the war in Iraq. Our country is still bitterly divided over whether that sacrifice has been worth it or not. The last two summers I have had the privi...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
As we blunder through the last few days of the Christmas maze; as we confront the possessiveness and possessedness of a culture awash in guns, glamour, gadgets and household gods, we must be reminded not to lose sight of Bethlehem. For our pilgrimage to this place changes our lives. The Magi "went home a different way." They could never go home the same way again after Bethlehem. Will this year's ...
18. After Good Friday
Hebrews 10:16-25
Sermon
Richard W. Ferris
Obsolete. Superceded. Null and void. Those are words that could be used in a court of law to describe legal contracts or agreements that are no longer in effect. Stipulations become obsolete with the passing of time or when two partners break off their partnership, whether it's a business or a marriage. Procedures can be superceded by new practices when old stipulations become obsolete. Whole con...
Sermon
Lee Ann Dunlap
In the early years of the sixteenth century, a young adventurer named Nicolas Herman left his parents' home near Loraine, France, to join the French army. Wounded in war, he returned home to recuperate and thus began a process of soul searching that led to Christian commitment. His quest for closeness to God first led him to life as a hermit. He found that unfulfilling, so he eventually joined a ...
Sermon
Richard Gribble
In the fifteenth century, a rural village in Germany was home to a family with eighteen children. The family was poor, but despite the difficulty of making ends meet, two of the boys still held a dream, namely to pursue their talent as artists. With the financial situation bleak, the two boys came up with their own solution to the problem. They agreed to toss a coin with the loser going to the loc...
Sermon
Mary Austin
On this Fourth Sunday of Advent, our season of waiting is almost over. Ready or not, Christmas is almost here. If that thought just made your heart beat faster with a feeling of stress, let’s take a deep breath together and listen for God speaking. Today’s reading comes from the letters to the Hebrews, written to connect this new, early faith in Jesus back to the traditions of Judaism. The author...
Sermon
Mark Ellingsen
Americans (human beings) are very divided. Some of our divisions have to do with who we are. Black-white tensions caused by the police killings of Black men have made the divisions clearer. A 2016 Pew Research poll found that while 61% of African-Americans find Black-white relations poor, only 46% of whites have such an assessment. The election of Donald Trump verified the polls’ findings regardin...
23. Pontifex
Hebrews 10:16-25
Sermon
Dr. Ronald Love
Jesse Owens panicked. How could he owe $114,000 in back taxes? Soon there would be a court trial sentencing him to a long prison term. This was an issue Owens realized he had to accept, failing to personally oversee his business ventures; but instead, allowing other individuals to do it for him. He had not scrutinized the character of the men who represented him, wrongly trusting his business part...
24. Click to Unfriend
Hebrews 10:16-25
Sermon
John B. Jamison
Mary Magdalene stood at the edge of the road and cried. She knew this was going to happen. Jesus had told them over and over that he would be arrested and killed. She thought she had prepared herself for it but she was not at all prepared for what had actually happened. As she stood at the edge of the road, her eyes moving back and forth from the men lowering his body from that cross to his mother...
25. Not a Religion
Hebrews 10:5-10
Sermon
Scott Bryte & Kimberly Miller van Driel
Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, ‘See, God, I have come to do your will, O God’ (in the scroll of the book it is written of me).” When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and o...
Showing 1 to 25 of 25 results