Sermon Illustrations For Epiphany 2 | Ordinary Time 2 (2023)
Illustration
Isaiah 49:1-7
The Lord tells Isaiah that the time will come when “kings shall see and stand up; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves…” because the Lord has chosen the servant to be a prophet. This is a major turning of the tables. This role reversal is the unexpected eucatastrophe (J.R.R. Tolkien’s word for the pivot of history that occurred with the resurrection of Jesus) that no one could have predicted. This happens at a moment when God’s servant believes he is a failure. “But I said, ‘I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity….” There are times when we all feel like failures, and God’s promises are that we will be vindicated, that it will not have all been for nothing, for “…surely my cause is with the Lord and my reward with my God.” (49:4)
Frank R.
* * *
Isaiah 49:1-7
I work with a lot of congregations in my work in the United Church of Christ. One of my tasks is to help congregations say goodbye to pastors who have been called to serve elsewhere. Call is difficult to understand. Why would a pastor feel the need to move to another congregation? The congregation they are leaving wonders if they have done something wrong or if the pastor is unhappy with them. Most of the time that is not the case. Rather, God is calling the pastor to do new work, different work, with a different group of the faithful. It’s hard to explain the call one feels one one’s life, to explain that tug to someone else. God affirms Isaiah’s call. Isaiah proclaims his call. Celebrating call is sometimes difficult, just as it is to be obedient to the call God places in our hearts. But, praise God, for the calls are important.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Isaiah 49:1-7
In the Black church it is common to say, “God may not come when you want him. But he’s always on time.” This is a Biblical text for that mantra. Famed Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who died while trying to stop Hitler, put it well: “God does not give us everything we want, but he does fulfill his promises, leading us along the best and straightest paths to himself.” And Martin Luther put it well:
God must often say: If I gave you what you ask for, I would be a fool as you are. We often pray in this foolish manner. (Weimar Ausgabe, Vol. 47, p. 366)
We can use an image employed by modern theologian Ian Barbour (Nature, Human Nature, and God, p.30) to deal with this text and other occasions when it seems like God is powerless to help us. He construes God as a band leader who directs the cosmos. Like the band leader, God is in control of what will happen. He even creates the band (like he creates the cosmos). But if the band members do not practice and are wanton, then the band’s performance is poor, so God cannot guarantee that the cosmos will only produce good, that although he is in control ultimately, bad things can happen.
Mark E.
* * *
Isaiah 49:1-7
The song “Jesus Loves Me” is one of the most beloved songs in the church. While I’ve sung that song many times, I was unaware of its background. It began as a poem, written in 1859 by Susan and Anna Warner, who were daughters of a New York lawyer. The two young women wrote many different books and lessons for Sunday schools. One of their books, Say and Seal, included the poem.
In the book, two of the characters, Faith Derrick and John Endecott Linden, are concerned for a sick little boy named Johnny Fax. Johnny’s condition becomes critical, and he asks Mr. Linden, who was also the Sunday School teacher, to take him up in his strong arms and comfort him and sing to him. Mr. Linden readily does so and picking up the feverish little boy, walks slowly back and forth across the room trying to console him, singing the song we know so well.
There are two stanzas that were included in the first edition that we don’t sing as often. Reading them through the lens of a dying child gives new meaning to them.
Jesus loves me — loves me still,
Though I’m very weak and ill;
From his shining throne on high
Comes to watch me where I lie.
Jesus loves me, — he will stay
Close beside me all the way.
Then his little child will take
Up to heaven for his dear sake.
The Lord will bring his children back to him. Isaiah 49 also resounds with hope. The Lord will not leave his people lost. He will redeem them and bring them home.
Bill T.
* * *
1 Corinthians 1:1-9
When the apostle tells the Corinthian house churches that “…you are not lacking in any gift…” we may think to ourselves, “Really?” We tend to downgrade our own gifts and think ourselves inadequate to the task. Many of us will remember the marvelous and rather famous meditation by Robert Fulghum, “Everything I Ever Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.” You know, how he wrote things like “Share everything. Play fair. Don’t hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess.” In another book he described how in contrast to kindergarten classrooms, where we try everything and believe we’re good at everything, by the time we get to college we convinced ourselves we’re only good at one thing, and even in that, we’re not all that good. In kindergarten we all knew we were good at art. In college, only a few of us are willing to make such a claim.
I don’t know if that’s true, but it’s how we feel, and if it is how we feel, this verse from Corinthians is even more important, because when Paul says “…you are not lacking in any gift…” he is speaking in the second person plural. He’s saying “y’all,” or as we said in Pennsylvania, “y’uns” or “yinz.” We are perfectly good together. We are equipped for the great work of the good news of Jesus Christ together. And even individually, we need to give ourselves a bit more credit that we think we ought. God gave us more gifts that we let ourselves take credit for.
