Sermon Illustrations for Lent 2 (2012)
Illustration
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
The story is true. Angelo Siciliano was a 97-pound weakling from Brooklyn. When he was fourteen years old and on a date at the beach, a couple of tough twelve year olds came along and started kicking sand on his Sunday suit. When his girl asked if he were going to defend his honor, Angelo feebly protested that he was too frail and skinny to be a champion. At that point she got up and left him.
Angelo went home and prayed. He besought Jesus to make him big and strong. Fervently Angelo continued to petition his Savior for strength. Then one Saturday morning a kindly man, Mr. Davenport, took Angelo to the Brooklyn Museum. There the youth saw a gigantic Grecian statue of a man with bulging muscles. He inquired if there were men really like that. Mr. Davenport replied there were men that muscular. Angelo then asked if he could ever have such a physique, and his mentor replied, "If you try hard, if you love the Lord, you can do anything with yourself."
Angelo returned home and prayed more fervently than ever. His answer came one morning as he observed his cat. When the cat got up he stretched, then arched his back, bringing one muscle to bear against another, creating tension. Angelo realized he could build his muscles by doing the same with his body.
In time Angelo became the "Strongest Man in the World" and changed his name to Charles Atlas. Soon children everywhere were writing Mr. Atlas, asking how they could become as strong as he. In response he developed a course for muscle building; he also told the children they must have Jesus Christ in their hearts.
Abram received a new name -- Abraham -- when he got a new calling in life. The same is true for all of us when we are transformed by Christ into new servants in his name.
Ron L.
Romans 4:13-25
In 2008, Rajo Devi Lohan of India made worldwide headlines by becoming the world's oldest new mom at age seventy by means of in vitro fertilization. For her and her eighty-year-old husband, it was worth taking out the massive loan to pay for the procedure because to be barren in that culture carries a huge stigma. In fact, she suffered major complications after giving birth, to the point that she was reported to be dying two years later, sparking a great deal of controversy regarding the ethics of impregnating a woman of that age.
For Abraham, there was no in vitro option for him and Sarah. All he had was the promise of God that he would be the father of nations -- at 100 years of age. And there was no debate as to the ethics of such a promise. God said it and it was enough. That is why he is the example of faith that Paul looks to here.
Craig K.
Romans 4:13-25
John O'Hara was a novelist whose historical settings were based on life during the first half of the twentieth century. Probably no other American novelist captured the dialogue and yearnings of citizens of both the small town as well as cosmopolitan New York City. O'Hara had a knack of exposing the social climbers of his day, people who surrounded themselves with the symbols of what O'Hara called "the badges" of success. They dressed properly, danced elegantly, went to the right colleges, belonged to the right clubs, and knew the right people.
O'Hara was not above social-climbing himself. He was a dapper dresser. He had a gift of gab. He was not above stealing matchbooks from prominent night clubs to show he had dined there. As a teenager he had always wanted to go to Yale University but when the time arrived, it became known that his wealthy father had made a series of bad investments that made it impossible for him to realize his dream.
Knowing the right people was not the answer; only "the righteousness of faith" suffices.
Richard H.
Mark 8:31-38
When Jared Loughner started to randomly fire into the crowd with his assassination attempt on Rep. Gabrielle Gifford, Carol Dorushka was shoved to the pavement by her husband Ken, who then covered her body with his own. When the shooting ended, Carol got up. As she walked into the Safeway store she trailed blood dripping from her body. No, she was not wounded. It was the blood of others that her jeans and sweatshirt absorbed.
The event was so traumatic to her that it was a year before Carol was able to leave her home. She still has nightmares and gets involuntary shaking. She told her Presbyterian pastor, "I just want everything to go back to normal." He wisely told her, "This is the new normal. There's no going back."
"Get behind me, Satan!" as Jesus said to Peter for his failure to understand the suffering that Jesus was to endure. With evil in the world a Jared Loughner will always be behind us and that is the new normal we must all accept.
