Sermon Illustrations for Advent 2 (2017)
Illustration
Isaiah 40:1-11
There are so many images of God in this passage: God as punisher, as comforter, as reconciler, as speaker, as breath, as might, and as a gentle shepherd. What is your image of God? Is your image one of these, many of these, or none of these?
In the tumultuous days in which we live, like the tumultuous days of Isaiah’s life, there are many views of and different relationships with God. Many different feelings abound. But the passage is clear about our role. We are to prepare the way of the Lord. Advent is a time of preparation, a time when we get ready to celebrate the new intimacy of our relationship with God. God comes to us, comes into the world as vulnerable as we come into the world. God grows as we grow, tries as we try, feels as we feel, and prays as we pray. God is coming. Are we prepared? Have we prepared our hearts and our minds and our strength? Prepare the way, my friends. The Lord wants to come to you.
Bonnie B.
Isaiah 40:1-11
Times were tough for the People of Israel, and they are difficult for us now. A 2014 CNN/Money poll found that 64% of the millennial generation think that the American Dream is not possible for children to achieve. We need a word of hope. The only way out seems to be by being prepared for God’s work. Famed 20th-century American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr reminds us that we need always to live with the End in view: “Human life is historical, and we cannot evade the constitution or our life. We must not be preoccupied about tomorrow; but it is still a fact that tomorrow is the day when the promise of youth is fulfilled.... Tomorrow, of course, is also the day when death and decay impend as those of us are aware who have passed the meridian of life.... The current generation must come to terms with this fact and develop trust and patience congruent with it” (Justice & Mercy, p. 84).
Famed New Testament scholar Rudolf Bultmann offers an equally compelling vision of what life looks like when lived in light of the End Times: “To exist as a Christian means to live in freedom, a freedom into which the believer is brought by the divine grace which appeared in Christ. The one justified by faith is set free from his past, from his sin, from himself. And he is set free for a real historical life in free decisions” (History and Eschatology, p. 45).
Regarding the reference in the text to speaking tenderly to the people (v. 2), Martin Luther claimed God is like a mother and a nurse (Luther’s Works, Vol. 17, p. 16).
Mark E.
Isaiah 40:1-11
When I was a chaplain talking with prisoners, I could see that they felt they were in a wilderness and looking for a way out. I revealed the glory of the Lord to them so that they had hope. No, their surroundings were not going to change instantly -- but their hearts would change so they looked more to the Lord and his love. They needed to learn that crying out to the Lord is their only answer. Most feel that they have received double for their sins in their sentence. They may be like grass that withers, but the words of their God will stand forever -- even if they face life in prison and are withering.
When we were children, most of us felt the arms of our parents around us. We couldn’t imagine life without them. When we fell out of our swing and bruised ourselves, the first thing we did was to turn to Mom or Dad who would kiss our wounds and lead us off to recover.
Jesus will lead us away from our troubles so we can join his flock, who may be the other members of our congregation.
We can share our experiences with the Lord to our pastor and our fellow members -- both the good and the bad. Then we can realize that while we are like grass and flowers that will fade away, God’s word will always be with us. God’s promises are not temporary.
Bob O.
2 Peter 3:8-15a
“Every 15 Minutes” is a program organized by the California Highway Patrol, with help from local public safety agencies, designed to instill in teens the potential deadly consequences of drinking and driving or of distracted driving. It also highlights the impacts those decisions have on families. Done for high school students throughout California, “Every 15 Minutes” brings in four to five families who’ve lost a teen in a tragic and sudden accident. The name of the program comes from the sad fact that every 15 minutes someone in the United States dies in an alcohol-related traffic collision.
No one plans for a tragedy like this to happen. When I read about this program, I read comments from family members who, just moments before, were having a good time. Then in a just a few seconds everything changed.
That’s the thrust of the passage that Peter writes to his Christian audience. The Day of the Lord will come like a thief. It will be sudden and happen in an instant. Peter is urging his readers to be ready. How? Christians ought to live in a way the pleases the Lord, knowing that his return could happen at any time.
Bill T.
2 Peter 3:8-15a
A second is a second is a second, isn’t it? But once there’s less than a minute left in the game, the scoreboard measures those seconds in fractions. Suddenly the clock moves screamingly fast. It certainly raises the excitement level.
