Sermon Illustrations for Proper 6 | OT 11, Cycle B (2012)
Illustration
Object:
1 Samuel 15:34--16:13
A psychologist asked 3,000 people, "What have you to live for?" He was surprised to find that 94% were simply enduring the present day while they waited for the future. They were waiting for a better time. They were waiting for better economics. They were waiting for next year. They were waiting for someone to die. They were waiting for tomorrow.
Samuel tries to affirm that life is more than mere waiting, for it is to be a spiritual and fulfilling experience. This we know can be true if we believe the words, "for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart." Knowing the Lord can see into our hearts, see into our lives, there is no need to wait; instead, we move forward following the calling of the Holy Spirit.
Ron L.
1 Samuel 15:34--16:13
Life is difficult in America given our present economic realities, not unlike the hopelessness felt by the Hebrews during the bad times that Israel endured near the end of Saul's reign in the eleventh century BC. On a scale of 10, a recent Gallup poll indicated that the American public polled an all-time low of 5.0 regarding Americans' assessment of our present situation. We need hope, a hope that God will give us a fresh start. We need the hope echoed in an aphorisim commonly proclaimed among African-American Christians. We need to believe that we have a God who will "make a way out of no way." It is like eighteenth-century English writer Oscar Wilde put it: "We are all in the gutter, but some of us [Christians] can still see the stars."
Mark E.
2 Corinthians 5:6-10 (11-13) 14-17
Paul writes: "So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!" (2 Corinthians 5:17).
John Killinger tells the story of a man deeply depressed and alone in a hotel room. He is a successful business man but now he finds himself worrying about everything. He had not prayed before but now having reached the depths of despair, he cries out to God. He thought he heard God responding to him saying, "It doesn't have to be that way."
Returning home he sought out his brother who happened to be a minister and asked him, "Do you think God was speaking to me?" His brother assured him that it could very well be God speaking to him because the heart of the message of the Bible was that people could change. Jesus can change your life and make you a new person he told his brother. Later, the man told his brother, "I have become a new person because of Jesus, as you said."
Richard H.
Mark 4:26-34
George Washington was sent by the governor of Virginia to inform the French they must leave the Allegheny Valley territory, where Pittsburgh is located today. A few miles south of the forks of the three rivers, Washington came upon the French commander Jumonville. Jumonville was camped in the ravine, in what has now come to be called Jumonville Glen. Washington placed his men on the vertical cliffs above the ravine. At dawn, as the French awoke, Washington, without orders from the governor of Virginia, fired upon the French.
This created an international incident since France and Britain were already disputing the land in the North America. This small skirmish became known as the French and Indian War in America. As the fighting spread across the Atlantic, it was known as the Seven Years War in Europe.
This was the first world war in the history of humanity, for it was the first war to span an ocean and involve two continents.
The skirmish may have been small, no bigger than a mustard seed, but it had the power to become a worldwide event.
Ron L.
Mark 4:26-34
These parables of Jesus remind us that we don't have much to do with the growth of God's kingdom, with the good God is working among us. It is like famed Reformed theologian of last century Karl Barth once wrote: We have here [in theses parables] a growth which has little to do with human industry... "whether a man sets his hands to work or folds them or even lay them in his lap he can only be a spectator and affirm that it takes place..." (Church Dogmatics, Vol. IV/2, p. 631). When we realize that God does all the good, we are more inclined to live in awe and not expect all the good we have as if we deserved it. Then life becomes a wonderful surprise. Novelist Alice Walker gives us advice that parallels Jesus' advice in the parables: "The best things in life are unexpected... Live frugally on surprise."
Mark E.
A psychologist asked 3,000 people, "What have you to live for?" He was surprised to find that 94% were simply enduring the present day while they waited for the future. They were waiting for a better time. They were waiting for better economics. They were waiting for next year. They were waiting for someone to die. They were waiting for tomorrow.
Samuel tries to affirm that life is more than mere waiting, for it is to be a spiritual and fulfilling experience. This we know can be true if we believe the words, "for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart." Knowing the Lord can see into our hearts, see into our lives, there is no need to wait; instead, we move forward following the calling of the Holy Spirit.
Ron L.
1 Samuel 15:34--16:13
Life is difficult in America given our present economic realities, not unlike the hopelessness felt by the Hebrews during the bad times that Israel endured near the end of Saul's reign in the eleventh century BC. On a scale of 10, a recent Gallup poll indicated that the American public polled an all-time low of 5.0 regarding Americans' assessment of our present situation. We need hope, a hope that God will give us a fresh start. We need the hope echoed in an aphorisim commonly proclaimed among African-American Christians. We need to believe that we have a God who will "make a way out of no way." It is like eighteenth-century English writer Oscar Wilde put it: "We are all in the gutter, but some of us [Christians] can still see the stars."
Mark E.
2 Corinthians 5:6-10 (11-13) 14-17
Paul writes: "So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!" (2 Corinthians 5:17).
John Killinger tells the story of a man deeply depressed and alone in a hotel room. He is a successful business man but now he finds himself worrying about everything. He had not prayed before but now having reached the depths of despair, he cries out to God. He thought he heard God responding to him saying, "It doesn't have to be that way."
Returning home he sought out his brother who happened to be a minister and asked him, "Do you think God was speaking to me?" His brother assured him that it could very well be God speaking to him because the heart of the message of the Bible was that people could change. Jesus can change your life and make you a new person he told his brother. Later, the man told his brother, "I have become a new person because of Jesus, as you said."
Richard H.
Mark 4:26-34
George Washington was sent by the governor of Virginia to inform the French they must leave the Allegheny Valley territory, where Pittsburgh is located today. A few miles south of the forks of the three rivers, Washington came upon the French commander Jumonville. Jumonville was camped in the ravine, in what has now come to be called Jumonville Glen. Washington placed his men on the vertical cliffs above the ravine. At dawn, as the French awoke, Washington, without orders from the governor of Virginia, fired upon the French.
This created an international incident since France and Britain were already disputing the land in the North America. This small skirmish became known as the French and Indian War in America. As the fighting spread across the Atlantic, it was known as the Seven Years War in Europe.
This was the first world war in the history of humanity, for it was the first war to span an ocean and involve two continents.
The skirmish may have been small, no bigger than a mustard seed, but it had the power to become a worldwide event.
Ron L.
Mark 4:26-34
These parables of Jesus remind us that we don't have much to do with the growth of God's kingdom, with the good God is working among us. It is like famed Reformed theologian of last century Karl Barth once wrote: We have here [in theses parables] a growth which has little to do with human industry... "whether a man sets his hands to work or folds them or even lay them in his lap he can only be a spectator and affirm that it takes place..." (Church Dogmatics, Vol. IV/2, p. 631). When we realize that God does all the good, we are more inclined to live in awe and not expect all the good we have as if we deserved it. Then life becomes a wonderful surprise. Novelist Alice Walker gives us advice that parallels Jesus' advice in the parables: "The best things in life are unexpected... Live frugally on surprise."
Mark E.
