Sermon Illustrations for Lent 5 (2013)
Illustration
Object:
Isaiah 43:16-21
I'm sure the writer was thinking of Pharaoh's chariots, which drowned in the sea to save God's people as they fled Egypt. God could also be speaking to those today who come back from the wars with scars like PTSD. He is telling them to forget former things and not to dwell on the past. It is not easy to do. We have all had experiences that have hurt us deeply and will not go away -- the death of loved one or the loss of property, as with the survivors of Sandy. It is not easy and may not be possible without God's help. In this passage God is telling us that he is doing a new thing. He asks us, "Don't you see it?" He is making a way in the desert of our souls that may feel empty and deserted. He is putting streams in our emptiness so we can refresh ourselves with the delicious water of his word and Spirit. Then he tells us one of the reasons he has done this for us is so that we may proclaim his praise. In everything God does for us, there is always that caveat! Tell others what he has done for us. That is the best way to say thanks to him. If you can't be a missionary, you can at least support those who can. We can all be missionaries to our own community!
Bob O.
Isaiah 43:16-21
"What you did was wrong, John," Mary sternly reminded him, which she really did not have to do because he could not forget it no matter how hard he tried. Spending the weekend with Wendy when he and Mary were going through a very tough time in their relationship was the dumbest thing he did in his 38 years of life.
"What can I do to make it up to you?" John pleaded.
He truly was sorry, and Mary could see it in his eyes and hear it on his quivering lips. "You can't make it up, John. It's been done and can't be changed."
"What are you going to do then?" John asked with broken hope in his voice.
"I am praying to forgive you, but it may take a while," Mary said, softer now.
"Will that make it go away?" John asked.
"No, but perhaps we can live with the memory graciously."
Mark M.
Philippians 3:4b-14
The honesty and integrity of George Washington is often associated with the story that after he chopped down the cherry tree and was approached by his father regarding the incident, the young man replied, "I can't tell a lie, Pa; you know I can't tell a lie. I did cut it with my hatchet."
This would be a good story on moral character if it was only true, but it is not. The story was fabricated by Pastor Mason Weems, who wrote a biography on Washington titled The Life and Memorable Actions of George Washington.
The sales of the original book were record breaking, though by the fourth edition sales were significantly less. In order to promote the fifth edition and capture a larger and new reading audience, Weems fabricated the story of Washington and the cherry tree.
Paul looked upon his past as rubbish, for in the present he found that all his gain was in Christ. Weems did look upon the past as rubbish, since truth had no bearing on it, allowing him to see the present as a gain in monetary profit.
Ron L.
Philippians 3:4b-14
Orienting your life by the past is not the Christian way, Paul proclaims in this lesson. It is like 20th-century American poet Paul Eldridge once wrote: "Praises for our past triumphs are as feathers to a dead bird." Our pasts don't count anymore, because we belong to Christ (the apostle says).
Of course, the selfish, seedy side of us objects. In his novel Men Without Women, Ernest Hemingway wrote: "The most painful thing is losing yourself in the process of loving someone..." He is wrong when it comes to the love of God, if not human love. The only thing that hurts in those cases is our sinful selfishness that love overcomes.
Neurobiologists have found that in love and in faith the part of our brain that orients us in space and time shuts down. We lose ourselves (Dean Hamer, The God Gene, esp. pp. 121-124; Daniel Amen, Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, esp. p. 264). When we see ourselves as belonging to God, then we can celebrate with Mahatma Gandhi and say: "The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself."
Mark E.
John 12:1-8
Beware you church treasures! In the first church I served after my ordination, someone saw the church treasurer taking out some of the cash lying on the top of the offering plates and shoving it in his pocket. It was not that he was broke. He owned a laundry business. He was our Judas. How many, even elected officials, have been tempted by the large amounts of money that pass through their hands? Some may have been thinking of all the better uses that money could have been used for. Maybe I shouldn't mention this, but how many resent the large amounts of government money being used to help the poor and needy when it could be better used by the wealthy who deserve it for their hard work? I'm sure some may be thinking of the huge amounts of money spent on church edifices built to glorify God. Should we spend all our offerings on the poor? The church I attend now meets in a storefront and has for over 20 years. Visitors often ask the pastor when they are going to build a church. He always answers, "We are building one -- all over the world." There are still times when we need to anoint our Lord with the beauty of a building. Only our Lord can tell us what he wants. He is the only one who can judge our motives. We need to remember who gave us that money in the first place. Then we must remember that it is his money!
Bob O.
John 12:1-8
Dewey had the thickest, blackest head of hair of anyone in the class. The girls all loved to run their fingers through his curly locks. Ten years after graduation he was cue-ball bald from front to back, yet with dense tufts of hair to comb and trim still on the side and on the back of his neck. No doubt he tried Rogaine; perhaps Bosley. Even vinegar is said to help in such a condition, but not for Dewey. His condition was a reality for God too, who now did not have to count so high in his case. Dewey took it in stride because, as time would have it, baldness became the new sexy.