Frank R.
* * *
1 Corinthians 1:1-9
Most Americans have heard of “Old Faithful” in Yellowstone National Park. I read on the Yellowstone website, “The world’s most famous geyser, Old Faithful in Yellowstone, currently erupts around twenty times a day. These eruptions are predicted with a 90 percent confidence rate, within a ten-minute variation, based on the duration and height of the previous eruption. During visitor center hours, geyser statistics and predictions are maintained by the naturalist staff. This is done by good old-fashioned observation, timing with a stopwatch, and writing in a logbook.”
Tourists can depend on “Old Faithful” to erupt right on schedule. As dependable as “Old Faithful” is, it does not compare to the faithfulness of God. Paul writes, “He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the partnership of his son, Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Corinthians 1:8-9). God will strengthen and equip his children for the day Jesus returns. God is faithful. You can count on it.
Bill T.
* * *
John 1:29-42
John Calvin suggested that the Spirit coming to Christ in the form of a dove in this Biblical account (v.32) was “to make a public representation of that mildness of Christ...” (Calvin’s
Commentaries, Vol.XVII/2, p.67) Calvin also makes a fine point about how association with Christ like the text describes changes us, leads us to relish association with Christ:
By this example we are taught from the first rudiments of the church we ought to draw such a relish for Christ as will excite our desire to profit; and next that we ought not to be satisfied with a mere passing look, but that we ought to seek his dwelling, that he may receive us as guests. For there are many who smell the gospel at a distance only, and thus allow Christ suddenly to disappear, and all they learned concerning him to pass away. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol. XVII/2, pp. 70-71)
These observations are in line with the latest neurobiological findings about how dependence on God stimulates the flow of the pleasurable (and addictive) brain chemical dopamine (Dean Hamer, The God Gene, pp.72ff.).
Mark E.
* * *
John 1:29-42
Jesus is recognized, proclaimed to be the light of the world, to be the Lamb of God, to be the Messiah. The hopes and dreams of centuries have been fulfilled. Now everything will be different. Everything will change. Those statements are true, and yet Jesus didn’t meet the historical expectations of a mighty Savior who would free the people. Jesus did in fact free them, but not from Rome. Jesus came and freed us from the pettiness of self-centeredness, the violence of hate, the sorrow of disconnectedness. Jesus came and called us into a personal and intimate relationship with God. Truly that relationships with God brings light, hope, joy, and love to each of us.
Bonnie B.
The Lord tells Isaiah that the time will come when “kings shall see and stand up; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves…” because the Lord has chosen the servant to be a prophet. This is a major turning of the tables. This role reversal is the unexpected eucatastrophe (J.R.R. Tolkien’s word for the pivot of history that occurred with the resurrection of Jesus) that no one could have predicted. This happens at a moment when God’s servant believes he is a failure. “But I said, ‘I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity….” There are times when we all feel like failures, and God’s promises are that we will be vindicated, that it will not have all been for nothing, for “…surely my cause is with the Lord and my reward with my God.” (49:4)
Frank R.
* * *
Isaiah 49:1-7
I work with a lot of congregations in my work in the United Church of Christ. One of my tasks is to help congregations say goodbye to pastors who have been called to serve elsewhere. Call is difficult to understand. Why would a pastor feel the need to move to another congregation? The congregation they are leaving wonders if they have done something wrong or if the pastor is unhappy with them. Most of the time that is not the case. Rather, God is calling the pastor to do new work, different work, with a different group of the faithful. It’s hard to explain the call one feels one one’s life, to explain that tug to someone else. God affirms Isaiah’s call. Isaiah proclaims his call. Celebrating call is sometimes difficult, just as it is to be obedient to the call God places in our hearts. But, praise God, for the calls are important.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Isaiah 49:1-7
In the Black church it is common to say, “God may not come when you want him. But he’s always on time.” This is a Biblical text for that mantra. Famed Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who died while trying to stop Hitler, put it well: “God does not give us everything we want, but he does fulfill his promises, leading us along the best and straightest paths to himself.” And Martin Luther put it well:
God must often say: If I gave you what you ask for, I would be a fool as you are. We often pray in this foolish manner. (Weimar Ausgabe, Vol. 47, p. 366)
We can use an image employed by modern theologian Ian Barbour (Nature, Human Nature, and God, p.30) to deal with this text and other occasions when it seems like God is powerless to help us. He construes God as a band leader who directs the cosmos. Like the band leader, God is in control of what will happen. He even creates the band (like he creates the cosmos). But if the band members do not practice and are wanton, then the band’s performance is poor, so God cannot guarantee that the cosmos will only produce good, that although he is in control ultimately, bad things can happen.
Mark E.