But solar clocks in the time of Jesus measured time slowly, imperceptibly, majestically. Complicating things further, the hours weren’t the same length all year round. The first hour was sunrise and the last hour was sunset. Noon was midday. That meant the hours were much shorter in late December, and much longer in late June.
We think of time as something that can be measured precisely, sliced and diced to the tiniest fraction. For Jesus and his contemporaries, time was a quality defined by light and darkness, the seasons, and the position of the sun and the stars. And there was a quality to the time in which God’s people found themselves, waiting for a messiah descended from King David to bring deliverance. When would God do this? Hard to say. After all, as it says in scripture, “with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day” (Psalm 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8).
Frank R.
2 Peter 3:8-15a
John Glenn was the first American to orbit the earth in a five-hour excursion on February 20, 1962. But before he could make that three-orbit expedition, his flight into outer space was delayed for two months due to mechanical problems and bad weather. Once, the mission was called off after Glenn had sat fully suited for six hours in the cramped Friendship 7 capsule. Glenn, a former Marine pilot who flew combat missions in both Korea and Vietnam before becoming a test pilot, was an individual who always displayed confidence. When asked about his six-hour ordeal in the Mercury space capsule, Glenn said: “You fear the least what you know the most about.”
Application: As Christians we do not fear the Second Coming because we understand it.
Ron L.
Mark 1:1-8
And the messenger was sent... a messenger to prepare the way for the coming of God into the world. John the Baptist stood at the River Jordan in all his peculiarities, in all his humanness, to seek the repentance of those hungry for the presence of God. He proclaims that one more powerful than he is coming and we need to be ready.
I have stood on the banks of the River Jordan. I have waded into that water. I have gathered some of that water and mingled it with local water for baptisms in the churches I have served. I once heard or read that the water currently in the world is all the water there is or ever was or ever will be. Our earth recycles the same water from place to place and from time to time. This mingled water may be some of the same droplets into which Jesus trod.
There is never a moment that I do not remember that time of stepping into the water in a place where Jesus may have stepped. It has changed me forever, in the way that my infant baptism could not. Now I am conscious of the choices I make, of the commitment I make, of the actions I take that prepare the way for God to enter me and through me to enter the world. May it be so that I live up to the call to prepare for God in my life and the lives of others.
Bonnie B.
Mark 1:1-8
The Boy Scout motto pertains to this lesson: “Be prepared.” While speaking on this text Martin Luther spoke of preparation: “This then is the preparation of Christ’s Way and John’s proper office. He is to humble all the world, and proclaim that they are all sinners” (Complete Sermons, Vol. 1/1, p. 124). Preparation is not something we do, but is a work of grace. Famed modern theologian Karl Barth nicely makes this point: “Christians... are those who waken up... as they awake they look up, and rise, thus making the counter-movement to the downward drag of their sinfully slothful being. They are those who waken up, however, because they are awakened. They do not wake of themselves and get up. They are roused, and they are thus caused to get up and sit in this counter-movement” (Church Dogmatics, Vol. IV/2, p. 554).
Preparation and spirituality feel good. Studies have indicated that happiness is a function of experiencing the feel-good chemicals of the brain (dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin) that are secreted, especially when the brain’s prefrontal cortex is activated. That happens especially when we are planning or praying. And because dopamine is a drug to which we can build a tolerance, once the planning ends and has become reality, we gradually experience less pleasure from what is the case, become less happy when we are not preparing for something new (Stephan Klein, The Science of Happiness).
Mark E.
Mark 1:1-8
When I read in my history book a prediction back in the 1700s about the founding of America, I found that it was accurate for the most part. All predictions in history might be true basically, but there are always details which are only filled in later. This message from Isaiah seems pretty accurate. It does show that God was pointing ahead to what was going to happen many years later with the coming of John and Jesus.
When I showed motion pictures in the 1950s, there were two reels of film. There was a big reel on top and a big reel on the bottom. We only saw one little frame at a time. It could be like God who knew all about the past (the top reel) and also all about the future (the bottom reel), but we only see one day at a time.
When we read of predictions we have only two choices: We can believe in them or doubt them. That was the choice the people of Israel had back in New Testament times. Some believed John and were baptized, while others -- those in high places (Pharisees, etc.) -- did not. One reason they doubted is because they thought that they were in charge and that this message should come through them! That can even be true of politicians and those in charge today in our government -- and maybe even in our church!
I wonder why God always seems to work through the lowly. Is that to humble those on top like synod presidents or U.S. presidents? Only time will tell!
