Sermon Illustrations for Proper 17 | Ordinary Time 22 (2012)
Illustration
Object:
Song of Solomon 2:8-13
The words of the Song of Solomon 2:8-13 introduce a section of springtime love in the book. In the past, especially in the Middle Ages, scholars interpreted these words allegorically as indicating God's love for Israel, or Jesus' love for the church, but today many biblical scholars see these words simply as a celebration of human sexuality.
Tony Campolo in his counseling of married men and women often encounters those who say that the love they once had for the other has now died and they are left with no alternative but to end their marriage. Tony says he usually responds by saying that if they will do faithfully what he tells them to do, within a month, the feelings of affection will return.
His counsel is as follows:
1. Each day make a new list of ten things that you would do for your spouse if you were in love.
2. Then each day, do the ten things that are on that list.
Richard H.
Song of Solomon 2:8-13
Many Americans do not feel God to be directly involved in their lives. According to a 2006 Harris poll, nearly half of us (44%) believe he is not engaged in our lives and is more of an observer. This text provides a dose of healthy medicine to such feeling of isolation! It compares our relation to God to an intimate courtship, the Lord coming to woo us, to take us away!
Martin Luther compellingly describes the intimacy of this relationship: "The third incomparable benefit of faith is that it unites the soul with Christ as a bride is united with her bridegroom... And if they are one flesh and there is between them a true marriage... it follows that in everything they have they hold in common, the good as well as the evil" (Luther's Works, Vol. 31, p. 351).
God is never far away; as our beloved spouse, he is sharing in every dimension of our lives.
Mark E.
James 1:17-27
The Andersons raced into church on the last verse of the opening hymn. "Down, down," little Amber cried. Turning to share the peace with Mrs. Rogers, Brad apologized as he chased after his daughter.
The twins began punching each other. "Behave!" Melanie warned.
"Boys will be boys," Mrs. Rogers said as she raised her eyebrows disapprovingly. "They sure will" Melanie thought, recalling the breakfast Cheerios fight.
"Melanie, count to ten," her husband suggested. He knew it was too late when she looked at him with daggers in her eyes. "Watch out, kids. There she blows!" And blow she did, her short fuse exploding.
"That's it! No cookies at coffee hour!" Melanie screamed.
By confession time, Melanie hung her head in shame. "Lord, why do I keep losing it? What kind of example am I? Why can't I keep a rein on my tongue?"
Cynthia C.
James 1:17-27
Our anatomy illustrates James' advice. Two ears remind us to spend twice the time listening as we do talking. Two hands and two feet encourage us to be four times as busy doing God's will as just sitting around thinking about it with our one brain. Our eyes look outward (not inward) to enable us to see those in need.
Mark M.
James 1:17-27
So many blame God for what they do and say. "He made me this way!" they excuse themselves by saying. It is true that God made everything, but he gives us free will to use them either selfishly or for him. He gave us the atom, and we can either use it to create energy or to destroy. He gives us the skill to make a car, but it can be used by doctors or pastors or teachers to help people or by gangsters to escape capture. He gave us every kind of food we can use to keep us strong and healthy, or we can misuse it to make us obese. We can use the bodies and minds he gave us to benefit humankind or to do evil. The tongue can be a blessing or a curse. That is up to us. Don't blame God!
Bob O.
James 1:17-27
Ron Fouchier, 45, is a virologist. His job is to discover new pathogens that, if left without an antidote, could create a world epidemic. His work is very dangerous, forcing him to work in high-containment laboratories.
He has been working with the H5N1 bird-flu virus. By injecting it into lab ferrets, he tries to determine how it can spread to other mammals, like us humans.
In assessing his job Fouchier realizes that his work is not without risk but doing nothing is even more dangerous still.
Application: James instructs us to "be doers of the word, not merely hearers." Sometimes we accept the complacency of listening, because doing requires risk.
Ron L.
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Jesus' actions in the gospel challenge social and religious convention in the name of a more spiritual life of service. Christians have been made social rebels by Christ. Famed German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, himself a rebel against Hitler's Nazi regime, nicely explains what happens when Jesus' word of freedom from convention gets into our lives: "The person who loves, because he is freed through the truth of God, is the most revolutionary person on earth. He is the one who upsets all values; He is the explosive in human society... For he has recognized that people are untruthful in the extreme, and he is ready at any time, and just for the sake of love, to permit the light of truth to fall on them" (A Testament to Freedom, p. 217).
Those caught up in Jesus' life and love do his thing, tell truths that challenge the way things are. (This point could be related on the eve of Labor Day to the depressing conditions the American labor force is enduring.)
Mark E.
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Lloyd Ogilvie tells the story of returning to visit New College at Edinburgh University where he had studied many years ago: "I was alarmed by the modernization of those old hallowed halls of theological learning. On previous visits since I was a student, it was always a sentimental journey in nostalgia among the memorabilia of tender remembrance. Now things were all rearranged. But as I walked about, I realized that the important things were unchanged...
"So I believe in traditions -- when they do not distract us from the essentials. But what happens when traditions become more important than the truth they were meant to convey? What if our traditions of worship and customs of the faith become more important than God?"
That was just the point Jesus was making when he criticized the Pharisees and scribes for holding on to traditions at the expense of really understanding what God had intended in the rituals to which they were attached.
