Sermon Illustrations for Lent 1 (2024)
Illustration
Genesis 9:8-17
As a minister in the United Church of Christ, I spend a lot of time defining what a covenant is and what it is not. In our system of polity, congregations have autonomy in covenant. The covenant part is sometimes forgotten. It’s easy to feel independent and autonomous. It’s harder to remember we are in covenant with each other — that our relationships with one another in the various settings of the church is vitally important. God demonstrates the importance of covenant with Noah after the flood has destroyed life on earth. The sign of the covenant, the promise of God, is the rainbow. I can’t help but think of this promise of God when I see a rainbow. More importantly though, I try to live into my covenant promises with God every single day.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Genesis 9:8-17
The National Centers for Environmental Information reported that global ocean surface temperature during the January–July 2023 period ranked second warmest on record, entailing that last year was among the five warmest years on record. Global warming is a reality. If we could embrace the thinking of the ancient Roman comedy writer Plautus a lot of our environmental abuses would begin to end. This famed Roman writer wants us to realize that “the day, water, sun, moon, night — I do not have to purchase these things with money.” Anne Morrow Lindberg said much the same thing nearly two millennia later when she observed regarding the miracle of God’s care for nature:
After all, I didn’t see why I am always asking for private, individual, selfish miracles when every year there are miracles like the white dogwood.
Martin Luther noted how the terrors humankind and the created order faced in the flood set the stage for God’s benevolence, and so as we face our own terrors God comes to care for creation and each of us as individuals like a loving mother. The reformer wrote:
How much more difficult it is for a conscience that has experienced God’s wrath and the terrors of death to let comfort come in! These experiences remain so firmly entrenched later on that a heart becomes fearful and terrified even in the face of kindnesses and comforting words. It is for this reason that God shows himself benevolent in such a variety of ways and takes such extraordinary delight in pouring forth compassion like a mother who is caressing and petting her child in order that it may finally begin to forget its tears and smile at its mother. (Luther’s Works, Vol.2, p.145)
Mark E.
* * *
1 Peter 3:18-21
I heard the story about Ellen, who was raised a Methodist but started attending a Baptist church in her town. One day she was helping a group of ladies wash dishes after a luncheon. She emptied the large electric coffee pot and handed it to the lady at the sink.
The lady washing asked, “Can this be washed like everything else?”
“Oh no,” Ellen answered. “That’s a Methodist coffee pot. It says right here, DO NOT IMMERSE.”
I thought that was humorous and a bit of a knock on how all of us in the body of Christ do things a bit differently. For the record, I am in the tribe that practices immersion. While we all may hold different views on the mode of baptism, I think we see why it matters. Peter makes it clear. “And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (vs. 21). Martin Luther once said, “These two parts, to be sunk under the water and drawn out again, signify the power and operation of baptism, which is nothing else than putting to death the old Adam, and after that the resurrection of the new man, both of which must take place in us all our lives, so that a truly Christian life is nothing else than a daily baptism, once begun and ever to be continued.”
Bill T.
* * *
1 Peter 3:18-22
I’m not totally sure what Peter meant when he spoke about the Lord preaching to those in prison in the days of Noah, but some wonder if this passage is an allusion to the Book of Enoch, a popular apocalyptic book of the period. In Genesis, the story of the flood is preceded by the puzzling story of the “sons of God” sexually assaulting the “daughters of humanity” with the result that a race of Giants was born. This story is included in Genesis, I believe, to foreshadow the incident in Numbers when the twelve spies sent by Moses into Canaan come back with reports of gigantic humans who put on their pants two legs at a time.
But here, I think, Peter is recalling how Enoch, who was taken up alive into heaven, was commanded by the Lord of heaven to “declare to the waters of the heaven who have left the high heaven, the holy eternal place, and have defiled themselves with women…” that “mercy and peace shall yet not attain.” (Enoch XII:4-6, R.H. Charles translation)
The apostle’s audience would have been familiar with this book, but Peter is reusing this tradition to ascribe to Jesus what in popular fiction Enoch could not do — preach forgiveness to those who are lost. In later times this verse was repurposed to explain how the righteous in the Old Testament were released from wherever they were held and promoted to heaven.
