Psalm 16: 1-11

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  • Sermon Starters (Easter 2A)(2023)

    by Scott Hoezee
    In these COVID days the last three years, we have all thought a lot about vaccines. But as Neal Plantinga once pointed out, in John 3 in his conversation with Nicodemus when Jesus compared what the Son of Man would do to what happened when Moses cured snakebites by lifting up the image of a serpent on a pole, it was kind of a spiritual vaccine to which Jesus was pointing. Like cures like. We defeat diseases by infecting ourselves with a tiny or inert amount of that very disease so our bodies can build the army of antibodies to attack it in the future. (OK, so the new generation of mRNA vaccines don’t work quite like the classic vaccine but the idea is still the same: you use the code, the message, or the actual illness you want to avoid to ward off that very disease.) So in the Gospel: the surprise of the crucifixion and resurrection is that death cures death. Christ’s death inoculates us from eternal death. The very thing the poet of Psalm 16 was in dread of—going down to the grave—somehow became the portal to that everlasting life of delight at God’s right hand that the psalmist desired.
  • Easter 2A (2023)

    by Karl Jacobson
  • Easter 2A (2023)

    by Jacob Morris
  • Easter 2A

    by Howard Wallace et al
  • Fullness of Joy

    by Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson
    A long time ago there lived a little boy whose parents had died. He was taken in by an aunt who raised him as her own child. Years later, after he had grown up and left his aunt, he received a letter from her. She had a terminal illness and, from the tone of her letter, he knew she was afraid of death. This man whom she had raised and touched wrote her a letter in which he said: It is now thirty-five years since I, a little boy of six, was left quite alone in the world. You sent me word that you would give me a home and be a mother to me. I’ve never forgotten the day when I made the long journey of ten miles to your house. I can still recall my disappointment when, instead of coming for me yourself, you sent your servant, Caesar, to fetch me. I well remember my tears and my anxiety as, perched high on your horse and clinging tightly to Caesar, I rode off to my new home. Night fell before we finished the journey, and as it grew dark, I became even more afraid. “Do you think she’ll go to bed before I get there?” I asked Caesar anxiously. “Oh, no,” said Caesar, “she’s sure to stay up for you. When you get out of these woods, you’ll see her light shining in the window.” Presently, we did ride out into the clearing and there was your light. I remember that you were waiting at the door; then you put your arms tightly around me; then you lifted me, a tired, frightened little boy, down from the horse. You had a fire burning on the hearth, a hot supper waiting on the stove. After supper you took me to my new room. You heard me say my prayers. Then you sat with me until I fell asleep. You probably realize why I am trying to recall this to your memory now. Very soon, God is going to send for you, and take you to a new home. I’m trying to tell you that you needn’t be afraid of the summons or of the strange journey or of the dark messenger of death. God can be trusted. God can be trusted to do as much for you as you did for me so many years ago...

Resources from 2020 to 2022

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  • Feeling Fortunate

    by Neil Bishop
  • Trust God

    by Craig Condon
    A minister passed through his church in the middle of the day. Decided to pause by the altar and see who had come to pray. Just then the back door opened, a man came down the aisle. The minister frowned as he saw the man hadn’t shaved in awhile. His shirt was kinda’ shabby and his coat was worn and frayed. The man knelt, bowed his head, then arose and walked away. In the days that followed each noon time brought this chap And each time he knelt just for a moment, a lunch pail in his lap. Well, the minister’s suspicions grew, and robbery was his main fear. He decided to stop the man and ask him, “Whatcha’ doing’ here?” The old man worked down the road. Lunch was half an hour. Lunch time was his prayer time, for finding strength and power. “I stay only moments, see, ‘cause the factory is so far away; As I kneel here talkin’ to the Lord, this is kinda’ what I say: ‘I just came again to tell You, Lord, how happy I have been, Since we found each other’s friendship and You took away my sin. I don’t know much of how to pray But I think about You every day. So, Jesus, this is Jim just checkin’ in.’” The minister feeling foolish, told Jim, that this was fine. He told the man he was welcome to come and pray just anytime. “time to go,” Jim smiled, said “Thanks.” He hurried to the door. The minister knelt at the altar, he’d never done it before. His cold heart melted, warmed with love, he met Jesus there. “I just came again to tell You, Lord, how happy I have been, Since we found each other’s friendship and You took away my sin. I don’t know much of how to pray But I think about You every day. So, Jesus, this is me just checkin’ in.’” It was past noon one day, the minister noticed that old Jim hadn’t come. As more days passed without Jim, he began to worry some. He went to the factory and asked about Jim and found out that he was ill. The hospital staff was worried, but he’d given them a thrill. The week that He was with them, brought changes in the ward. His smiles, a joy contagious, changed people, his reward. The head nurse couldn’t understand why Jim was so glad, When no flowers, calls or cards came, not a visitor he had. The minister stayed by Jim’s bed, he voiced the nurse’s concern; No friends came to show they cared; Jim had nowhere to turn. Looking surprised, old Jim spoke up and with a winsome smile; “The nurse is wrong, she couldn’t know, that everyday at noon He’s here, a dear friend of min, you see, He sits right down, takes my hand, leans over and says to me: ‘I just came again to tell you, Jim, how happy I have been, Since we found each other’s friendship and I took away your sin. I always love to hear you pray I think about you every day. And so my dear Jim, this is Jesus just checkin’ in.’”
  • Easter 2A (2020)

