Acts 16: 9-15 (links validated 4/26/22)

New Resources

  • Familiar Unfamiliar

    Video with Eric Anderson
  • The Presence of God

    by Sam Cappleman
  • Easter 6C (2022)

    by Bruce Cromwell
  • Exegesis (Acts 16:9-15)

    by Richard Donovan
  • Embracing the Moment

    by Nikki Finkelstein-Blair
  • Easter 6C (2022)

    by Phil Heinze
  • Sermon Starters (Easter 6C)(2022)

    by Scott Hoezee
    One of my favorite scenes in The Lord of the Rings films comes in the first film, The Fellowship of the Ring. Circumstances have forced the wizard Gandalf, the Hobbit named Frodo Baggins, and the rest of their fellowship to go deep into the mines of Moria in a series of caves and tunnels that will help them cut through the mountains on an underground route. At one point Gandalf notes with Frodo that they are being stealthily followed by the creature Gollum, who had once possessed the Ring of Power that Frodo now carries but that had been taken from Gollum by Frodo’s uncle Bilbo, who could have killed Gollum at the time but who spared him. But Frodo has no love for Gollum and so blurts out to Gandalf, “It’s a pity Bilbo did not kill Gollum when he had the chance!” Gandalf then replies, “Pity? It was pity that stayed Bilbo’s hand. There are many who live who deserve death but there are many who die who deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo? Do not be too quick to deal out death and judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends. My heart tells me that Gollum has some role to play in all this yet, for good or evil I cannot say. The pity of Bilbo may rule the fates of many.”...
  • Help, I Need Somebody!

    by Timothy Hoyer
  • Easter 6C

    by Bill Loader
    always good insights!
  • An Unlikely Convert?

    by Glenn Monson
  • Easter 6C (2022)

    from Working Preacher

Illustrated Resources from the Archives

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  • Visions, Dreams and Bold Response

    by Sharron Blezard
    ("Many years ago while driving to visit family in eastern North Carolina, I happened to glance off the mountain highway to see a sign that would have a major impact on my life and future. While I wouldn’t necessarily call it a direct sign from God, it at least falls into the 'big heavenly hint' category. Painted in big bold lettering on the side of a simple brick and frame church building were these words: 'Where there is no vision the people perish'...")
  • You Can Always Tell a Christian

    by Neil Bishop
    ("A few years ago some Christian advertising executives tried to redress the balance. They paid for huge billboards that proclaimed the message, 'Christians make better lovers!' Someone wrote on one of the billboards, 'If Christians do make better lovers, you won't know for sure till you've tried all he others!'...")
  • Come Over and Help

    by Rob Elder
    I recall in my youth having to read Silas Marner, by George Elliot (which, now that I think about it, may not be the ideal association to bring up on Mothers’ Day!) and I recall a few folks from my parents’ generation – and moreso from my grandparents’ – named “Silas.” But if you look on the internet at a site called “Baby Name Wizard,”[1] where you can see how many times per million babies any name has been used in the last 125 years, we can see why the name has not been all that familiar in the so-called baby boom generation...I have only one other immediate connection with the name, which came by way of the 60s folk trio, Peter, Paul, and Mary, who sang a version of a traditional 12-verse carol on one of their early recordings, called “Children, Go Where I Send Thee.” Do you remember it? As with most spirituals, there have been a lot of different versions of it, but here is one: Children go where I send thee: how shall I send thee? I’m gonna send thee one by one One for the little bitty baby Who was born, born, born in Bethlehem Children go where I send thee: how shall I send thee? I’m gonna send thee two by two Two for Paul and Silas One for the itty bitty baby Who was born, born, born in Bethlehem. Three for the Hebrew children... Four for the four that stood at the door... Five for the gospel preachers... Six for the jars where the wine was mixed... Seven for the seven that never got to heaven... Eight for the eight that stood at the gate... Nine for the ninety-nine in line... Ten for the ten commandments... Eleven for the eleven who went to heaven... Twelve for the twelve Apostles...
  • Easter 6C (2010)