Mark M.
I'm sure the writer was thinking of Pharaoh's chariots, which drowned in the sea to save God's people as they fled Egypt. God could also be speaking to those today who come back from the wars with scars like PTSD. He is telling them to forget former things and not to dwell on the past. It is not easy to do. We have all had experiences that have hurt us deeply and will not go away -- the death of loved one or the loss of property, as with the survivors of Sandy. It is not easy and may not be possible without God's help. In this passage God is telling us that he is doing a new thing. He asks us, "Don't you see it?" He is making a way in the desert of our souls that may feel empty and deserted. He is putting streams in our emptiness so we can refresh ourselves with the delicious water of his word and Spirit. Then he tells us one of the reasons he has done this for us is so that we may proclaim his praise. In everything God does for us, there is always that caveat! Tell others what he has done for us. That is the best way to say thanks to him. If you can't be a missionary, you can at least support those who can. We can all be missionaries to our own community!
Bob O.
Isaiah 43:16-21
"What you did was wrong, John," Mary sternly reminded him, which she really did not have to do because he could not forget it no matter how hard he tried. Spending the weekend with Wendy when he and Mary were going through a very tough time in their relationship was the dumbest thing he did in his 38 years of life.
"What can I do to make it up to you?" John pleaded.
He truly was sorry, and Mary could see it in his eyes and hear it on his quivering lips. "You can't make it up, John. It's been done and can't be changed."
"What are you going to do then?" John asked with broken hope in his voice.
"I am praying to forgive you, but it may take a while," Mary said, softer now.
"Will that make it go away?" John asked.
"No, but perhaps we can live with the memory graciously."
Mark M.
Philippians 3:4b-14
The honesty and integrity of George Washington is often associated with the story that after he chopped down the cherry tree and was approached by his father regarding the incident, the young man replied, "I can't tell a lie, Pa; you know I can't tell a lie. I did cut it with my hatchet."
This would be a good story on moral character if it was only true, but it is not. The story was fabricated by Pastor Mason Weems, who wrote a biography on Washington titled The Life and Memorable Actions of George Washington.
The sales of the original book were record breaking, though by the fourth edition sales were significantly less. In order to promote the fifth edition and capture a larger and new reading audience, Weems fabricated the story of Washington and the cherry tree.
Paul looked upon his past as rubbish, for in the present he found that all his gain was in Christ. Weems did look upon the past as rubbish, since truth had no bearing on it, allowing him to see the present as a gain in monetary profit.
Ron L.
Philippians 3:4b-14
Orienting your life by the past is not the Christian way, Paul proclaims in this lesson. It is like 20th-century American poet Paul Eldridge once wrote: "Praises for our past triumphs are as feathers to a dead bird." Our pasts don't count anymore, because we belong to Christ (the apostle says).
Of course, the selfish, seedy side of us objects. In his novel Men Without Women, Ernest Hemingway wrote: "The most painful thing is losing yourself in the process of loving someone..." He is wrong when it comes to the love of God, if not human love. The only thing that hurts in those cases is our sinful selfishness that love overcomes.
Neurobiologists have found that in love and in faith the part of our brain that orients us in space and time shuts down. We lose ourselves (Dean Hamer, The God Gene, esp. pp. 121-124; Daniel Amen, Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, esp. p. 264). When we see ourselves as belonging to God, then we can celebrate with Mahatma Gandhi and say: "The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself."
Mark E.
John 12:1-8
Beware you church treasures! In the first church I served after my ordination, someone saw the church treasurer taking out some of the cash lying on the top of the offering plates and shoving it in his pocket. It was not that he was broke. He owned a laundry business. He was our Judas. How many, even elected officials, have been tempted by the large amounts of money that pass through their hands? Some may have been thinking of all the better uses that money could have been used for. Maybe I shouldn't mention this, but how many resent the large amounts of government money being used to help the poor and needy when it could be better used by the wealthy who deserve it for their hard work? I'm sure some may be thinking of the huge amounts of money spent on church edifices built to glorify God. Should we spend all our offerings on the poor? The church I attend now meets in a storefront and has for over 20 years. Visitors often ask the pastor when they are going to build a church. He always answers, "We are building one -- all over the world." There are still times when we need to anoint our Lord with the beauty of a building. Only our Lord can tell us what he wants. He is the only one who can judge our motives. We need to remember who gave us that money in the first place. Then we must remember that it is his money!
Bob O.
John 12:1-8
Dewey had the thickest, blackest head of hair of anyone in the class. The girls all loved to run their fingers through his curly locks. Ten years after graduation he was cue-ball bald from front to back, yet with dense tufts of hair to comb and trim still on the side and on the back of his neck. No doubt he tried Rogaine; perhaps Bosley. Even vinegar is said to help in such a condition, but not for Dewey. His condition was a reality for God too, who now did not have to count so high in his case. Dewey took it in stride because, as time would have it, baldness became the new sexy.
Mark M.
