Sermon Illustrations for Proper 17 | Ordinary Time 22 (2019)
Illustration
Jeremiah 2:4-13
I came across this humorous story and thought of it again reading this text. A man from the city was visiting relatives on a farm. He was out walking around with the farmer when the farmer gave a whistle and his dog herded the cattle into the corral, and then latched the gate with her paw. “Wow, that’s some dog. What’s her name?” The forgetful farmer thought a minute, and then asked, “What do you call that red flower that smells good and has thorns on the stem?” “A rose?” “That? it!” The farmer turned and called out to his wife. “Hey Rose, what do we call this dog?”
While you might laugh at that silly story, there is nothing funny about the forgetting found in this text. The Jews, during the time of Jeremiah had turned away from the one true God. It’s hard to read this lament without sensing God’s broken heart throughout this passage. The lament begins, “What wrong did your ancestors find in me that they went far from me and went after worthless things, and became worthless themselves?” The lament sadly and pointedly concludes with this charge, “for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.”
It is a stark reminder of the importance of faithfulness. A lyric from an old Steve Green song came to mind; “Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful.”
Bill T.
* * *
Jeremiah 2:4-13
The Samaritan woman in John 4 is protective of Jacob's Well, an earthly cistern, but she makes the better choice when she comes to understand that the living water offered by Jesus is far more desirable. Jeremiah calls his own people to task because they prefer "cracked cisterns," which hold no water, against the living water that God is offering. Jeremiah is speaking of a cistern hewn into the rock by humans, which could be susceptible to cracks, rendering it useless. It is also not a source of water. It is not a spring that flowers continuously. The false gods of their neighbors, are like those human-made cisterns. They are susceptible to cracks, damage, and dissolution because they are not real. God’s people are accused of choosing those cracked cisterns that are not the source of life, instead of ever-present true God who is not created by human hands but exists always and forever.
Frank R.
* * *
Jeremiah 2:4-13
In October 1963, Willie Nelson, while walking in his Ridgetop, Tennessee, farm decided to write the Christmas song Pretty Paper. Nelson was inspired to write the song as he pondered an incident that he witnessed the previous Christmas season in Fort Worth, Texas. As he was walking the streets of the city, he saw a vendor hawking his wares in front of Leonard's Department Store.
The man, who was later identified as Frankie Brierton, had both legs amputated above the knees. Brierton chose not to use a wheelchair, but instead moved by rollers which imitated crawling, which is how he learned to move while growing up after his legs were affected by a spinal disorder. Brierton was trying to sell colorful papers, pencils and ribbons. To attract the attention of potential customers Brierton called out, “Pretty papers! Pretty ribbons!” Nelson was disturbed that no one stopped before the amputee to make a Christmas purchase.
Recalling this scene and its resounding message, Nelson wrote Pretty Paper:
Pretty paper, pretty ribbons of blue
Wrap your presents to your darling from you
Pretty pencils to write “I love you”
Pretty paper, pretty ribbons of blue
Crowded street, busy feet hustle by him
Downtown shoppers, Christmas is nigh
There he sits all alone on the sidewalk
Hoping that you won't pass him by
Should you stop? better not, much too busy
You're in a hurry, my how time does fly
In the distance the ringing of laughter
And in the midst of the laughter he cries
Pretty paper, pretty ribbons of blue
Wrap your presents to your darling from you
Pretty pencils to write “I love you”
Pretty paper, pretty ribbons of blue
Ron L.
* * *
Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16
Our call as people of faith is to first be faithful, to know God and God’s commandments and call on our lives. Our call is also to care for the least among us: to demonstrate hospitality, to visit those imprisoned, to care for those who are being tortured. I have no idea where the US immigration policy will lead us in the next months. I do know that I stood at the border wall — the original one at a place where a second wall is being constructed — and stared into the faces of those on the other side. I stood with people of multiple denominations and sang and prayed at the border outside of San Diego, California. I walked — marched really — in prayer and solidarity. Among those I saw that day were teens, children, women and men, standing with their faces pressed against the iron fence separating us. Their imprisonment, their tortuous separation from family, and their fear is still etched in my memory and my soul. How many of them are angels, these strangers among us? How little hospitality these asylum seekers receive? How I weep.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Hebrews 13:1-8,15-16
The lesson links together love, marriage, or hospitality, with the praise of God. Students of evolution have noted the social and evolutionary benefits of worship. Science writer Nicholas Ward observes they have noted that worship “would have become a potent way of harnessing a society’s energies to adopt common goals.” (The Faith Instinct, p.76) When you worship together you come to feel a kinship with those worshiping like you; you start trusting and even loving those with whom you go through the ritual and sing together. It is significant to note that the ability to engage in such cooperation is what makes homo sapiens superior to other animals. Worship has aided our evolution. The father of modern Black theology, James Cone, makes a related point, especially about how worship builds a community seeking justice:
In the act of worship itself, the experience of liberation becomes a constituent of the community’s being... It is the power of God’s Spirit invading the lives of the people, “building them up where they are town down and propping them up on every leaning side...”
