Sermon illustrations for Easter 4 (2013)
Illustration
Object:
Acts 9:36-43
In the late 1860s, George F. Gates built a home in Independence. The well-constructed Missouri house faithfully served generations of Gates. In 1919, George's granddaughter Bess and her husband Harry moved into the 210 North Delaware Street residence, sharing the home with Bess' widowed mother Mary Gates Wallace.
Bess' grandfather had adorned the house with gingerbread, shaded the yard, and planted a special garden of lilac bushes encircling a sundial. Harry S. Truman would often rest among the garden's blossoms, seeking respite from the problems of the presidency. Tranquility would often come when the president read the words the elder Gates inscribed on the sundial: "My Face Marks the Sunny Hours. What Can You Say of Yours?"
Ron L.
Acts 9:36-43
The miracle of the resurrection of Dorcas came as quite a surprise for the faithful, who it is reported had already begun to mourn for her (v. 39). When we really take them seriously and cherish them, the things of faith are joyful surprises. Surprises are good things. British-American Jewish scholar Ashley Montage says: "The moments of happiness we enjoy take us by surprise. It is not that we seize them, but they seize us."
Surprises are good for our brain health too. It seems that we need novelty in order to facilitate the creation of new cellular connections in our brains, and such a process keeps them healthy and young (Sherwin B. Nuland, The Art of Again, esp. pp. 233ff). Life is lot better and happier when we look at the gifts of life in faith as wonderful surprises worked by God.
Mark E.
Revelation 7:9-17
The Bible is full of visions. Some will look to psychiatrists to find out what really happened! I judge more by how they live after they have had the vision to determine how genuine it was. I once visited the isle of Patmos where John spent so many years, and I saw the stone where he lay his head and the "desk" where he wrote! There was a book written by a fundamentalist preacher in Canada telling of a theological vision he had. Our bishop said that he thought the vision might have been true because everything that had been revealed to him was solid Lutheran doctrine!
From John's vision we can see that angels had faces and knees. We also see pictures of God with hands and feet and body -- sometimes a beard as in the Sistine Chapel. It is hard to picture God in any form other than the one we are familiar with. We know that Jesus walked the earth as a man a couple thousand years ago, but it says, "He took on the form of a man." Sometimes we are caught up in appearances rather than spiritual things. Roman Catholic churches are full of statues and paintings of humans, including Jesus on a cross. We all do it, but it is more important to see the foundation stone of love behind it all regardless of shape or form. We have to realize that serving the Lord is a great privilege. It can give us joy! I tell my children that fun can be over in a minute or two, but joy is lasting. You can have fun going to a movie, but you experience joy when you march down the aisle and receive a diploma representing years of hard work and study.
This passage tells us of the joy that can come if we survive great tribulation and remain faithful. I sometimes try to picture heaven as a place with gold brick paving and mansions to live in, but again we can get lost in trying to picture a place or a human form. Isn't it more important that we go a place where we won't experience hunger or thirst? Wouldn't you want to be in a place where you weren't overcome by the heat (or cold)? Wouldn't you want to be in a place where there is no more pain or suffering? When a friend found a job in Hawaii, the family cried because they would miss him, but they looked forward to the day when they would be together again. Isn't that something like heaven? We miss a dear friend or family member when they go to be with the Lord, but if we are faithful, God promises we will all be together never to be parted again. Then all tears will be wiped away. Let us live for that day in faithfulness to the one whose blood has made it possible for us to join him in paradise!
Bob O.
Revelation 7:9-17
Everyone knows the stain that blood can leave on clothing. If not treated right and in a timely way, it will leave a permanent spot. One cannot "Shout it out," even with the best of cleansers. How interesting that the image of the blood of the lamb is used to speak about robes of white. Of course, John is not speaking about laundry lessons here; he is describing how those whose lives have been stained by oppression, horror, and death (whether under first-century Roman persecution or twenty-first century state-sponsored terrorism) are pure in God's sight because of God's love for them through the sacrifice of Jesus himself.
Mark M.
John 10:22-30
John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, was an Anglican priest in England. Because of his forthright and uncompromising preaching style, rectors literally locked their doors to prevent Wesley from preaching from their pulpits. Not to be prevented from his evangelical calling, Wesley began open field preaching. He would find a field, set up his preaching booth, and begin to proclaim the gospel message.
The first time Wesley preached like this he was pelted with rocks. Wesley wrote in his journal after the first experience that he would walk the field and if the rocks were too big, he would move his preaching booth to where the rocks were smaller and less easily hurled at him.
Ron L.
John 10:22-30
The gospel's reference to the unity of Son and Father (v. 30) provides wonderful assurance. Early African theologian Calus Marius Victorinus compared the unity of Father and Son to the power to act (Father) and the action of God (Son) (Fathers of the Church, Vol. 69, pp. 132, 159, 173-174, 224). And now as none of us would doubt the Father's good will toward us, so the Son's unity with the Father ensures that those good intentions are already "done deals," for the Son makes happen what the Father intends! So we can say with Martin Luther: "It follows from this that we are not now, nor ever to be forsaken, no matter how many temptations and sorrows we have here on earth" (Complete Sermons, Vol. 6, p. 74).
If we keep in mind that Jesus would have us be sheep (v. 27) we cannot miss this, cannot but feel confident in God's care for us, for as Luther points out: "... sheep have the sharpest and most acute hearing of all animals" (Complete Sermons, Vol. 6, p. 83).