Richard H.
The words of the Song of Solomon 2:8-13 introduce a section of springtime love in the book. In the past, especially in the Middle Ages, scholars interpreted these words allegorically as indicating God's love for Israel, or Jesus' love for the church, but today many biblical scholars see these words simply as a celebration of human sexuality.
Tony Campolo in his counseling of married men and women often encounters those who say that the love they once had for the other has now died and they are left with no alternative but to end their marriage. Tony says he usually responds by saying that if they will do faithfully what he tells them to do, within a month, the feelings of affection will return.
His counsel is as follows:
1. Each day make a new list of ten things that you would do for your spouse if you were in love.
2. Then each day, do the ten things that are on that list.
Richard H.
Song of Solomon 2:8-13
Many Americans do not feel God to be directly involved in their lives. According to a 2006 Harris poll, nearly half of us (44%) believe he is not engaged in our lives and is more of an observer. This text provides a dose of healthy medicine to such feeling of isolation! It compares our relation to God to an intimate courtship, the Lord coming to woo us, to take us away!
Martin Luther compellingly describes the intimacy of this relationship: "The third incomparable benefit of faith is that it unites the soul with Christ as a bride is united with her bridegroom... And if they are one flesh and there is between them a true marriage... it follows that in everything they have they hold in common, the good as well as the evil" (Luther's Works, Vol. 31, p. 351).
God is never far away; as our beloved spouse, he is sharing in every dimension of our lives.
Mark E.
James 1:17-27
The Andersons raced into church on the last verse of the opening hymn. "Down, down," little Amber cried. Turning to share the peace with Mrs. Rogers, Brad apologized as he chased after his daughter.
The twins began punching each other. "Behave!" Melanie warned.
"Boys will be boys," Mrs. Rogers said as she raised her eyebrows disapprovingly. "They sure will" Melanie thought, recalling the breakfast Cheerios fight.
"Melanie, count to ten," her husband suggested. He knew it was too late when she looked at him with daggers in her eyes. "Watch out, kids. There she blows!" And blow she did, her short fuse exploding.
"That's it! No cookies at coffee hour!" Melanie screamed.
By confession time, Melanie hung her head in shame. "Lord, why do I keep losing it? What kind of example am I? Why can't I keep a rein on my tongue?"
Cynthia C.
James 1:17-27
Our anatomy illustrates James' advice. Two ears remind us to spend twice the time listening as we do talking. Two hands and two feet encourage us to be four times as busy doing God's will as just sitting around thinking about it with our one brain. Our eyes look outward (not inward) to enable us to see those in need.
Mark M.
James 1:17-27
So many blame God for what they do and say. "He made me this way!" they excuse themselves by saying. It is true that God made everything, but he gives us free will to use them either selfishly or for him. He gave us the atom, and we can either use it to create energy or to destroy. He gives us the skill to make a car, but it can be used by doctors or pastors or teachers to help people or by gangsters to escape capture. He gave us every kind of food we can use to keep us strong and healthy, or we can misuse it to make us obese. We can use the bodies and minds he gave us to benefit humankind or to do evil. The tongue can be a blessing or a curse. That is up to us. Don't blame God!
Bob O.
James 1:17-27
Ron Fouchier, 45, is a virologist. His job is to discover new pathogens that, if left without an antidote, could create a world epidemic. His work is very dangerous, forcing him to work in high-containment laboratories.
He has been working with the H5N1 bird-flu virus. By injecting it into lab ferrets, he tries to determine how it can spread to other mammals, like us humans.
In assessing his job Fouchier realizes that his work is not without risk but doing nothing is even more dangerous still.
Application: James instructs us to "be doers of the word, not merely hearers." Sometimes we accept the complacency of listening, because doing requires risk.
Ron L.
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Jesus' actions in the gospel challenge social and religious convention in the name of a more spiritual life of service. Christians have been made social rebels by Christ. Famed German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, himself a rebel against Hitler's Nazi regime, nicely explains what happens when Jesus' word of freedom from convention gets into our lives: "The person who loves, because he is freed through the truth of God, is the most revolutionary person on earth. He is the one who upsets all values; He is the explosive in human society... For he has recognized that people are untruthful in the extreme, and he is ready at any time, and just for the sake of love, to permit the light of truth to fall on them" (A Testament to Freedom, p. 217).
Those caught up in Jesus' life and love do his thing, tell truths that challenge the way things are. (This point could be related on the eve of Labor Day to the depressing conditions the American labor force is enduring.)
Mark E.
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Lloyd Ogilvie tells the story of returning to visit New College at Edinburgh University where he had studied many years ago: "I was alarmed by the modernization of those old hallowed halls of theological learning. On previous visits since I was a student, it was always a sentimental journey in nostalgia among the memorabilia of tender remembrance. Now things were all rearranged. But as I walked about, I realized that the important things were unchanged...
"So I believe in traditions -- when they do not distract us from the essentials. But what happens when traditions become more important than the truth they were meant to convey? What if our traditions of worship and customs of the faith become more important than God?"
That was just the point Jesus was making when he criticized the Pharisees and scribes for holding on to traditions at the expense of really understanding what God had intended in the rituals to which they were attached.
Richard H.
