1 Corinthians 1: 1-9 (links validated 10/17/23)
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Sermon Starters (Advent 1B)(2023)
In her book, No Greater Love, Mother Teresa called her to readers to a kind of faithfulness that in some ways more closely imitated Christ’s than the Corinthians’. She wrote: “Always be faithful in little things, for in them our strength lies. To God nothing is little … Practice fidelity in the least things, not for their own sake, but for the sake of the great thing that is the will of God … “Do not pursue spectacular deeds. We must deliberately renounce all desires to see the fruit of our labor, doing all we can as best we can, leaving the rest in the hands of God. What matters is the gift of your self, the degree of love that you put into each one of your actions. “Do not allow yourself to be disheartened by any failure, as long as you have done your best. Neither glory in your success, but refer all to God in deepest thankfulness. If you are discouraged it is a sign of pride because it shows you trust in your own powers. Never bother about people’s opinions. Be humble and you will never be disturbed. The Lord has willed me here where I am. He will offer a solution.”Sermon Starters (Epiphany 2A)(2023)
On his February 1, 2010 blog, “Living Up to Your Name” Tim Elmore writes about his loyalties during the 2010 Super Bowl. While he’d been a lifelong fan of their opponents, the Colts, he found himself cheering for the New Orleans Saints. He writes about the Saints players, “Each of these guys have given large sums of money back to their city. Even over the last two years, they have given money in response to the horrendous damage of Hurricane Katrina. We are talking hundreds of thousands of dollars. “In fact, several of the Saints’ team members had volunteered hours, and worked in the worst sections of New Orleans in an attempt to foster hope and good will among the city’s population. It has made an incredible impression on the people there.” While Elmore admits that it’s “cheesy,” he writes that he loves how the New Orleans Saints football players were “living up to their name.”God Loves Barking Pigs and You, Too
Robert Fulghum, the author of All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, tells a story about a boy named Norman. Norman’s elementary school class was asked to put on a dramatic version of Cinderella for a teacher’s conference. All the parts were quickly swooped up, leaving nothing for Norman. The teacher was willing to create a part for him, so she asked, “Who would you like to be?” Without any hesitation, Norman answered, “I would like to be the pig,” The teacher said, “The pig? But there is no pig in Cinderella.” Norman just smiled and said, “There is now.” As the class got ready for their performance, Norman designed his own costume. He turned a paper cup into a snout and added a curled pipe cleaner tail to a set of pink long johns. When it came time for the play, Norman’s pig followed Cinderella wherever she went on stage, and mirrored her emotions. If Cinderella was happy, the pig was happy. If Cinderella was sad, the pig was sad. One glance at Norman and you knew the emotion of the moment. At the end of the play, when the prince put the glass slipper on Cinderella’s foot, the couple ran off happily together and Norman went wild with joy, dancing around on his hind legs and barking. Yes, I said barking. When Norman first did that in rehearsal, the teacher tried to explain to him that even if there were a pig in Cinderella, pigs just don’t bark. But Norman explained that his was a barking pig and that was that. If nothing else, the teacher had to admit that the barking was very well done. The play turned out to be a smash hit, and I bet you can guess who received a standing ovation at the curtain call. Who else but Norman the barking pig? Norman never doubted who he was and what he could do, and clearly he did it very well...
