Sermons & Worship (Page 50)

[This sermon is more of a reflection on the scripture than a sermon in the classic sense. Throughout this reflection, I will be using the word, “I” but I ask you to hear this “I” as a symbol for the ordinary Christian. When I say, “I”, hear “you, me, every person who professes to be a disciple of Christ.”] Jesus needed some time alone. Maybe he was just worn out from the noise of the crowds or the constant travel…

Mark 4:26-29 The subject of today’s sermon was to be humility. In fact, I have sitting right now on my desk at home a brilliant exposition on the subject of humility, a sermon that I wrote to explain the the positive results that one can experience from living a humble life, based on what I myself have obtained through my own mastery of humility. I won’t be preaching that sermon, however, because after re-reading my discerning and perceptive work, I…

Mark 2:23-3:6 Abraham Lincoln once said, “As we keep or break the Sabbath, we nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope by which man rises.” Lincoln tells us that if we keep the Sabbath, we can save the world and if we break the Sabbath, we take away all hope for humankind. Makes you think twice about answering those work-related emails this afternoon, doesn’t it? Keeping the Sabbath, Lincoln said, can save the world, and breaking it can…

Mark 2:1-12(with a shout out to I Corinthians 13) This past September, the movie “Captive” was released in theaters. The movie told the true story of a woman named Ashley Smith who, ten years ago, was held hostage in her apartment at gunpoint for seven hours by Brian Nichols, an escaped prisoner who had killed four people. At the time, Ashley was a 25 year old waitress with a serious drug habit. Her husband had been murdered in a bar…

Mark 1:16-20; 3:13-19 There was once a young man who led a wild life. He cared little for the feelings of others, cultivating their favor when it suited his needs and casting them aside when he was ready for other pleasure. This selfish lifestyle concerned his elderly neighbor not only because the old man had to endure the noise of late night parties, and the ill tempers of the youth, but also because the neighbor truly cared about the young…

Mark 1:12-13 Martin Luther, the famous Protestant Reformer lived in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, now central Germany. If you were to toodle around that region today, you might stumble upon a sandstone rock nearly 1000 feet tall and on the top of that massive hill, you could see the remains of the famous Regenstein Castle. The castle, built in the Middle Ages, is a popular tourist destination where the townspeople hold an annual tournament of knights, but the modern…

Mark 1:1-11 “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” These words are the words we usually hear during Advent along with sermons telling us that we must prepare ourselves for the coming of Christ into our world. Every December, we preachers trot out the admonition, “Christmas is coming — make your hearts right to prepare a place for the baby Jesus.” If you actually read the Bible, however, (something we preachers sometimes forget to do!), you will…

John 1:1-18 It is a tradition upon the arrival of January 1st to make resolutions concerning desires for improvement in the coming year. And it is nearly as dependable a tradition for columnists, commentators, and preachers to pontificate upon the tradition of making resolutions. I would feel somehow remiss then if I didn’t weigh in on the resolution-making custom in this first sermon of 2016. I don’t know how the practice of making resolutions on January 1st began, nor do…

Luke 2:21-35 This past week, Stacy came home from her semester abroad in Spain and she helped me to decorate our Christmas tree.  Actually, her help entailed sitting in the recliner keeping Cody entertained so that he wouldn’t take the ornaments off of the tree as fast as I put them on but it was an important job nonetheless, and we had enjoyable and relaxing hour.  We invited Mathew to join us but he declined our invitation saying that he…

John 1:1-9; Luke 1:39-45; Matthew 3:1-12 We’ve all heard the saying, “Patience is a virtue,” but I would argue that sometimes it is impatience that is the virtuous expression of our faith.And so this is a sermon for the impatient among you — the restless, the impulsive, the agitated and the excitable, the fervent, the zealous, the ever busy and bustling, the fidgety and demanding and headstrong and determined, the ones who have been told all of your life, “Will…