Sermons Illustrations for Proper 18 | Ordinary Time 23
Illustration
Object:
Exodus 12:1-14
We can learn a lot about what the story of the Passover has to do with Christians from our Jewish friends. An early twentieth-century British rabbi, Morris Joseph, put it well: "Passover affirms the great truth that liberty is the inalienable right of every human being." In his view it is "God's protest against unrighteousness, whether individual or national." The black church has used the text responsibly then in understanding it as a story about African Americans, as an affirmation of their chosenness and their value, as the promise of freedom and justice.
America certainly needs more justice. A Columbia University study released early in the year found that in 2012, 27.2% of African Americans were in poverty compared to 25.6% of Hispanics and only 12.7% of whites. U.S. Bureau of Justice statistics in 2009 showed that 39.4% of the prison population was black, far above the percentage of Americans in the general population as a whole. Black men, it seems, are six times as likely to be incarcerated as white men. Black men are more likely to be targets of police action, as evident in the recent shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. We need the Passover story to interpret these statistics and become committed to protest against such injustice. The Passover bears out the witness of Eleanor Roosevelt who once said: "Justice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both." Of course, if we believe that we will not want to be on the sidelines but rather follow the advice of the famed lawyer Clarence Darrow: "Justice has nothing to do with what goes on in a courtroom. Justice is what comes out of the courtroom." With God in charge, doing the work, the Passover protest against injustice is something that belongs in the streets, in city hall and ballot box protests, as well as in our everyday interracial interactions.
Mark E.
Exodus 12:1-14
Chuck Noll, the former coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, took the team to four Super Bowl championships. Prior to his taking over as coach of the team in 1969, the Steelers never won an NFL title. Noll said "preparation" was the key to his team's success. He said, "You do not win games on Sunday at 1 p.m.; you win games in your preparation on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at practice."
Application: Moses and Aaron had been given instructions on how to observe the Passover. These instructions have been passed down through the generations so all can be properly prepared to observe the sacred ritual.
Ron L.
Romans 13:8-14
Love is an overused word in the English language. We say we "love" baseball, hot dogs, mustard, dogs, our house, and more. The Greeks used several words to describe different nuances to the word "love." They used eros for romantic love, philia for friendship love, storge to refer to love for family, and agape for love from God or loving others with his love.
Jean Vanier wrote in Community and Grow: "One of the signs of life in a community is the creation of links with others. An inward-looking community will die of suffocation. Living communities are linked to others, making up a huge reservoir of love for the world."
It is the love of God inspired by the Holy Spirit that, as Vanier writes, "gives life, communities being born or reborn will be alike without ever even knowing each other; the seeds the Spirit sows across the world, like prophetic signs for tomorrow, have a common source." What is that sign? It is agape love... God's love brings people and community together. It is love that helps us complement one another through the gifts of the Spirit that he distributes.
Derl K.
Romans 13:8-14
How hard it is to remember that most important rule. We memorize all those commandments to make sure we don't murder (we don't have much trouble obeying that one unless we go to war). We have a little trouble with coveting. Even a former president said, "I have lusted." As for stealing, it depends on our definition. We hedge on our income tax or make a few mistakes on the hours we turn in on our job report or accept a mistake on our sales ticket if it is in our favor or "borrow" an item from our job. The list could go on and on, but somehow seems so mild compared to breaking into a house to steal.
How simple it would be if we think of love. We would not cheat our wife or children or our best friends but would we cheat those we don't know? Are they really our neighbor?
If our God is not a God of love, then we have no God! If someone can blow up a store or apartment and kill men, women, children, they have no god or their god is the devil. I don't want to run down someone else's faith. That is not politically correct. We are not supposed to do that in this country.
We aren't allowed to have drunken debaucheries -- not even now-and-then to overcome depression. The hardest one is to avoid jealousy. Aren't we sometimes envious of the rich for being able to buy a new BMW, take a trip to Hawaii when they want, send their kids to college without having to borrow the money? The list could go on indefinitely. Even a pastor can sometimes envy a fellow who got elected bishop when we felt we could do better or be given a more prestigious church in a more important city. I can often catch myself wondering what it would be like if I had the resources of some I know. It can't be avoided -- but we must try. We are all tempted to gratify our sinful natures. We admit this every Sunday before we receive the Lord's Supper.
When I think of our final reward, it is hard not to think of earthly types of things like heavenly mansions, but all we should be looking forward to is being with a God of love -- a God who loved us so much that he even sacrificed his own Son for us. If we look forward to that kind of love, then I give up speculating on heavenly real estate.