Bob O.
There are so many images of God in this passage: God as punisher, as comforter, as reconciler, as speaker, as breath, as might, and as a gentle shepherd. What is your image of God? Is your image one of these, many of these, or none of these?
In the tumultuous days in which we live, like the tumultuous days of Isaiah’s life, there are many views of and different relationships with God. Many different feelings abound. But the passage is clear about our role. We are to prepare the way of the Lord. Advent is a time of preparation, a time when we get ready to celebrate the new intimacy of our relationship with God. God comes to us, comes into the world as vulnerable as we come into the world. God grows as we grow, tries as we try, feels as we feel, and prays as we pray. God is coming. Are we prepared? Have we prepared our hearts and our minds and our strength? Prepare the way, my friends. The Lord wants to come to you.
Bonnie B.
Isaiah 40:1-11
Times were tough for the People of Israel, and they are difficult for us now. A 2014 CNN/Money poll found that 64% of the millennial generation think that the American Dream is not possible for children to achieve. We need a word of hope. The only way out seems to be by being prepared for God’s work. Famed 20th-century American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr reminds us that we need always to live with the End in view: “Human life is historical, and we cannot evade the constitution or our life. We must not be preoccupied about tomorrow; but it is still a fact that tomorrow is the day when the promise of youth is fulfilled.... Tomorrow, of course, is also the day when death and decay impend as those of us are aware who have passed the meridian of life.... The current generation must come to terms with this fact and develop trust and patience congruent with it” (Justice & Mercy, p. 84).
Famed New Testament scholar Rudolf Bultmann offers an equally compelling vision of what life looks like when lived in light of the End Times: “To exist as a Christian means to live in freedom, a freedom into which the believer is brought by the divine grace which appeared in Christ. The one justified by faith is set free from his past, from his sin, from himself. And he is set free for a real historical life in free decisions” (History and Eschatology, p. 45).
Regarding the reference in the text to speaking tenderly to the people (v. 2), Martin Luther claimed God is like a mother and a nurse (Luther’s Works, Vol. 17, p. 16).
Mark E.
Isaiah 40:1-11
When I was a chaplain talking with prisoners, I could see that they felt they were in a wilderness and looking for a way out. I revealed the glory of the Lord to them so that they had hope. No, their surroundings were not going to change instantly -- but their hearts would change so they looked more to the Lord and his love. They needed to learn that crying out to the Lord is their only answer. Most feel that they have received double for their sins in their sentence. They may be like grass that withers, but the words of their God will stand forever -- even if they face life in prison and are withering.
When we were children, most of us felt the arms of our parents around us. We couldn’t imagine life without them. When we fell out of our swing and bruised ourselves, the first thing we did was to turn to Mom or Dad who would kiss our wounds and lead us off to recover.
Jesus will lead us away from our troubles so we can join his flock, who may be the other members of our congregation.
We can share our experiences with the Lord to our pastor and our fellow members -- both the good and the bad. Then we can realize that while we are like grass and flowers that will fade away, God’s word will always be with us. God’s promises are not temporary.
Bob O.
2 Peter 3:8-15a
“Every 15 Minutes” is a program organized by the California Highway Patrol, with help from local public safety agencies, designed to instill in teens the potential deadly consequences of drinking and driving or of distracted driving. It also highlights the impacts those decisions have on families. Done for high school students throughout California, “Every 15 Minutes” brings in four to five families who’ve lost a teen in a tragic and sudden accident. The name of the program comes from the sad fact that every 15 minutes someone in the United States dies in an alcohol-related traffic collision.
No one plans for a tragedy like this to happen. When I read about this program, I read comments from family members who, just moments before, were having a good time. Then in a just a few seconds everything changed.
That’s the thrust of the passage that Peter writes to his Christian audience. The Day of the Lord will come like a thief. It will be sudden and happen in an instant. Peter is urging his readers to be ready. How? Christians ought to live in a way the pleases the Lord, knowing that his return could happen at any time.
Bill T.
2 Peter 3:8-15a
A second is a second is a second, isn’t it? But once there’s less than a minute left in the game, the scoreboard measures those seconds in fractions. Suddenly the clock moves screamingly fast. It certainly raises the excitement level.
But solar clocks in the time of Jesus measured time slowly, imperceptibly, majestically. Complicating things further, the hours weren’t the same length all year round. The first hour was sunrise and the last hour was sunset. Noon was midday. That meant the hours were much shorter in late December, and much longer in late June.
