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1. Shepherd Dreams
Jeremiah 23:1-8, 1 Samuel 16:1-13, Psalm 80:1-19, Psalm 23:1-6, John 10:22-42, John 10:1-21
Sermon
Lori Wagner
Prop: shepherd’s staff (invisible cloak / rock of salvation / living water / sling and staff) We all have dreams for our children! We set them free to make their own decisions in the world, but at the same time we take care to guide them, pray for them, dream for them, envision a future for them in which we play a relational part. We so want them to live fulfilling and satisfying lives, filled wi...
Sermon
James Merritt
Webster defines a patriot as "one who loves and loyally or zealously supports one's own country."1 According to that definition, one thing I can say about the man who wrote this Psalm, Asaph, is he was a true patriot. He would never have burned his flag, and would not have put up with anyone who did. Though he was a patriot and loved his country, he was also a man of God, and therefore burdened f...
3. Mary's Complaint
Luke 1:26-38, Luke 1:39-45, Luke 1:46-56
Sermon
David E. Leininger
I suppose you have had the chance to watch at least a little television during these busy days before Christmas. Have you noticed that the news programs are carrying more stories about unfortunate people these days...people who have lost their homes, people who are facing debilitating disease, people who seem to have had their whole world fall in on them? Have you noticed that? I understand why: s...
Sermon
Richard A. Wing
We are made new when we dare to go home by another way. This reality has ancient roots. The stories of the season are about people who were made new by taking a different road home. Mary visited Elizabeth and remained there three months. She went home by another way. After saying earlier, "Do with me as you will," before God, and after singing her song of praise to God, she went home a different ...
Sermon
There is in this sermon a gentleness that belies what it asks us to see, "That life does not change, but the way I experience it does." Moving, as it does, through a revision of the popular picture of Mary, now seen in clearer light than that of positive or negative speculation, but rather in the light of faith and praise of God; through that of an unlikely contemporary, "Who also experienced hung...
Sermon
Susan R. Andrews
We Protestants don’t know what to do with Mary. Because the doctrines of the Catholic church have turned Mary into a sweet passive icon of virginal purity, we Protestants have been content to leave her out of our gallery of biblical saints — except of course, for her obligatory appearance in our Christmas pageants. Today in both scripture and song, we meet Mary again. The woman we meet this time ...
7. The Christmas Song
Luke 1:39-45, Luke 1:46-56
Sermon
James Garrett
The business side of Christmas -- the commercialism -- doesn’t bother me as it does some. There are those who think the spiritual import of Christmas may be forgotten. There’s no danger of that. The spiritual significance of Christmas is so dominant that many who are ordinarily indifferent go out of their way to find a religious service. That is part of the miracle of Christmas. Personally, the e...
Sermon
Bill Bouknight
In one of the world’s most revolutionary documents, is found these immortal words: “We hold these truths to be self—evident, that all men are created equal.” Of course, that document, the Declaration of Independence, is the charter of the American Revolution. Though we have not yet lived up to it, it has been the vision that inspires us. It's vision has also been the target of oppressive regimes a...
9. King Jesus
Luke 1:46-56, Luke 1:26-38
Sermon
Wayne Brouwer
One morning in 1872, David Livingstone wrote this in his diary: "March 19, my birthday. My Jesus, my king, my life, my all, I again dedicate my whole self to thee. Accept me, and grant, O gracious Father, that ere the year is gone I may finish my work. In Jesus' name I ask it. Amen." Just one year later, servants came to check on their master's delay. They found him on his knees in prayer. He was ...
10. Oh, How The Mighty Have Fallen
Luke 1:39-45, Luke 1:46-56
Sermon
Brett Blair
I am holding in my hands a copy of one of the world’s most revolutionary documents. In it are found these immortal words: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. . .” Of course, that document, the Declaration of Independence, is the charter of the American Revolution. Though we have not yet lived up to it, it has been the vision that inspires us. The only documen...
11. Mary's Song
Luke 1:46-56, Luke 1:39-45
Sermon
King Duncan
I want to make my annual public service announcement to the men in our congregation. Guys, it’s time to do your Christmas shopping. I hope our men have this task already out of the way. But just in case, please heed my announcement. I understand that a [certain couple in our church] slipped off to [a nearby city] to do their Christmas shopping and somehow they got separated for several hours. For...
12. Songs of the Season
Luke 1:46-56, Luke 1:39-45
Sermon
J. Ellsworth Kalas
No season of the year sings as well as Christmas. This seems to be true whether one is a saint or a sinner. The world about us has occasional songfests for patriotic days or school homecoming celebrations, but those songs are sung by selected groups in isolated places. Only at the Christmas season does the majority of the population choose to sing or to listen to the singing of others. Some of the...
