Romans 6: 1-11 (links validated 3/7/24)

New Resources

Illustrated Resources from the Archives

  • Sermon Starters (Proper 7A)(2023)

    by Doug Bratt
    One of memorable Flannery O’Connor’s most memorable short story’s most memorable characters is The Misfit. A Good Man Is Hard to Find is the account of a pair of criminals and his ambush of a vacationing family somewhere in the state of Georgia. After The Misfit murders the rest of her family, the grandmother starts chanting, “Jesus. Jesus.” The Misfit claims that he’s like Jesus, except that Jesus didn’t commit a crime. The grandmother then begs him not to commit another crime by murdering her. This sends The Misfit into a rant about Jesus’ resurrection: “Jesus was the only One that ever raised the dead, and He shouldn’t have done it. He thrown everything off balance. If He did what He said, then it’s nothing for you to do but throw away everything and follow Him, and if He didn’t, then it’s nothing for you to do but enjoy the few minutes you got left the best way you can by killing somebody or burning down his house or doing some other meanness to him. No pleasure but meanness.” His voice, O’Connor writes, “had become almost a snarl.”
  • What's Dead Can Die

    by Liddy Barlow
    In George R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire novels, the source of the HBO series Game of Thrones, the people of the Iron Islands take Paul’s idea to its macabre conclusion: in their ordination rite, priests hold a man under the ocean waves until he stops breathing, then (with luck) resuscitate him again on the beach. After such an initiation, Ironborn leaders are utterly fearless. Their slogan is “What’s dead can never die.”
  • Distraction

    from Biblical Studies
  • Lazarus Laughed

    by Gilbert Bowen
    A pre-school teacher tells of a time when she began to feel sorry for herself, wonder whether she was not “burned out.” She wondered whether there wasn’t something wrong with the current crop. They didn’t seem to respond to her as they used to. Then her mother died. It was necessary for her to take a week off from her teaching duties to attend to her mother’s affairs and funeral. She had been very close to her mother, and following the funeral she needed some time to deal with her feelings. Her frustrations with pre-school seemed like an even heavier burden at this point in her life. After a weekend of aimless shopping, puttering in the garden and watching TV, she knew that she must return to her classroom. But she felt more like a soldier going into battle than a teacher of pre-schoolers. The first day back was about what she expected. Her hurt and despair produced resentment that she carefully kept hidden. She smiled at the right times and was admirably patient considering her raw feelings. But then it happened. She came around the corner to discover Rachel picking the last Chrysanthemum from the pot in the hall. Rachel, the most distant, most disruptive child in the class. In a stern, trembling voice, the teacher demanded, “Rachel, what are you doing?” Rachel held out in her little hand the flowers she had picked. “Mrs. Terrell, you used to be like a mother. Would these flowers help you to be like a mother again? I know you are fussed in your mind. Wouldn’t you like some flowers?” Mrs. Terrell thought, fussed in my mind? You mean it shows? To a five-year-old? She spoke, “Rachel, what is a mother like?” “A mother is like you used to be,” Rachel said. “A mother likes being with children.”...
  • Sermon Starters (Proper 7A)(2020)

    by Doug Bratt
    Harry Ashfield is the main character of Flannery O’Connor’s, “The River.” This young boy who calls himself Bevel grows up in what a largely loveless home. His abusive parents spend most of their time either drinking or recovering from their drinking. Virtually everything they say to Harry is either a sarcastic joke or cutting criticism. One day, Mrs. Connin, Harry’s religious babysitter, takes him to the river where the unpretentious but charismatic Rev. Summers is baptizing people. Mrs. Connin convinces Summers to baptize Harry, whom they both mistakenly call Bevel. After baptizing Harry, the preacher tells Harry that he now “counts,” that he’s finally someone. Harry, whom O’Connor calls Bevel throughout the rest of the story, leaves the riverside feeling for the very first time that he now somehow matters. Yet his baptism leaves Bevel feeling unfulfilled...
  • Dead or Alive

    by Rob Elder
    I took part in home-building missions in Mexico for ten days every summer for almost 15 years. The world might wonder why anyone would set aside their own life for ten days of discomfort sleeping on the hard ground, with days of hard labor. But the body of Christ knows that in attending to the needs of others, and especially of the poor, we attend to that which is close to the very heart of God. We die to this tiny portion of our lives that we may live to Christ. I remembered that death to our own lives one summer when we baptized one of our church’s beautiful young people there in Mexico. Once, during the turbulent course of the Viet Nam war, a college chaplain I know was conversing with a group of students on campus when one, thinking of that war, said, “There is nothing in the world that is worth dying for.” To that, the chaplain replied, “Well then, since we all must die, that will mean that you will one day be confronted by the absolute necessity of dying for nothing.” It was a hard word but an honest one...
  • Proper 7A (2017)

    by Scott Hoezee
    If you have ever watched the miniseries based on Alex Haley’s book, Roots, then you know that this story is about far more than some genealogical curiosity that seeks to fill in the blank branches on a family tree. Roots was about far more than old history and names. From the very beginning when Alex Haley’s ancestor Kunte Kinte was violently kidnaped from Africa, it was clear that what this genealogical tracing was about was nothing short of identity. Kunte Kinte’s story stayed alive, and needed to be passed down the generations, because that story would tell all his descendants who they really were. Kunte never accepted Toby, the name given to him by the white man. He never accepted that he was a slave. He was proud. He was a warrior descended from a strong and good and noble people. For Kunte’s offspring, knowing the family’s roots was not about information but formation. These roots did not simply trace back to what had been but drew lines forward to what still was.
  • It Only Hurts When I Laugh

    from Our Daily Bread
    Scroll about 2/3 down the page for resources on Romans 6.
  • Remembering Who We Are

    from Preacher's Magazine
    "The story is told of a certain king. He was a good king, and his kingdom prospered under his reign. It came about that the king and his queen had a child, a son, who was to become the heir to the throne..."
  • The Repentant Life

    by Billy Strayhorn
    Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes walks into the living room where his father is sitting and announces: "I've concluded that nothing bad that I do is my fault." His curiosity peaked, Dad says, "Oh?" Calvin continues: "Right! Being young and impressionable, I'm the helpless victim of countless bad influences! An unwholesome culture panders to my undeveloped values and pushes me to maleficence. I take no responsibility for my behavior! I'm an innocent pawn! It's society's fault." Dad is totally unimpressed and says, "Then you need to build more character. Go shovel the walk." In the last scene, Calvin is shoveling snow and complains, "These discussions never go where they're supposed to go."...
  • The Three Edwards

    by Dave Wilkenson

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