Mark E.
In the late 1860s, George F. Gates built a home in Independence. The well-constructed Missouri house faithfully served generations of Gates. In 1919, George's granddaughter Bess and her husband Harry moved into the 210 North Delaware Street residence, sharing the home with Bess' widowed mother Mary Gates Wallace.
Bess' grandfather had adorned the house with gingerbread, shaded the yard, and planted a special garden of lilac bushes encircling a sundial. Harry S. Truman would often rest among the garden's blossoms, seeking respite from the problems of the presidency. Tranquility would often come when the president read the words the elder Gates inscribed on the sundial: "My Face Marks the Sunny Hours. What Can You Say of Yours?"
Ron L.
Acts 9:36-43
The miracle of the resurrection of Dorcas came as quite a surprise for the faithful, who it is reported had already begun to mourn for her (v. 39). When we really take them seriously and cherish them, the things of faith are joyful surprises. Surprises are good things. British-American Jewish scholar Ashley Montage says: "The moments of happiness we enjoy take us by surprise. It is not that we seize them, but they seize us."
Surprises are good for our brain health too. It seems that we need novelty in order to facilitate the creation of new cellular connections in our brains, and such a process keeps them healthy and young (Sherwin B. Nuland, The Art of Again, esp. pp. 233ff). Life is lot better and happier when we look at the gifts of life in faith as wonderful surprises worked by God.
Mark E.
Revelation 7:9-17
The Bible is full of visions. Some will look to psychiatrists to find out what really happened! I judge more by how they live after they have had the vision to determine how genuine it was. I once visited the isle of Patmos where John spent so many years, and I saw the stone where he lay his head and the "desk" where he wrote! There was a book written by a fundamentalist preacher in Canada telling of a theological vision he had. Our bishop said that he thought the vision might have been true because everything that had been revealed to him was solid Lutheran doctrine!
From John's vision we can see that angels had faces and knees. We also see pictures of God with hands and feet and body -- sometimes a beard as in the Sistine Chapel. It is hard to picture God in any form other than the one we are familiar with. We know that Jesus walked the earth as a man a couple thousand years ago, but it says, "He took on the form of a man." Sometimes we are caught up in appearances rather than spiritual things. Roman Catholic churches are full of statues and paintings of humans, including Jesus on a cross. We all do it, but it is more important to see the foundation stone of love behind it all regardless of shape or form. We have to realize that serving the Lord is a great privilege. It can give us joy! I tell my children that fun can be over in a minute or two, but joy is lasting. You can have fun going to a movie, but you experience joy when you march down the aisle and receive a diploma representing years of hard work and study.
This passage tells us of the joy that can come if we survive great tribulation and remain faithful. I sometimes try to picture heaven as a place with gold brick paving and mansions to live in, but again we can get lost in trying to picture a place or a human form. Isn't it more important that we go a place where we won't experience hunger or thirst? Wouldn't you want to be in a place where you weren't overcome by the heat (or cold)? Wouldn't you want to be in a place where there is no more pain or suffering? When a friend found a job in Hawaii, the family cried because they would miss him, but they looked forward to the day when they would be together again. Isn't that something like heaven? We miss a dear friend or family member when they go to be with the Lord, but if we are faithful, God promises we will all be together never to be parted again. Then all tears will be wiped away. Let us live for that day in faithfulness to the one whose blood has made it possible for us to join him in paradise!
Bob O.
Revelation 7:9-17
Everyone knows the stain that blood can leave on clothing. If not treated right and in a timely way, it will leave a permanent spot. One cannot "Shout it out," even with the best of cleansers. How interesting that the image of the blood of the lamb is used to speak about robes of white. Of course, John is not speaking about laundry lessons here; he is describing how those whose lives have been stained by oppression, horror, and death (whether under first-century Roman persecution or twenty-first century state-sponsored terrorism) are pure in God's sight because of God's love for them through the sacrifice of Jesus himself.
Mark M.
John 10:22-30
John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, was an Anglican priest in England. Because of his forthright and uncompromising preaching style, rectors literally locked their doors to prevent Wesley from preaching from their pulpits. Not to be prevented from his evangelical calling, Wesley began open field preaching. He would find a field, set up his preaching booth, and begin to proclaim the gospel message.
The first time Wesley preached like this he was pelted with rocks. Wesley wrote in his journal after the first experience that he would walk the field and if the rocks were too big, he would move his preaching booth to where the rocks were smaller and less easily hurled at him.
Ron L.
John 10:22-30
The gospel's reference to the unity of Son and Father (v. 30) provides wonderful assurance. Early African theologian Calus Marius Victorinus compared the unity of Father and Son to the power to act (Father) and the action of God (Son) (Fathers of the Church, Vol. 69, pp. 132, 159, 173-174, 224). And now as none of us would doubt the Father's good will toward us, so the Son's unity with the Father ensures that those good intentions are already "done deals," for the Son makes happen what the Father intends! So we can say with Martin Luther: "It follows from this that we are not now, nor ever to be forsaken, no matter how many temptations and sorrows we have here on earth" (Complete Sermons, Vol. 6, p. 74).
If we keep in mind that Jesus would have us be sheep (v. 27) we cannot miss this, cannot but feel confident in God's care for us, for as Luther points out: "... sheep have the sharpest and most acute hearing of all animals" (Complete Sermons, Vol. 6, p. 83).
Mark E.
