Psalm 29: 1-11 (links validated 12/27/23)
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Sermon Starters (Baptism of the Lord)(B)(2024)
Storm chasers are a curious lot of people. If some people were not very aware of what storm chasers do, the 1996 movie Twister gave us a good window into this world. In the case of the movie’s plot, the two lead storm chasers (played by Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt) and their team of geeky and nerdy scientists are not chasing storms for the sheer thrill of it. They are studying tornados so as to understand them better and so perhaps save lives by being able to predict twisters earlier and get people into shelters sooner and before it is too late. But the fact is that many storm chasers (who do the opposite of what everyone else does; namely, try to get closer to the funnel cloud as opposed to moving away from the storm’s path) really are mostly in it for the spectacle and the thrill of seeing one of nature’s most awesome events up close. I sometimes wonder, though, what people who lost their homes—and maybe even more dreadfully experienced the loss of life—in such storms think in case at some point they run across a storm chaser’s video in which he is cheering the twister on and hooting and hollering in celebration of getting a good look at very storm that wiped out someone’s home. One person’s “That was awesome!” gets paired with another person’s “That was tragic!”...
Resources from 2021 to 2023
Sermon Starters (Baptism of the Lord)(A)(2023)
Thunderstorms are incredible meteorological phenomena. Even as you read this sermon commentary, there are likely upwards of 2,000 thunderstorms going on across the earth. On average, each day 45,000 such storms occur. They are among the most powerful forces we know. In the simplest sense, but also in perhaps the most boring sense, a thunderstorm is little more than an atmosphere stabilizer. Acting like a giant heat machine, a thunderstorm forms when there is a lot of cold air sitting on top of a lot of warm air. In order to re-balance the atmosphere, a thunderstorm pumps the warm air upward and the cold air downward until the atmosphere evens out. Once that happens, the thunderstorm has achieved its stabilizing purpose and it dies out. In that sense thunderstorms exist only to destroy themselves...Sermon Starters (Baptism of the Lord)(C)(2022)
Thunderstorms. incredible meteorological phenomena. Even as you read this sermon commentary, there are likely upwards of 2,000 thunderstorms going on across the earth. On average, each day 45,000 such storms occur. They are among the most powerful forces we know. In the simplest sense, but also in perhaps the most boring sense, a thunderstorm is little more than an atmosphere stabilizer. Acting like a giant heat machine, a thunderstorm forms when there is a lot of cold air sitting on top of a lot of warm air. In order to re-balance the atmosphere, a thunderstorm pumps the warm air upward and the cold air downward until the atmosphere evens out. Once that happens, the thunderstorm has achieved its stabilizing purpose and it dies out. In that sense thunderstorms exist only to destroy themselves. But along the way these storms can and do produce some of this planet’s most stunning marvels because that shifting around of cold and warm air can produce incredible winds...Sermon Starters (Baptism of the Lord)(B)(2021)
Thunderstorms. incredible meteorological phenomena. Even as you read this sermon starter, there are likely upwards of 2,000 thunderstorms going on across the earth. On average, each day 45,000 such storms occur. They are among the most powerful forces we know. In the simplest sense, but also in perhaps the most boring sense, a thunderstorm is little more than an atmosphere stabilizer. Acting like a giant heat machine, a thunderstorm forms when there is a lot of cold air sitting on top of a lot of warm air. In order to re-balance the atmosphere, a thunderstorm pumps the warm air upward and the cold air downward until the atmosphere evens out. Once that happens, the thunderstorm has achieved its stabilizing purpose and it dies out. In that sense thunderstorms exist only to destroy themselves. But along the way these storms can and do produce some of this planet’s most stunning marvels because that shifting around of cold and warm air can produce incredible winds. Here and there an outflow produces a microburst that can puff down toward the ground at 100 mph–we’ve all seen those grim pictures of what such wind shear can do to airplanes. In addition to wind, thunderstorms also produce rain and even ice. The storm’s strong currents can supercool water particles to well below freezing, and if enough of this ice builds up, it falls to the ground as hail–though usually no larger than pebbles, some strong storms have produced so much ice that it falls in chunks as large as a grapefruit. But there’s more: the forces within thunderstorm clouds are so great that particles of energy smash into one another with enough wallop to exchange electrical charges. So some particles get stripped of electrons while others add electrons, thus producing both positively charged particles and negatively charged particles. Typically the positive particles zoom to the top of the cloud and the negative ones sink to the bottom, creating a high-voltage chasm that equalizes itself through a fiery flash of lightning. Lasting only 30 microseconds, a bolt of lightning peaks out at 1,000,000,000,000 watts (one trillion) with a surface temperature of 20,000 degrees centigrade: that is three times hotter than the surface of the sun!Sermon Starters (Trinity Sunday)(B)(2021)
Thunderstorms are an incredible meteorological phenomena. Even as you read this sermon starter, there are likely upwards of 2,000 thunderstorms going on across the earth. On average, each day 45,000 such storms occur. They are among the most powerful forces we know. In the simplest sense, but also in perhaps the most boring sense, a thunderstorm is little more than an atmosphere stabilizer. Acting like a giant heat machine, a thunderstorm forms when there is a lot of cold air sitting on top of a lot of warm air. In order to re-balance the atmosphere, a thunderstorm pumps the warm air upward and the cold air downward until the atmosphere evens out. Once that happens, the thunderstorm has achieved its stabilizing purpose and it dies out. In that sense thunderstorms exist only to destroy themselves. But along the way these storms can and do produce some of this planet’s most stunning marvels because that shifting around of cold and warm air can produce incredible winds...God Rules Over Chaotic Waters
I recall a story that Fred Craddock told about the southwestern Oklahoma community with which he was very familiar. The village had a population of 450 and four churches. All the churches were Christian denominations and they all shared the people of the town. Sometimes attendance was up and sometimes it was down. However, there was a cafe in town whose attendance always stayed the same. Many of the parishioners of the cafe never went to any of the four churches. The father of the faithful at the little cafe was Frank, a man of 77, who declared, “I have no need for church -- I take care of my family, I work hard, everything else is just fluff.” One day, a local minister in town saw Frank on the street. He introduced himself and Frank told him he wasn't looking for a church. One day, to everyone's surprise, Frank not only showed up for church, but was baptized at 78. Talk started in town “Frank must be sick. He certainly is getting older.” There were all kinds of stories. The preacher and Frank became friends. Finally, a few months later, the minister got up enough courage to ask the question that had been bothering him since Frank's attendance that day. “Frank, do you remember when I baptized you?” Frank answered slowly, “Yes, I recall.” The minister paused for a moment then asked the question so long on his mind. “I am sure you still work hard and take care of your family.” “That's right,” Frank nodded in agreement. “Well then,” the minister said with a bit of caution, “what made you do it?” Frank cleared his throat. “I didn't know before what my business was; you see I thought it only included my work and my family, but I learned it was to serve God and human need.”...