Ron L.
The story is true. Angelo Siciliano was a 97-pound weakling from Brooklyn. When he was fourteen years old and on a date at the beach, a couple of tough twelve year olds came along and started kicking sand on his Sunday suit. When his girl asked if he were going to defend his honor, Angelo feebly protested that he was too frail and skinny to be a champion. At that point she got up and left him.
Angelo went home and prayed. He besought Jesus to make him big and strong. Fervently Angelo continued to petition his Savior for strength. Then one Saturday morning a kindly man, Mr. Davenport, took Angelo to the Brooklyn Museum. There the youth saw a gigantic Grecian statue of a man with bulging muscles. He inquired if there were men really like that. Mr. Davenport replied there were men that muscular. Angelo then asked if he could ever have such a physique, and his mentor replied, "If you try hard, if you love the Lord, you can do anything with yourself."
Angelo returned home and prayed more fervently than ever. His answer came one morning as he observed his cat. When the cat got up he stretched, then arched his back, bringing one muscle to bear against another, creating tension. Angelo realized he could build his muscles by doing the same with his body.
In time Angelo became the "Strongest Man in the World" and changed his name to Charles Atlas. Soon children everywhere were writing Mr. Atlas, asking how they could become as strong as he. In response he developed a course for muscle building; he also told the children they must have Jesus Christ in their hearts.
Abram received a new name -- Abraham -- when he got a new calling in life. The same is true for all of us when we are transformed by Christ into new servants in his name.
Ron L.
Romans 4:13-25
In 2008, Rajo Devi Lohan of India made worldwide headlines by becoming the world's oldest new mom at age seventy by means of in vitro fertilization. For her and her eighty-year-old husband, it was worth taking out the massive loan to pay for the procedure because to be barren in that culture carries a huge stigma. In fact, she suffered major complications after giving birth, to the point that she was reported to be dying two years later, sparking a great deal of controversy regarding the ethics of impregnating a woman of that age.
For Abraham, there was no in vitro option for him and Sarah. All he had was the promise of God that he would be the father of nations -- at 100 years of age. And there was no debate as to the ethics of such a promise. God said it and it was enough. That is why he is the example of faith that Paul looks to here.
Craig K.
Romans 4:13-25
John O'Hara was a novelist whose historical settings were based on life during the first half of the twentieth century. Probably no other American novelist captured the dialogue and yearnings of citizens of both the small town as well as cosmopolitan New York City. O'Hara had a knack of exposing the social climbers of his day, people who surrounded themselves with the symbols of what O'Hara called "the badges" of success. They dressed properly, danced elegantly, went to the right colleges, belonged to the right clubs, and knew the right people.
O'Hara was not above social-climbing himself. He was a dapper dresser. He had a gift of gab. He was not above stealing matchbooks from prominent night clubs to show he had dined there. As a teenager he had always wanted to go to Yale University but when the time arrived, it became known that his wealthy father had made a series of bad investments that made it impossible for him to realize his dream.
Knowing the right people was not the answer; only "the righteousness of faith" suffices.
Richard H.
Mark 8:31-38
When Jared Loughner started to randomly fire into the crowd with his assassination attempt on Rep. Gabrielle Gifford, Carol Dorushka was shoved to the pavement by her husband Ken, who then covered her body with his own. When the shooting ended, Carol got up. As she walked into the Safeway store she trailed blood dripping from her body. No, she was not wounded. It was the blood of others that her jeans and sweatshirt absorbed.
The event was so traumatic to her that it was a year before Carol was able to leave her home. She still has nightmares and gets involuntary shaking. She told her Presbyterian pastor, "I just want everything to go back to normal." He wisely told her, "This is the new normal. There's no going back."
"Get behind me, Satan!" as Jesus said to Peter for his failure to understand the suffering that Jesus was to endure. With evil in the world a Jared Loughner will always be behind us and that is the new normal we must all accept.
Ron L.