A 2014 Pew Research Center poll revealed that only about half of Americans are likely engaged in worship in a given week. Is it surprising, then, that we are a little less hospitable, loving, and faithful in our relationships?
Mark E.
* * *
Hebrews 13:1-8
Love each other as brothers (and sisters). In other words, as friends. The word in Greek does not mean “eros” which is a romantic kind of love. Greek has four words for love so we may need a pastor to explain which kind of love the Bible means in certain passage.
Entertain is another word that your church can translate for you. It is not implying that we should play our guitar for them. It means “make them feel welcome by you.” You can always invite someone for coffee which is a sign of friendliness. Sometimes I have even invited a stranger who came into a restaurant to join me. For one I don’t like to eat alone! Even if my guest is not an angel.
I was a prison chaplain and knew that being a friend to a prisoner could even help turn him around so that he didn’t go back to do more time when he got out.
We helped a woman prisoner get a degree, which helped her find a good job when she got out. Now she wants to write a book to help others.
God loved us so much that he sent his son to die for us! How can you love more than that? God will never leave us.
Our church can teach us about love by our actions. It can not only analyze what love means, but even more important to live an example of love for others.
Bob O.
* * *
Luke 14:1, 7-14
Demonstrating humility and service when it’s tough to do matters. Our text today describes that. I found a good example of this in a USA Today article from November 11, 2015. Quinn Duane is a Sacramento, California, native who gained national attention when she was left at the alter and decided to donate her wedding reception food to the needy. Less than a week out from the 27-year-old’s wedding day at Sacramento's Citizen Hotel, her fiancé got cold feet. Her family could have let the day pass, but instead they contacted a Sacramento homeless shelter. They filled the reception hall with the city's hungry, offering them a four-star meal.
"When you have a ton of food what better way than to give it to those who need it,” Duane said. According to the article, Duane says she doesn't see herself as a role model or particularly exemplary. Just someone who chose to do the right thing when she had the chance to do it.
Humility means not asserting yourself or putting yourself first. C.S. Lewis once said, “A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.”
Bill T.
* * *
Luke 14:7-14
The artic fox is sometimes known as the white fox, snow fox or polar fox because of its white fur. They are small, with the average length of a female being 20 inches and weighing 6.4 pounds. In July 2017, an artic fox was fitted with a tracking device that could be monitored by satellite. The monitored female, that was roughly 2-years-old, left her birth place on Norway’s Svalbard archipelago on March 1, 2018, seeking a place to settle down and breed. By way of Greenland she reached Canada’s Ellesmere Island on July 1, 2018. In four months she walked 2,737 miles, averaging 28.7 miles per day. If she would have walked in a straight line the distance would have been 1,109 miles.
Ron L.
I came across this humorous story and thought of it again reading this text. A man from the city was visiting relatives on a farm. He was out walking around with the farmer when the farmer gave a whistle and his dog herded the cattle into the corral, and then latched the gate with her paw. “Wow, that’s some dog. What’s her name?” The forgetful farmer thought a minute, and then asked, “What do you call that red flower that smells good and has thorns on the stem?” “A rose?” “That? it!” The farmer turned and called out to his wife. “Hey Rose, what do we call this dog?”
While you might laugh at that silly story, there is nothing funny about the forgetting found in this text. The Jews, during the time of Jeremiah had turned away from the one true God. It’s hard to read this lament without sensing God’s broken heart throughout this passage. The lament begins, “What wrong did your ancestors find in me that they went far from me and went after worthless things, and became worthless themselves?” The lament sadly and pointedly concludes with this charge, “for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.”
It is a stark reminder of the importance of faithfulness. A lyric from an old Steve Green song came to mind; “Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful.”
Bill T.
* * *
Jeremiah 2:4-13
The Samaritan woman in John 4 is protective of Jacob's Well, an earthly cistern, but she makes the better choice when she comes to understand that the living water offered by Jesus is far more desirable. Jeremiah calls his own people to task because they prefer "cracked cisterns," which hold no water, against the living water that God is offering. Jeremiah is speaking of a cistern hewn into the rock by humans, which could be susceptible to cracks, rendering it useless. It is also not a source of water. It is not a spring that flowers continuously. The false gods of their neighbors, are like those human-made cisterns. They are susceptible to cracks, damage, and dissolution because they are not real. God’s people are accused of choosing those cracked cisterns that are not the source of life, instead of ever-present true God who is not created by human hands but exists always and forever.
Frank R.
* * *
Jeremiah 2:4-13
In October 1963, Willie Nelson, while walking in his Ridgetop, Tennessee, farm decided to write the Christmas song Pretty Paper. Nelson was inspired to write the song as he pondered an incident that he witnessed the previous Christmas season in Fort Worth, Texas. As he was walking the streets of the city, he saw a vendor hawking his wares in front of Leonard's Department Store.
The man, who was later identified as Frankie Brierton, had both legs amputated above the knees. Brierton chose not to use a wheelchair, but instead moved by rollers which imitated crawling, which is how he learned to move while growing up after his legs were affected by a spinal disorder. Brierton was trying to sell colorful papers, pencils and ribbons. To attract the attention of potential customers Brierton called out, “Pretty papers! Pretty ribbons!” Nelson was disturbed that no one stopped before the amputee to make a Christmas purchase.