To enjoy that kind of love, all God asks of us is that we show (and feel) that kind of love for everyone else we know. At least we have to try. Now try and think of everyone who you can love (or should love) if you try.
Bob O.
Romans 13:8-14
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) once designed a timepiece that could wake a sleeping person by brushing against their foot. This invention is often credited with being the first alarm clock. It wasn't -- not by a long shot. Vitruvius, a Roman architect and engineer who died just over 1,500 years before da Vinci did, described alarm clocks that used gongs and trumpets to get attention, a much more effective method, one would think, than tickling the toes.
Christian monks used water-powered alarm clocks called "water-stealers" to make sure that they didn't miss their daily 3:00 a.m. prayer services.
Scott B.
Matthew 18:15-20
Conflict is inevitable in human life, even in churches. A poll of evangelical pastors taken a decade ago by Christianity Today revealed that 95% of these clergy had experienced conflict with their congregations. It is quite likely that these numbers have not improved. Author Marcia Lynn McClure notes how much we like to gossip. In her The Heavenly Surrender, she writes: "People like to think the worst. They like to have hushed gossip sessions and point their fingers at someone's problems that are more obvious than their own."
Jesus has some good advice on how to avoid such behavior, for making sure we stop talking about others behind their backs. The famed martyr of Hitler's persecution Dietrich Bonhoeffer said that it all comes down to realizing you are a sinner too and that the thing to do is spend of a lot more time forgiving and less gossiping: "In a word, live together in the forgiveness of your sins, for without it no human fellowship... can survive" (Letters and Papers from Prison, p. 31).
People look a lot bigger and better when you spend more time looking up at them while on your knees confessing your own sin. Besides, when two or three of those sinners get together God shows up to forgive them (along with you).
Mark E.
Matthew 18:15-20
On the day after the Normandy invasion, war correspondent Ernie Pyle made this report: "I took a walk along the historic coast of Normandy in the country of France. It was a lovely day for strolling along the seashore. Men were sleeping on the sand, some of them sleeping forever."
Application: In battle there is a unity among all soldiers, both the living and the dead. We must exercise such unity in the church, always reconciled to one another.
Ron L.
We can learn a lot about what the story of the Passover has to do with Christians from our Jewish friends. An early twentieth-century British rabbi, Morris Joseph, put it well: "Passover affirms the great truth that liberty is the inalienable right of every human being." In his view it is "God's protest against unrighteousness, whether individual or national." The black church has used the text responsibly then in understanding it as a story about African Americans, as an affirmation of their chosenness and their value, as the promise of freedom and justice.
America certainly needs more justice. A Columbia University study released early in the year found that in 2012, 27.2% of African Americans were in poverty compared to 25.6% of Hispanics and only 12.7% of whites. U.S. Bureau of Justice statistics in 2009 showed that 39.4% of the prison population was black, far above the percentage of Americans in the general population as a whole. Black men, it seems, are six times as likely to be incarcerated as white men. Black men are more likely to be targets of police action, as evident in the recent shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. We need the Passover story to interpret these statistics and become committed to protest against such injustice. The Passover bears out the witness of Eleanor Roosevelt who once said: "Justice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both." Of course, if we believe that we will not want to be on the sidelines but rather follow the advice of the famed lawyer Clarence Darrow: "Justice has nothing to do with what goes on in a courtroom. Justice is what comes out of the courtroom." With God in charge, doing the work, the Passover protest against injustice is something that belongs in the streets, in city hall and ballot box protests, as well as in our everyday interracial interactions.
Mark E.
Exodus 12:1-14
Chuck Noll, the former coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, took the team to four Super Bowl championships. Prior to his taking over as coach of the team in 1969, the Steelers never won an NFL title. Noll said "preparation" was the key to his team's success. He said, "You do not win games on Sunday at 1 p.m.; you win games in your preparation on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at practice."
Application: Moses and Aaron had been given instructions on how to observe the Passover. These instructions have been passed down through the generations so all can be properly prepared to observe the sacred ritual.
Ron L.
Romans 13:8-14
Love is an overused word in the English language. We say we "love" baseball, hot dogs, mustard, dogs, our house, and more. The Greeks used several words to describe different nuances to the word "love." They used eros for romantic love, philia for friendship love, storge to refer to love for family, and agape for love from God or loving others with his love.
