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Do You Love Me?

Sermon
Day of Pentecost - B
John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
Kristin Borsgard Wee
Sermons on the Gospel Readings
Series III, Cycle B
Nikos Kazantzakis gives us a disturbing and beautiful story in his book, The Last Temptation of Christ. There is an unforgettable scene between Jesus and John. They are sitting high above the Jordan in the hollow of a rock, where they have been arguing all night long about what to do with the world. John's face is hard and decisive. From time to time his arms go up and down as though he were chopping something apart. Jesus' face, in contrast, is hesitant and tame. His eyes are full of compassion. "Isn't love enough?" Jesus asks. "No," John answers angrily. "The tree is rotten.
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For December 29, 2024:

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John peeked around the corner. “Daughter of mine, is there any chance that Ollie is in the kitchen?”

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Emphasis Preaching Journal

Mark Ellingsen
Frank Ramirez
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1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26
In the mid-1990’s, Wendy’s restaurants had a promotion win which they would “biggie size” your drink, your meal, almost everything but the Frosty! Wendy’s decided to discontinue this promotion after getting some criticism from those who claim the fast-food industry was contributing to the nation’s obesity problem.
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1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26

The Village Shepherd

Janice B. Scott
Call to Worship:

Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and men. Let us worship him today with dignity and love, remembering that he was once a child just as we have all been children.

Invitation to Confession:

 Father God,

Lord, have mercy.

 Father God,

Christ, have mercy.

 Father God,

Lord, have mercy

 Reading:

 Luke 2:41-52

SermonStudio

James Evans
(Occurs in all three cycles of the lectionary; see Christmas 1, Cycle A; Christmas 1, Cycle B; and Easter 5, Cycle C, for alternative approaches.)

Mary S. Lautensleger
Each of us faces the choice of who and what we will become. Sometimes, we don't really know what we want to be when we grow up until we are forty-something. Our earliest models for making that choice are the people who raise and nurture us. Although we identify with the adults whom we admire most, each of us is unique and intended to become "our own person."
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Tradition is defined as an inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought or action. Take for instance a cooking method. Sarah asked her mother, "Why do you always cut the turkey in half and put it in two small roasters?"

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"But Mom, did you ever think they didn't have big roasters back then?" Tradition -- a customary pattern or action. But who said traditions can't be changed?
Robert S. Crilley
In his book What's So Amazing About Grace? Philip Yancey tells of a conversation he once had with two scientists who had just emerged from the biosphere near Tucson, Arizona.1 For those of you who aren't familiar with what that is -- several years ago, an isolation experiment was conducted, in which a team of four men and four women lived inside a glass-enclosed structure, entirely shut off from the outer world. The general idea was to see if humankind might one day be able to exist on another planet by recreating a portion of the earth.

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