Recalling this scene and its resounding message, Nelson wrote Pretty Paper:
Pretty paper, pretty ribbons of blue
Wrap your presents to your darling from you
Pretty pencils to write “I love you”
Pretty paper, pretty ribbons of blue
Crowded street, busy feet hustle by him
Downtown shoppers, Christmas is nigh
There he sits all alone on the sidewalk
Hoping that you won't pass him by
Should you stop? better not, much too busy
You're in a hurry, my how time does fly
In the distance the ringing of laughter
And in the midst of the laughter he cries
Pretty paper, pretty ribbons of blue
Wrap your presents to your darling from you
Pretty pencils to write “I love you”
Pretty paper, pretty ribbons of blue
Ron L.
* * *
Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16
Our call as people of faith is to first be faithful, to know God and God’s commandments and call on our lives. Our call is also to care for the least among us: to demonstrate hospitality, to visit those imprisoned, to care for those who are being tortured. I have no idea where the US immigration policy will lead us in the next months. I do know that I stood at the border wall — the original one at a place where a second wall is being constructed — and stared into the faces of those on the other side. I stood with people of multiple denominations and sang and prayed at the border outside of San Diego, California. I walked — marched really — in prayer and solidarity. Among those I saw that day were teens, children, women and men, standing with their faces pressed against the iron fence separating us. Their imprisonment, their tortuous separation from family, and their fear is still etched in my memory and my soul. How many of them are angels, these strangers among us? How little hospitality these asylum seekers receive? How I weep.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Hebrews 13:1-8,15-16
The lesson links together love, marriage, or hospitality, with the praise of God. Students of evolution have noted the social and evolutionary benefits of worship. Science writer Nicholas Ward observes they have noted that worship “would have become a potent way of harnessing a society’s energies to adopt common goals.” (The Faith Instinct, p.76) When you worship together you come to feel a kinship with those worshiping like you; you start trusting and even loving those with whom you go through the ritual and sing together. It is significant to note that the ability to engage in such cooperation is what makes homo sapiens superior to other animals. Worship has aided our evolution. The father of modern Black theology, James Cone, makes a related point, especially about how worship builds a community seeking justice:
In the act of worship itself, the experience of liberation becomes a constituent of the community’s being... It is the power of God’s Spirit invading the lives of the people, “building them up where they are town down and propping them up on every leaning side...”
A 2014 Pew Research Center poll revealed that only about half of Americans are likely engaged in worship in a given week. Is it surprising, then, that we are a little less hospitable, loving, and faithful in our relationships?
Mark E.
* * *
Hebrews 13:1-8
Love each other as brothers (and sisters). In other words, as friends. The word in Greek does not mean “eros” which is a romantic kind of love. Greek has four words for love so we may need a pastor to explain which kind of love the Bible means in certain passage.
Entertain is another word that your church can translate for you. It is not implying that we should play our guitar for them. It means “make them feel welcome by you.” You can always invite someone for coffee which is a sign of friendliness. Sometimes I have even invited a stranger who came into a restaurant to join me. For one I don’t like to eat alone! Even if my guest is not an angel.
I was a prison chaplain and knew that being a friend to a prisoner could even help turn him around so that he didn’t go back to do more time when he got out.
We helped a woman prisoner get a degree, which helped her find a good job when she got out. Now she wants to write a book to help others.
God loved us so much that he sent his son to die for us! How can you love more than that? God will never leave us.
Our church can teach us about love by our actions. It can not only analyze what love means, but even more important to live an example of love for others.
Bob O.
* * *
Luke 14:1, 7-14
Demonstrating humility and service when it’s tough to do matters. Our text today describes that. I found a good example of this in a USA Today article from November 11, 2015. Quinn Duane is a Sacramento, California, native who gained national attention when she was left at the alter and decided to donate her wedding reception food to the needy. Less than a week out from the 27-year-old’s wedding day at Sacramento's Citizen Hotel, her fiancé got cold feet. Her family could have let the day pass, but instead they contacted a Sacramento homeless shelter. They filled the reception hall with the city's hungry, offering them a four-star meal.
"When you have a ton of food what better way than to give it to those who need it,” Duane said. According to the article, Duane says she doesn't see herself as a role model or particularly exemplary. Just someone who chose to do the right thing when she had the chance to do it.
Humility means not asserting yourself or putting yourself first. C.S. Lewis once said, “A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.”
Bill T.
* * *
Luke 14:7-14
The artic fox is sometimes known as the white fox, snow fox or polar fox because of its white fur. They are small, with the average length of a female being 20 inches and weighing 6.4 pounds. In July 2017, an artic fox was fitted with a tracking device that could be monitored by satellite. The monitored female, that was roughly 2-years-old, left her birth place on Norway’s Svalbard archipelago on March 1, 2018, seeking a place to settle down and breed. By way of Greenland she reached Canada’s Ellesmere Island on July 1, 2018. In four months she walked 2,737 miles, averaging 28.7 miles per day. If she would have walked in a straight line the distance would have been 1,109 miles.
Ron L.