We think of time as something that can be measured precisely, sliced and diced to the tiniest fraction. For Jesus and his contemporaries, time was a quality defined by light and darkness, the seasons, and the position of the sun and the stars. And there was a quality to the time in which God’s people found themselves, waiting for a messiah descended from King David to bring deliverance. When would God do this? Hard to say. After all, as it says in scripture, “with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day” (Psalm 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8).
Frank R.
2 Peter 3:8-15a
John Glenn was the first American to orbit the earth in a five-hour excursion on February 20, 1962. But before he could make that three-orbit expedition, his flight into outer space was delayed for two months due to mechanical problems and bad weather. Once, the mission was called off after Glenn had sat fully suited for six hours in the cramped Friendship 7 capsule. Glenn, a former Marine pilot who flew combat missions in both Korea and Vietnam before becoming a test pilot, was an individual who always displayed confidence. When asked about his six-hour ordeal in the Mercury space capsule, Glenn said: “You fear the least what you know the most about.”
Application: As Christians we do not fear the Second Coming because we understand it.
Ron L.
Mark 1:1-8
And the messenger was sent... a messenger to prepare the way for the coming of God into the world. John the Baptist stood at the River Jordan in all his peculiarities, in all his humanness, to seek the repentance of those hungry for the presence of God. He proclaims that one more powerful than he is coming and we need to be ready.
I have stood on the banks of the River Jordan. I have waded into that water. I have gathered some of that water and mingled it with local water for baptisms in the churches I have served. I once heard or read that the water currently in the world is all the water there is or ever was or ever will be. Our earth recycles the same water from place to place and from time to time. This mingled water may be some of the same droplets into which Jesus trod.
There is never a moment that I do not remember that time of stepping into the water in a place where Jesus may have stepped. It has changed me forever, in the way that my infant baptism could not. Now I am conscious of the choices I make, of the commitment I make, of the actions I take that prepare the way for God to enter me and through me to enter the world. May it be so that I live up to the call to prepare for God in my life and the lives of others.
Bonnie B.
Mark 1:1-8
The Boy Scout motto pertains to this lesson: “Be prepared.” While speaking on this text Martin Luther spoke of preparation: “This then is the preparation of Christ’s Way and John’s proper office. He is to humble all the world, and proclaim that they are all sinners” (Complete Sermons, Vol. 1/1, p. 124). Preparation is not something we do, but is a work of grace. Famed modern theologian Karl Barth nicely makes this point: “Christians... are those who waken up... as they awake they look up, and rise, thus making the counter-movement to the downward drag of their sinfully slothful being. They are those who waken up, however, because they are awakened. They do not wake of themselves and get up. They are roused, and they are thus caused to get up and sit in this counter-movement” (Church Dogmatics, Vol. IV/2, p. 554).
Preparation and spirituality feel good. Studies have indicated that happiness is a function of experiencing the feel-good chemicals of the brain (dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin) that are secreted, especially when the brain’s prefrontal cortex is activated. That happens especially when we are planning or praying. And because dopamine is a drug to which we can build a tolerance, once the planning ends and has become reality, we gradually experience less pleasure from what is the case, become less happy when we are not preparing for something new (Stephan Klein, The Science of Happiness).
Mark E.
Mark 1:1-8
When I read in my history book a prediction back in the 1700s about the founding of America, I found that it was accurate for the most part. All predictions in history might be true basically, but there are always details which are only filled in later. This message from Isaiah seems pretty accurate. It does show that God was pointing ahead to what was going to happen many years later with the coming of John and Jesus.
When I showed motion pictures in the 1950s, there were two reels of film. There was a big reel on top and a big reel on the bottom. We only saw one little frame at a time. It could be like God who knew all about the past (the top reel) and also all about the future (the bottom reel), but we only see one day at a time.
When we read of predictions we have only two choices: We can believe in them or doubt them. That was the choice the people of Israel had back in New Testament times. Some believed John and were baptized, while others -- those in high places (Pharisees, etc.) -- did not. One reason they doubted is because they thought that they were in charge and that this message should come through them! That can even be true of politicians and those in charge today in our government -- and maybe even in our church!
I wonder why God always seems to work through the lowly. Is that to humble those on top like synod presidents or U.S. presidents? Only time will tell!
Bob O.