Resources from 2019 and 2020
Sermon Starters (Baptism of the Lord)(A)(2020)
Thunderstorms. incredible meteorological phenomena. Even as you read this sermon starter, there are likely upwards of 2,000 thunderstorms going on across the earth. On average, each day 45,000 such storms occur. They are among the most powerful forces we know. In the simplest sense, but also in perhaps the most boring sense, a thunderstorm is little more than an atmosphere stabilizer. Acting like a giant heat machine, a thunderstorm forms when there is a lot of cold air sitting on top of a lot of warm air. In order to re-balance the atmosphere, a thunderstorm pumps the warm air upward and the cold air downward until the atmosphere evens out. Once that happens, the thunderstorm has achieved its stabilizing purpose and it dies out. In that sense thunderstorms exist only to destroy themselves...
Resources from 2017 and 2018
Baptism of Jesus (A)(2017)
Anyone who has seen the movie, “Bruce Almighty,” remembers Jim Carry playing an ordinary doofus who is given almighty power by God, who is played by Morgan Freeman. That casting choice led a movie reviewer for the New York Times to reflect on the way Hollywood movies have portrayed God. God, said the Times, is always either a “hairy thunderer or a cosmic muffin.” God is either a threat way up there or a soft comfortable kind of joke right down here.Preaching Helps (Epiphany 1B)(2018)
In the classic film, “Forest Gump,” Lt. Dan Taylor is a Vietnam veteran who has lost both legs in battle. He wanted to die on the battlefield, but Forest saved his life, a good deed that made Lt. Dan furious. After a long separation, Lt. Dan shows up at Forest’s shrimp boat and offers to become first mate. Out to sea they go with Lt. Dan still furious. In one scene he is perched on the highest part of the boat, screaming at God, daring God to come and get him. As we see the horizon getting darker and darker, Forest says, “Just then, God showed up.” It was Hurricane Carmen. Lt. Dan was never the same after meeting God in that storm.Preaching Helps (Trinity)(B)(2018)
I want to suggest an unusual, but hopefully helpful way of reading the last two verses of this Psalm. Years ago I taught courses on narrative preaching, using the books by Eugene Lowry, especially The Homiletical Plot. Lowry urges preachers to organize their sermons using a narrative plot. He used five exclamations to summarize that plot: Oops, Ugh, Aha, Whee, and Yeah. The “Oops” is the introduction of trouble that puts people off balance. The “Ugh” is the deepening of the trouble, where life gets messier and messier because of sin. The “Aha” is the turning point in the sermon, the introduction of grace into the trouble, the place where grace breaks into the story of human misery. The “Aha” should be followed by the “Whee,” in which salvation is explained and the grace of God celebrated. Finally, the sermon should end with a “Yeah,” which shows how life is different, now that God has come in his grace. As a result of grace, here’s how life is changed. We can settle into the experience of salvation with a satisfied “Yeah.”...
Resources from 2013 to 2016
Resources from the Archives
Trinity Sunday (B)(2012)
Psalm 29 is the kind of psalm that almost begs worshipers to sing the stirring hymn, “How Great Thou Art:” “O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder/ Consider all the worlds thy hands have made, / I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder, / Thy power throughout the universe displayed; / Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee; / How great thou art! How great thou art!”Divine Vocalise
I recently read a story about a medical doctor who had long battled against the idea that there is a personal God who intervenes in human life. He sought his own spiritual refuge instead in music; the music of Bach particularly appealed to him because of the mathematical precision of Bach’s fugues. Meanwhile, though professionally successful, his personal life was falling apart. His first wife left him; he started drinking too much. One day as he was driving, he pounded the steering wheel with his open palms and cried out, “God, if you’re really there, you’re going to have to say something! And you know what kind of man I am! No screwing around, now-no (blasted) ‘signs.’ You’re going to have to talk my language!” Just then on the radio came Bach’s classic “Jesus, Joy of Man’s Desiring.” The man sobbed, and laughed at what an idiotic but wonderfully appropriate word this was to him. And just as his mind began to try to explain away the moment, with a thought that Bach was often played on that radio station (which was actually not a classical music station), the next song to come on was “The Girl from Ipanema.”...The Voice of God
("What does the voice of God sound like? What do you think? In film or T.V. drama it is usually a deep, booming, echoing sound - much like the 'It could be you!' voice on the National Lottery adverts. It's a voice that sounds like it should be written in capital letters...")