13. Two Blessings for an Unwed Mother
Luke 1:46-56, Luke 1:39-45
Sermon
William G. Carter
By Christmas vacation of my first year in college, I had become an expert on the birds and the bees. Biology was my major, and after a semester in the freshman class, I was certain that I knew more biology than most adults did in my hometown ... including my minister. A few days before Christmas, I stopped in to see him. He received me warmly and asked how I had fared in my first semester. “Okay,”...
14. The News from Nazareth
Luke 1:46-56, Luke 1:39-45
Sermon
David E. Leininger
Interesting item in the paper the other day. "According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, while both male and female reindeer grow antlers in the summer each year...Male reindeer drop their antlers at the beginning of winter, usually late November to mid-December. Female reindeer, however, retain their antlers until after they give birth in the spring. Therefore, according to every histor...
15. When God Comes with a Blessing
Luke 1:39-45, Luke 1:46-56
Sermon
John P. Jewell
With this fourth Sunday in Advent, we have arrived at the dawn of another Christmas Eve. It is almost mind boggling to realize that we stand at the beginning of the third millennium since the good news of God's blessing the world through the Christ child was proclaimed.  Yet, the words of the angel Gabriel, Elizabeth and Mary continue to stir the hearts of Christian people around the world today a...
Sermon
John E. Harnish
Thank God for Luke. Of the many insights Luke gives us, his glimpses of Mary are especially profound. Were it not for Luke's Gospel, we would know very little about Mary. Mark skips the birth altogether, and in his Gospel, Jesus seems indifferent to Mary when she does show up. Matthew's Mary is mute. Not one word comes from her lips. She is present, but passive and silent. John shares her presence...
Sermon
Gary L. Carver
Christmas songs have a way of staying with us from childhood. In fact, if you were to ask someone their favorite Christmas song it may range from, "Silent Night" to "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus." Many Christmas songs do carry the element of the holy in their lyrics and sometimes in the melody. Most of all, though, Christmas stands alone from all other holidays by the fact that it carries its o...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
Every baby will keep every parent up all night, at least once. It’s a rule. Whether because they are teething or colicky, anxious or tummy-troubled, or just plain fussy, it’s part of a baby’s mission in life to keep its parents awake weeping and wailing. We parents are “hard-wired” to respond to an infant’s cries. What has kept us grieving all week, a grief that can’t be spoken? What has kept our...
Sermon
Cynthia Cowen
The Christmas concert was about to begin. The professional musicians were ready. All eyes were on the band director as he brought down his baton. Softly, flutes began weaving a magical introduction, capturing the audience's spirit. An instrumental duet formed with clarinets adding their voices. Then more wind instru­ments came in. Finally, brass and percussion entered and volume and tempo increase...
Sermon
Billy D. Strayhorn
When I was a boy, Mom and Dad would come home from the grocery store and unloaded the brown paper sacks of groceries. If we saw anything wrapped in butcher paper, we knew we were in for treat. That meant Dad was either going to barbecue or better yet, they had visited the lunch meat counter and brought home a bunch of fresh sliced lunch meat. But if we pulled out a long brown paper bread sack, we...
21. Surprises
Luke 1:46-56
Sermon
Timothy Smit
Christmas Day is only three days away. We gather on this the fourth and final Sunday of Advent tingling with anticipation. Something wonderful is about to happen, and we are going to be a part of it. To rediscover the joy of Christmas we must realize that joy is a gift to us from the God who loves us. We cannot earn joy, we cannot follow step by step instructions and arrive at joy. Joy is a gift a...
Sermon
Bill Bouknight
At home I have a yellow copy of one of the world's most revolutionary documents. In it are found these immortal words: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." Of course, that document, the Declaration of Independence, is the charter of the American Revolution. Though we have not yet lived up to it, it has been the vision that inspires us. The only document I kn...
23. Do You Hear What I Hear?
Luke 1:46-56, Isaiah 61:1-11
Sermon
David E. Leininger
Years ago, a wise teacher of preachers advised us to prepare our sermons with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other. His point was that sermons had to be relevant to the day-to-day lives of our people, and the best way to insure that would be to focus on what is going on in our people's world. Good advice, don't you think? So what has the newspaper (or the TV or radio or internet o...
24. Mary's Song
Luke 1:46-56
Sermon
King Duncan
A Sunday school teacher challenged her children to take some time on Sunday afternoon to write a letter to God. They were to bring back their letter the following Sunday. One little boy wrote, "Dear God, We had a good time at church today. Wish You could have been there. I think it was that same little fellow who turned to a classmate and asked, "Who was Round John Virgin?" She answered, "I thin...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
Sometime ago a woman from Houston was out in Los Angeles visiting some relatives. While there, she went to an ice cream shop and ordered an ice cream cone. As she was sitting there at the counter, waiting for her cone, she happened to glance to her right. Who should be there, right next to her, but Paul Newman! She couldn't believe it! He had been her heart throb and dream boat for years. She was...
Showing 1 to 25 of 36 results