Jean Vanier wrote in Community and Grow: "One of the signs of life in a community is the creation of links with others. An inward-looking community will die of suffocation. Living communities are linked to others, making up a huge reservoir of love for the world."
It is the love of God inspired by the Holy Spirit that, as Vanier writes, "gives life, communities being born or reborn will be alike without ever even knowing each other; the seeds the Spirit sows across the world, like prophetic signs for tomorrow, have a common source." What is that sign? It is agape love... God's love brings people and community together. It is love that helps us complement one another through the gifts of the Spirit that he distributes.
Derl K.
Romans 13:8-14
How hard it is to remember that most important rule. We memorize all those commandments to make sure we don't murder (we don't have much trouble obeying that one unless we go to war). We have a little trouble with coveting. Even a former president said, "I have lusted." As for stealing, it depends on our definition. We hedge on our income tax or make a few mistakes on the hours we turn in on our job report or accept a mistake on our sales ticket if it is in our favor or "borrow" an item from our job. The list could go on and on, but somehow seems so mild compared to breaking into a house to steal.
How simple it would be if we think of love. We would not cheat our wife or children or our best friends but would we cheat those we don't know? Are they really our neighbor?
If our God is not a God of love, then we have no God! If someone can blow up a store or apartment and kill men, women, children, they have no god or their god is the devil. I don't want to run down someone else's faith. That is not politically correct. We are not supposed to do that in this country.
We aren't allowed to have drunken debaucheries -- not even now-and-then to overcome depression. The hardest one is to avoid jealousy. Aren't we sometimes envious of the rich for being able to buy a new BMW, take a trip to Hawaii when they want, send their kids to college without having to borrow the money? The list could go on indefinitely. Even a pastor can sometimes envy a fellow who got elected bishop when we felt we could do better or be given a more prestigious church in a more important city. I can often catch myself wondering what it would be like if I had the resources of some I know. It can't be avoided -- but we must try. We are all tempted to gratify our sinful natures. We admit this every Sunday before we receive the Lord's Supper.
When I think of our final reward, it is hard not to think of earthly types of things like heavenly mansions, but all we should be looking forward to is being with a God of love -- a God who loved us so much that he even sacrificed his own Son for us. If we look forward to that kind of love, then I give up speculating on heavenly real estate.
To enjoy that kind of love, all God asks of us is that we show (and feel) that kind of love for everyone else we know. At least we have to try. Now try and think of everyone who you can love (or should love) if you try.
Bob O.
Romans 13:8-14
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) once designed a timepiece that could wake a sleeping person by brushing against their foot. This invention is often credited with being the first alarm clock. It wasn't -- not by a long shot. Vitruvius, a Roman architect and engineer who died just over 1,500 years before da Vinci did, described alarm clocks that used gongs and trumpets to get attention, a much more effective method, one would think, than tickling the toes.
Christian monks used water-powered alarm clocks called "water-stealers" to make sure that they didn't miss their daily 3:00 a.m. prayer services.
Scott B.
Matthew 18:15-20
Conflict is inevitable in human life, even in churches. A poll of evangelical pastors taken a decade ago by Christianity Today revealed that 95% of these clergy had experienced conflict with their congregations. It is quite likely that these numbers have not improved. Author Marcia Lynn McClure notes how much we like to gossip. In her The Heavenly Surrender, she writes: "People like to think the worst. They like to have hushed gossip sessions and point their fingers at someone's problems that are more obvious than their own."
Jesus has some good advice on how to avoid such behavior, for making sure we stop talking about others behind their backs. The famed martyr of Hitler's persecution Dietrich Bonhoeffer said that it all comes down to realizing you are a sinner too and that the thing to do is spend of a lot more time forgiving and less gossiping: "In a word, live together in the forgiveness of your sins, for without it no human fellowship... can survive" (Letters and Papers from Prison, p. 31).
People look a lot bigger and better when you spend more time looking up at them while on your knees confessing your own sin. Besides, when two or three of those sinners get together God shows up to forgive them (along with you).
Mark E.
Matthew 18:15-20
On the day after the Normandy invasion, war correspondent Ernie Pyle made this report: "I took a walk along the historic coast of Normandy in the country of France. It was a lovely day for strolling along the seashore. Men were sleeping on the sand, some of them sleeping forever."
Application: In battle there is a unity among all soldiers, both the living and the dead. We must exercise such unity in the church, always reconciled to one another.
Ron L.
