Emphasis Preaching Journal

Who is the God of our congregation? How is this God made known in the community? These two questions get at the core of the existence and operation of any congregation. The texts of Trinity Sunday could be used as an opportunity to explore church history and the creedal controversies. In the congregations that I have served, such deep, doctrinal sermons on the history of the Triune God will result in glassy eyed parishioners who wonder if they will have to confess the Athanasian Creed.

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31
Wisdom is vividly and dramatically personified as she speaks in this chapter of Proverbs. This is an historically challenging text. Arius used this verse from the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, which puts the phrase like this: The Lord created me at the beginning of His way. Arius argued that Jesus is the wisdom of God, and this verse spoke of his creation. If he was created, then he had a beginning and was not eternal, and if not eternal, he was not God.

Contents
“The Spirit’s Guidance” by David O. Bales
“I Tertius, The Writer Of This Letter (Romans 16:22)” by David O. Bales


The Spirit’s Guidance
by David O. Bales
John 16:12-15

“When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth...” (v. 13a)

Hello children,

Mary Louise was a little bit lonely. Not completely lonely, but just a little bit. With no brothers or sisters, Mary Louise spent quite a lot of time playing by herself. Although not completely by herself, for Mary Louise had a number of silent companions, who were a great comfort to her.

Every night when she went to bed, Mary Louise would line up her silent companions on the foot of the bed, and give them a big kiss. Then she'd sigh happily, climb into bed and fall asleep very quickly, for she knew her silent companions were looking out for her.

In 1980, NBC introduced a new television game show called Chain Reaction. Since then, the show has appeared in different forms, but the main idea has always been for different teams to fill in a chain of words. For example, the first word in a four-word chain might be "light," the last word "spring," with the team needing to guess the two words in-between. In this case, "light" comes from a light "bulb," and out of the bulb grows a "daffodil," which comes up in the "spring." It's a chain reaction of words, where one word leads to another, and "light" turns into "spring."