Resources from 2020 to 2022
Sermon Starters (Advent 1B)(2020)
Christians who “eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed” (7) at his return may resonate with the feelings of Charlotte Web’s Wilbur. As he waits for Charlotte’s eggs to hatch from their sack, E.B. White writes, “Nothing in life was so important as this small round object — nothing else mattered. Patiently he awaited the end of winter and the coming of the little spiders. Life is always a rich and steady time when you are waiting for something to happen or to hatch.”Sermon Starters (Epiphany 2A)(2020)
Paul soaks this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson in thanksgiving. Those who proclaim that lesson might draw a contrast between the attitudes of the apostle and Seth McFarlane. The example also provides a contrast between not only those men’s ideas about the source of good things, but also about how good things affect the way we live. McFarlane is a cartoonist and comedian who created the animated television show, “Family Guy.” On 9/11 he had been booked on American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston to Los Angeles. But because McFarlane arrived late at the airport, he missed his flight. Hijackers flew that airplane into the North Tower of New York’s World Trade Center. An NPR interviewer, Terry Gross, later asked McFarlane, “After that narrow escape, do you think of the rest of your life as a gift?” The comedian answered, “That experience didn’t change me at all. It made no difference in the way I live my life. It made no difference in the way I look at things. It was just a coincidence.”
Resources from 2017 to 2019
Together in Every Place
When Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was speaking for the last time in Memphis, Tennessee, he began by saying, …we’ve got to stay together. We’ve got to stay together and maintain unity. You know, whenever Pharaoh wanted to prolong the period of slavery in Egypt, he had a favorite, favorite formula for doing it. What was that? He kept the slaves fighting among themselves. But whenever the slaves get together, something happens in Pharaoh’s court, and he cannot hold the slaves in slavery. When the slaves get together, that’s the beginning of getting out of slavery.Advent 1B (2017)
Composer Igor Stravinsky once wrote a symphony that contained a perilously difficult violin passage. After weeks of rehearsal with the orchestra, the lead violinist came up to Stravinsky and said, “I’m sorry, maestro, but I’ve given this piece my best and I just can’t play it.” “I understand that,” Stravinsky replied, “but what I’m after is the sound of someone trying to play it.” As Philip Yancey once observed, maybe God takes a similar attitude toward the church. We’re called to holy, holy living, to be saints. Often we don’t feel saintly, though. But perhaps the sound of millions of Christians at least trying to play a holy tune has added up to a symphony of holiness that has changed and that will continue to change the whole world.Epiphany 2A (2017)
As Thomas Long has reminded us, ancient letter writers signed their letters up front and so the first couple-three verses of all of Paul’s letters are essentially the part of current-day letters that include the “Sincerely” signature at the end. It does not seem like the most exciting part of any letter. But there it is in this particular lection for the second Sunday of Epiphany this year. But there is far more here than you might think...
Resources from 2011 to 2016
Faith in His Faithfulness
During my search for a story about God’s faithfulness I also discovered a story from a mother who believed in the faithfulness of God even in the presence of unanswered prayer. She writes Due to the difficulties I’ve faced (some of my own making and some not) I have been “refined as silver is refined”. I have gone through such trials as cancer by age 21, an unfaithful husband, the death of two children and the great challenge of being married to an alcoholic who doesn’t yet know Christ… but God is so faithful! No matter what crisis has arisen in my life, God has given me His Word to encourage and strengthen me. He has enabled me to fight off self-pity and bitterness through His Word...The Christian's Royal Jelly
("In 1873, Dr. Brewster Higley published a poem entitled My Home on the Range, which a few years later was set to music and became the state song of Kansas: Home, Home, on the Range. It is a 'cowboy song', a ballad to be belted out beneath the stars while watching over the herds and smelling the smoke of campfire. But Higley's song about the wildlife and wide-open spaces includes one very human-oriented note...")Of Grace and Gratitude
The Christian writer Philip Yancey has as good a definition of grace as any I've seen. In his book What's So Amazing About Grace, Yancey writes: 'Grace means there is nothing I can do to make God love me more, and nothing I can do to make God love me less. It means that I, even I who deserve the opposite, am invited to take my place at the table in God's family.'
Resources from the Archives
The Other "H" Word
("Church bells chime. Two muscle-bound men stand arms-crossed in front of a Gothic cathedral. A gay couple approaches holding hands. 'Step aside, please,' say the muscle-bound guards. They speak similar words to an African-American girl, a Hispanic man, a young man in a wheelchair. Then, just as we realize that the two large men are 'church bouncers'...")