    by Nancy deClaissé-Walford
  • Born Again from Death

    by Teresa Donati
  • Proper 28B (2021)

    by Phil Heinze
  • Sermon Starters (Proper 28B)(2021)

    by Scott Hoezee
    As the global pandemic stretches on and on, a lot of us are thinking a lot more about vaccines than usual. Many of us got a COVID vaccine, some of us have recently gotten a booster as well as a seasonal flu shot, and now we are pondering whether younger kids will be getting vaccinated against COVID. Small wonder that on the first of November the Oxford Dictionary people entered a new word into its approved list and made it the 2021 Word of the Year: it is the word “vax.” But as Neal Plantinga once pointed out, in John 3 in his conversation with Nicodemus when Jesus compared what the Son of Man would do to what happened when Moses cured snakebites by lifting up the image of a serpent on a pole, it was kind of a spiritual vaccine to which Jesus was pointing. Like cures like...
  • Sermon Starters (Easter Sunday 2A)(2020)

    by Scott Hoezee
    If you want to see the clear Christian “spin” put on part of Psalm 16, you can go to Google Images and check out “Psalm 16 headstones” to see quite the sampling. I did not want to put any of those pictures on this post because most contain the names of real people and I did not want to risk seeming to exploit a loved one’s grave as illustrative material. But clearly the presence of this psalm on grave markers is a witness to the resurrection of the body promised in Christ. As noted above on this sermon starter, that is a fine thing to do, even if it is quite at variance with anything the actual psalmist had in mind!
  • Proper 8C (2022)

    by James Howell
  • The Lord of History

    by Bruce Martin
  • Easter 2A (2020)

    by Jacob Morris
  • Proper 28B (2021)

    by Beth Tanner

Resources from 2014 to 2019

(In order to avoid losing your place on this page when viewing a different link, I would suggest that you right click on that link with your mouse and select “open in a new tab”. Then, when you have finished reading that link, close the tab and you will return to where you left off on this page. FWIW!)
  • Easter 2A (2014)

    by Jerome Creach
  • Sheol and the Pit

    Video Starter by Nikki Hardeman
  • Easter 2A (2014)

    by Phil Heinze
  • Proper 28B (2018)

    by Phil Heinze
  • Proper 28B (2015)

    by Phil Heinze
  • Proper 8C (2019)

    by Phil Heinze
  • Easter 2A (2017)

    by Karl Jacobson
  • Proper 7C (2019)

    by Joel LeMon
  • Easter 2A (2017)

    by Stan Mast
    An estranged wife and her diabetic pre-teen daughter have just purchased a renovated brownstone in New York. To their delight they discover that the previous owner had installed a safe room. Very soon they discover to their horror that they will need that room, because three burglars break into their new home. Mother and daughter race to the safe room, followed by the sinister thieves. Unfortunately, the previous owner hadn’t gotten around to installing a telephone in that room, so they can’t call out for help. The daughter has no insulin with her and is slipping into diabetic shock. And, worst of all, the intruders know they are in the room. In fact, they have broken into the house precisely to get something that the previous owner had left in that room, namely, three million dollars. In a movie filled with terror, the safe room becomes the title of the movie, “Panic Room.”
  • Proper 8C (2016)

    by Stan Mast
    After 9/11, America has poured untold trillions of dollars and man hours and technological expertise into creating what we call “Homeland Security.” We all support the general idea of trying to make our nation secure from terrorist threats. But we also know very well that no amount of human effort can produce genuine security. Talking about all that human effort will provide us with a ready-made opening for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. “What is your only comfort in life and in death? That I belong, body and soul, in life and in death, to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ….”
  • Easter 2A (2017)

    by Sarah McGee
  • Proper 28B (2018)

    by Beth Tanner
  • Proper 28B (2018)

    by Leonard Vander Zee
    A couple of quotes from C. S. Lewis’ Miracles, The New Testament writers speak as if Christ’s achievement in rising from the dead was the first event of its kind in the whole history of the universe. He is the ‘first fruits,’ the pioneer of life,’ He has forced open a door that has been locked since the death of the first man. He has met, fought, and beaten the King of Death. Everything is different because He has done so. To preach Christianity meant (to the Apostles) primarily to preach the Resurrection. … The Resurrection is the central theme in every Christian sermon reported in the Acts. The Resurrection, and its consequences, were the ‘gospel’ or good news which the Christians brought. (Miracles, ch. 16)
  • Easter 2A (2014)

    by Wesley White

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