    by Scott Hoezee
    ("One of my favorite scenes in The Lord of the Rings films comes in the first film, The Fellowship of the Ring. Circumstances have forced the wizard Gandalf, the Hobbit named Frodo Baggins, and the rest of their fellowship to go deep into the mines of Moria in a series of caves and tunnels that will help them cut through the mountains on an underground route...")
  • Goin' on a Trip

    by Beth Johnston
    In the last episode of ER, as you know, one of my favourite shows, set in a Chicago hospital, Dr John Carter returns from volunteer work in Africa to open a medical centre, funded by his family’s foundation and named in memory of his infant son, Joshua. His wife and the mother of their child attends, but as they talk. it is clear that her heart is not in it...
  • Mother of the Church We Know

    by Charles Love
    ("Dionysus is the Greek pagan god of ancient Greece of wine and beer. Latest research has shown that there are many parallels between the lives of Dionysus and Jesus Christ of Christianity. Where the Vatican now stands in Rome, Italy there once stood a pagan temple and now where the Pope says Mass there were pagan rituals where pagan priests would practice pagan ceremonies...")
  • Sermon Starters (Easter 6C)(2019)

    by Stan Mast
    An old hymn by George Croly asks the Spirit to help us navigate the mystery of the Spirit’s work in us and for us. Spirit of God, who dwells within my heart, Wean it from earth, through all its pulses move. Stoop to my weakness, mighty as you are, And make me love you as I ought to love. I ask no dream, no prophet ecstasies, No sudden rending of the veil of clay, No angel visitant, no opening skies; But take the dimness of my soul away...
  • To Be Led by the Spirit

    by Philip McLarty
    I don’t know of a better illustration than this – I’m told it’s found on a plaque in the lobby of the Center for Rehabilitation Medicine in New York City – it reads: “I asked God for strength, that I might achieve; I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey. I asked for health, that I might do greater things; I was given infirmity, that I might do better things. I asked for riches, that I might be happy; I was given poverty, that I might be wise. I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men; I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God. I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life; I was given life that I might enjoy all things. I got nothing that I asked for, but everything I had hoped for; Almost in spite of myself, my unspoken prayers were answered, And I am, among all men, most richly blessed.”...
  • Tyrian Purple

    Art and Faith by Lynn Miller
    It may be that Lydia has a predatory sea snail to thank for her profit. Imperial purple, also called Tyrian purple, begins its life as a secretion from a predatory sea snail. Specifically it comes from bolinus brandaris, which Linnaeus originally called Murex brandaris. The murex snails, found in the Mediterranean world, can be "milked" for the secretion or, more easily for human harvesters, the snails can be dried and crushed to obtain the dye.
  • Down to the River to Pray

    by Jen Nagel
    There’s an old Hassidic Jewish story, about a disciple who comes to the Rabbi asking, Why does the Torah tell us to place these words upon our heart? Why doesn’t it tell us to place these words in our heart? The Rabbi answers, because as we are now, our hearts are closed. We cannot place the words in our hearts, we must place them on our hearts. There they sit, until one day our hearts are broken and the holy words fall in...
  • The Woman in Purple (or Acts as a Movie)

    by Larry Patten
    Acts shared so much and so little. Is it enough to read it was “the Lord” enabling her that led to the encounter with Paul? I suppose. And yet . . . What of the blessed and messy encounters, without scripts, without warning, that changes everything for us? What if my future wife hadn’t been in worship on that life-changing Sunday? What if the pastor who mentored me had turned a cold shoulder to my questions about God? What if I hadn’t overheard a seminary professor say encouraging words about my preaching?
  • Easter 6C (2010)

    by Suzanne Watson
    ("Reggie McNeal, in his book The Present Future, describes people like Samantha: 'The faithful, maybe silently or not so silently, wonder when their ticket is going to be punched, when they are going to experience the changed life they've been promised and expected to experience at church..." and another quote)

Other Resources from 2019 to 2021

Other Resources from 2013 to 2015

Other Resources from the Archives

Children's Resources

The Classics