* * *
Isaiah 49:1-7
The song “Jesus Loves Me” is one of the most beloved songs in the church. While I’ve sung that song many times, I was unaware of its background. It began as a poem, written in 1859 by Susan and Anna Warner, who were daughters of a New York lawyer. The two young women wrote many different books and lessons for Sunday schools. One of their books, Say and Seal, included the poem.
In the book, two of the characters, Faith Derrick and John Endecott Linden, are concerned for a sick little boy named Johnny Fax. Johnny’s condition becomes critical, and he asks Mr. Linden, who was also the Sunday School teacher, to take him up in his strong arms and comfort him and sing to him. Mr. Linden readily does so and picking up the feverish little boy, walks slowly back and forth across the room trying to console him, singing the song we know so well.
There are two stanzas that were included in the first edition that we don’t sing as often. Reading them through the lens of a dying child gives new meaning to them.
Jesus loves me — loves me still,
Though I’m very weak and ill;
From his shining throne on high
Comes to watch me where I lie.
Jesus loves me, — he will stay
Close beside me all the way.
Then his little child will take
Up to heaven for his dear sake.
The Lord will bring his children back to him. Isaiah 49 also resounds with hope. The Lord will not leave his people lost. He will redeem them and bring them home.
Bill T.
* * *
1 Corinthians 1:1-9
When the apostle tells the Corinthian house churches that “…you are not lacking in any gift…” we may think to ourselves, “Really?” We tend to downgrade our own gifts and think ourselves inadequate to the task. Many of us will remember the marvelous and rather famous meditation by Robert Fulghum, “Everything I Ever Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.” You know, how he wrote things like “Share everything. Play fair. Don’t hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess.” In another book he described how in contrast to kindergarten classrooms, where we try everything and believe we’re good at everything, by the time we get to college we convinced ourselves we’re only good at one thing, and even in that, we’re not all that good. In kindergarten we all knew we were good at art. In college, only a few of us are willing to make such a claim.
I don’t know if that’s true, but it’s how we feel, and if it is how we feel, this verse from Corinthians is even more important, because when Paul says “…you are not lacking in any gift…” he is speaking in the second person plural. He’s saying “y’all,” or as we said in Pennsylvania, “y’uns” or “yinz.” We are perfectly good together. We are equipped for the great work of the good news of Jesus Christ together. And even individually, we need to give ourselves a bit more credit that we think we ought. God gave us more gifts that we let ourselves take credit for.
Frank R.
* * *
1 Corinthians 1:1-9
Most Americans have heard of “Old Faithful” in Yellowstone National Park. I read on the Yellowstone website, “The world’s most famous geyser, Old Faithful in Yellowstone, currently erupts around twenty times a day. These eruptions are predicted with a 90 percent confidence rate, within a ten-minute variation, based on the duration and height of the previous eruption. During visitor center hours, geyser statistics and predictions are maintained by the naturalist staff. This is done by good old-fashioned observation, timing with a stopwatch, and writing in a logbook.”
Tourists can depend on “Old Faithful” to erupt right on schedule. As dependable as “Old Faithful” is, it does not compare to the faithfulness of God. Paul writes, “He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the partnership of his son, Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Corinthians 1:8-9). God will strengthen and equip his children for the day Jesus returns. God is faithful. You can count on it.
Bill T.
* * *
John 1:29-42
John Calvin suggested that the Spirit coming to Christ in the form of a dove in this Biblical account (v.32) was “to make a public representation of that mildness of Christ...” (Calvin’s
Commentaries, Vol.XVII/2, p.67) Calvin also makes a fine point about how association with Christ like the text describes changes us, leads us to relish association with Christ:
By this example we are taught from the first rudiments of the church we ought to draw such a relish for Christ as will excite our desire to profit; and next that we ought not to be satisfied with a mere passing look, but that we ought to seek his dwelling, that he may receive us as guests. For there are many who smell the gospel at a distance only, and thus allow Christ suddenly to disappear, and all they learned concerning him to pass away. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol. XVII/2, pp. 70-71)
These observations are in line with the latest neurobiological findings about how dependence on God stimulates the flow of the pleasurable (and addictive) brain chemical dopamine (Dean Hamer, The God Gene, pp.72ff.).
Mark E.
* * *
John 1:29-42
Jesus is recognized, proclaimed to be the light of the world, to be the Lamb of God, to be the Messiah. The hopes and dreams of centuries have been fulfilled. Now everything will be different. Everything will change. Those statements are true, and yet Jesus didn’t meet the historical expectations of a mighty Savior who would free the people. Jesus did in fact free them, but not from Rome. Jesus came and freed us from the pettiness of self-centeredness, the violence of hate, the sorrow of disconnectedness. Jesus came and called us into a personal and intimate relationship with God. Truly that relationships with God brings light, hope, joy, and love to each of us.
Bonnie B.