Frank R.
* * *
Mark 1:9-15
Jesus gets us moving into the future, just like what happened in this lesson. The present moment is urgent and demands change. Martin Luther King, Jr. well represents the Black church’s historic awareness of this aspect of Jesus’ ministry. On one occasion, he claimed:
We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there "is" such a thing as being too late. This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action.
On another occasion, he wrote about the urgency of getting moving and its powerful word of comfort:
Lift up your heads, you army of the afflicted, the humbled, the discouraged, you defeated army with bowed heads. The battle is not lost, the victory is yours — take courage, be strong! There is no room here for shaking your heads and doubting because Christ is coming. (A Testament to Freedom, pp.236-237)
Leonardo da Vinci was right when he claimed: “I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.”
Mark E.
* * *
Mark 1:9-15
Baptisms are always a joy for me. The welcoming of a baby, child or adult into the faith community of God’s people and offering the blessings of God is so special. When I think of the baptism of Jesus, I wonder at the reactions of those gathered when they heard the words of God, and I wonder what they thought when Jesus retreated into the wilderness. Why didn’t this man proclaimed to be the Son of God, stay, and help minister to the people? Why would the Spirit send him into isolation and temptation?
When ministers or religious leaders go on retreat, the reactions of congregation members are mixed. Why do they leave us? Why do they need to do this? And yet to retreat into the quiet, to commune with the spirit, to read and study, renews us for the journey ahead. This passage of scripture reminds us that Jesus returned to minister. In like fashion, we human faith leaders who retreat, come back renewed to lead, to teach, to preach, and to comfort. Retreats are as important to our spirits as the celebrations of our faith. Lent may be a good time to remember that.
Bonnie B.
As a minister in the United Church of Christ, I spend a lot of time defining what a covenant is and what it is not. In our system of polity, congregations have autonomy in covenant. The covenant part is sometimes forgotten. It’s easy to feel independent and autonomous. It’s harder to remember we are in covenant with each other — that our relationships with one another in the various settings of the church is vitally important. God demonstrates the importance of covenant with Noah after the flood has destroyed life on earth. The sign of the covenant, the promise of God, is the rainbow. I can’t help but think of this promise of God when I see a rainbow. More importantly though, I try to live into my covenant promises with God every single day.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Genesis 9:8-17
The National Centers for Environmental Information reported that global ocean surface temperature during the January–July 2023 period ranked second warmest on record, entailing that last year was among the five warmest years on record. Global warming is a reality. If we could embrace the thinking of the ancient Roman comedy writer Plautus a lot of our environmental abuses would begin to end. This famed Roman writer wants us to realize that “the day, water, sun, moon, night — I do not have to purchase these things with money.” Anne Morrow Lindberg said much the same thing nearly two millennia later when she observed regarding the miracle of God’s care for nature:
After all, I didn’t see why I am always asking for private, individual, selfish miracles when every year there are miracles like the white dogwood.
Martin Luther noted how the terrors humankind and the created order faced in the flood set the stage for God’s benevolence, and so as we face our own terrors God comes to care for creation and each of us as individuals like a loving mother. The reformer wrote:
How much more difficult it is for a conscience that has experienced God’s wrath and the terrors of death to let comfort come in! These experiences remain so firmly entrenched later on that a heart becomes fearful and terrified even in the face of kindnesses and comforting words. It is for this reason that God shows himself benevolent in such a variety of ways and takes such extraordinary delight in pouring forth compassion like a mother who is caressing and petting her child in order that it may finally begin to forget its tears and smile at its mother. (Luther’s Works, Vol.2, p.145)
Mark E.
* * *
1 Peter 3:18-21
I heard the story about Ellen, who was raised a Methodist but started attending a Baptist church in her town. One day she was helping a group of ladies wash dishes after a luncheon. She emptied the large electric coffee pot and handed it to the lady at the sink.
The lady washing asked, “Can this be washed like everything else?”
“Oh no,” Ellen answered. “That’s a Methodist coffee pot. It says right here, DO NOT IMMERSE.”
I thought that was humorous and a bit of a knock on how all of us in the body of Christ do things a bit differently. For the record, I am in the tribe that practices immersion. While we all may hold different views on the mode of baptism, I think we see why it matters. Peter makes it clear. “And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (vs. 21). Martin Luther once said, “These two parts, to be sunk under the water and drawn out again, signify the power and operation of baptism, which is nothing else than putting to death the old Adam, and after that the resurrection of the new man, both of which must take place in us all our lives, so that a truly Christian life is nothing else than a daily baptism, once begun and ever to be continued.”
Bill T.
* * *
1 Peter 3:18-22
I’m not totally sure what Peter meant when he spoke about the Lord preaching to those in prison in the days of Noah, but some wonder if this passage is an allusion to the Book of Enoch, a popular apocalyptic book of the period. In Genesis, the story of the flood is preceded by the puzzling story of the “sons of God” sexually assaulting the “daughters of humanity” with the result that a race of Giants was born. This story is included in Genesis, I believe, to foreshadow the incident in Numbers when the twelve spies sent by Moses into Canaan come back with reports of gigantic humans who put on their pants two legs at a time.
But here, I think, Peter is recalling how Enoch, who was taken up alive into heaven, was commanded by the Lord of heaven to “declare to the waters of the heaven who have left the high heaven, the holy eternal place, and have defiled themselves with women…” that “mercy and peace shall yet not attain.” (Enoch XII:4-6, R.H. Charles translation)
The apostle’s audience would have been familiar with this book, but Peter is reusing this tradition to ascribe to Jesus what in popular fiction Enoch could not do — preach forgiveness to those who are lost. In later times this verse was repurposed to explain how the righteous in the Old Testament were released from wherever they were held and promoted to heaven.
Frank R.
* * *
Mark 1:9-15
Jesus gets us moving into the future, just like what happened in this lesson. The present moment is urgent and demands change. Martin Luther King, Jr. well represents the Black church’s historic awareness of this aspect of Jesus’ ministry. On one occasion, he claimed:
We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there "is" such a thing as being too late. This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action.
On another occasion, he wrote about the urgency of getting moving and its powerful word of comfort:
Lift up your heads, you army of the afflicted, the humbled, the discouraged, you defeated army with bowed heads. The battle is not lost, the victory is yours — take courage, be strong! There is no room here for shaking your heads and doubting because Christ is coming. (A Testament to Freedom, pp.236-237)
Leonardo da Vinci was right when he claimed: “I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.”
Mark E.
* * *
Mark 1:9-15
Baptisms are always a joy for me. The welcoming of a baby, child or adult into the faith community of God’s people and offering the blessings of God is so special. When I think of the baptism of Jesus, I wonder at the reactions of those gathered when they heard the words of God, and I wonder what they thought when Jesus retreated into the wilderness. Why didn’t this man proclaimed to be the Son of God, stay, and help minister to the people? Why would the Spirit send him into isolation and temptation?
When ministers or religious leaders go on retreat, the reactions of congregation members are mixed. Why do they leave us? Why do they need to do this? And yet to retreat into the quiet, to commune with the spirit, to read and study, renews us for the journey ahead. This passage of scripture reminds us that Jesus returned to minister. In like fashion, we human faith leaders who retreat, come back renewed to lead, to teach, to preach, and to comfort. Retreats are as important to our spirits as the celebrations of our faith. Lent may be a good time to remember that.
Bonnie B.
