Sermon Illustrations For Easter 5 (2020)
Illustration
Acts 7:55-60
In 1555, Dr. Nicholas Ridley was sentenced to be burned at the stake in England because of his witness for Christ. On the night before his execution, Ridley’s brother offered to remain with him in the prison chamber to be of assistance and comfort. Nicholas Ridley declined the offer saying, “I intend (God willing) to go to bed, and sleep as quietly tonight, as ever I did.” Because he knew the peace of God, he could rest in the strength of the everlasting arms of his Lord.
I think the peace Ridley knew was first experienced by Stephen. Stephen knew the presence, peace and power of Jesus. Before he died, he looked into heaven and saw Jesus. Like his Savior before him, Stephen prayed for the Lord to receive his spirit and asked for his attackers to be forgiven.
How, you ask, does this happen? Because Stephen and later, Dr. Ridley, knew that “our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” (2 Corinthians 4:17). According to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, in the last decade alone, there have been over 900,000 Christians martyred. They serve as a powerful, silent reminder that all who know Jesus should stand for him, unashamed and unafraid.
Bill T.
* * *
Acts 7:55-60
Today’s lectionary text concerns the martyrdom of Stephen. His faithfulness is inspiring, and was meant, as an example, to strengthen Christians who might be facing death as well. But I’d like to back up one verse, to Acts 7:44. Stephen had been speaking to the crowd about their shared history. Speechifying was respected in those days. You listened to a coherent argument which might lead you to a life-changing conclusion. Oratory they called it. Stephen reveals himself to be a master orator. The people could agree with everything he said about their history, about their faith and also their failures. But Stephen tied it all together by making a connection between their distant ancestors who would not listen to their prophets (now venerated) and even persecuted and killed them. Okay, that’s fine. But then he made a connection between those ancient sins and his contemporary listeners.
Their reaction, described in 7:44, reflects their rage against Stephen’s accusations. Literally, it speaks of them sawing their hearts in two pieces, as they ground their teeth down. They are so angry by what they heard they harmed themselves.
Now just as those listeners were willing to nod their heads in agreement when the sins of their biblical ancestors was discussed but reacted with self-damaging rage when they heard something they disagreed with, so we too in our time are willing to listen to the follies of our biblical and national ancestors, but when we hear something we disagree with, religiously, politically, or within our families, how often do we react not with a willingness to listen, or at least to disagree respectfully, but with the self-damaging rage that demonizes others and leads us to attack, if not with literal stones, then with hateful words that are damaging both to ourselves and to our targets?
Frank R.
* * *
Acts 7:55-60
Margaret Atwood wrote the dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale, which was published in 1985. The story take place in the future, and the setting of the story is Cambridge, Massachusetts. A military coup has overthrown the United States government, killing the president and all the members of congress. The country is now ruled by theocratic regime who have renamed the country the Republic of Gilead. The new country is hierarchical, with strong class, race and gender distinctions. The book pivots on the theme of how women are subjugated to men. One catalyst for the coup was the low birth rate in the country. This was due to pollution and radiation poisoning. Because of the need to repopulate the country, and because there are so few fertile women, those who can bear children are taken into custody by the state. The females who lost their ability to reproduce are called “unwomen.” These women are sent to the Colonies to work in the polluted and radiated land. In these conditions they can only live a few years. Women who are still fertile are called “Handmaids.” They are assigned to a Commander, a member of the ruling class who will inseminate them, as their wives are infertile. A Handmaid no longer has her own name, no longer has her own identity, and is not permitted to read or write. A Handmaid takes on the name of the Commander to whom she is assigned. The central character of the book is Offred, which means she is “Of Fred.” She has been assigned to Frederick R. Waterford. The reader never learns of Offred’s real name. Handmaids have only one purpose in society, and that is to produce children. Only their wombs are important. In one incident in the book a Handmaid who tried to escape was beaten on her feet with a steel cable that was frayed. For weeks she was unable to walk. This is because, the reader is told, the hands and feet of a Handmaid are not important. Neither is their appearance, so they are denied cosmetics and have to wear uniforms. Reflecting on her loss of control and identity, Offred share these thoughts with the reader, “We are containers, it’s only the insides of our bodies that are important.”
Ron L.
* * *
1 Peter 2:2-10
The human mind is not good at dealing with difference, as the famous poet-philosopher Audre Lorde explained in a lecture,
Much of Western European history conditions us to see human differences in simplistic opposition to each other: dominant/subordinate, good/bad, up/down, superior/inferior…we have all been programmed to respond to the human differences between us with fear and loathing and to handle that difference in one of three ways: ignore it, and if that is not possible, copy it if we think it is dominant, or destroy it if we think it is subordinate. But we have no patterns for relating across our human differences as equals.
What Lorde is talking about is the difficulty in recognizing difference as difference and not as value. Humans are so quick to sort things into the categories of good or bad; better or worse; desirable or undesirable. The problem is that, when it comes to human difference, this tendency for humans to categorize difference by value can have dire consequences. It is imperative, Lorde urges, that we find a different relationship to human difference, one that responds to difference without fear and loathing.
When I read 1 Peter 2:4 describe Christ as “a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight,” I always think back to the geology of the Holy Land. The Galilee, where most of Jesus’s ministry took place is basalt country. As you can see in this photograph of the floor of the synagogue in Capernaum where Jesus taught, basalt is a black, volcanic rock. Jerusalem, by contrast, is on limestone. The Western Wall, supposedly the last remaining wall of the temple, is built of interconnecting stones of white limestone. (Unfortunately, photography at the Western Wall is strictly forbidden.)
I’ve often wondered if Peter, who was also from the Galilee, was thinking about Jerusalem builders rejecting the black Galilean basalt in favor of white Jerusalemite limestone when he wrote about Jesus being “the stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner” (2:7).
When we imagine the huge white walls of the temple with a black keystone holding it all together, what do we see? Do we think of “the black sheep,” or something out of place? Do we ignore it? Do we paint the black stone white to match the other stones, or all the white stones black? Or, is there a different way of seeing a black basalt cornerstone on a white limestone wall? What does it mean for the house of God to hold difference as something valuable, as the stone that was rejected, but is now the very head?
M T.
* * *
1 Peter 2:2-10
According to a July 2019 CNBC poll 1/3 of the American workforce seriously considered quitting their jobs. Of course, salaries of the working class is no doubt one factor. Add to that the significant number of employable men who have stopped looking for work (see Nicholas Eberstadt, Men Without Work: America’s Invisible Crisis). The American labor force needs new enthusiasm and motivation. Our Lesson’s word that we are all priests is a possible antidote to our ennui. Martin Luther most famously made this point:
But we are all priests before God if we ARE Christians, for... we also have everything He has. It would please me very much if this word “priest” were used as commonly as the terms “Christians” is applied to us. For priests, the baptized, and Christians are all one and the same. (Luther’s Works, Vol.30, p.63)
We are priests because we perform sacrifices, crucify our sin in our daily lives. A job certainly provides plenty of opportunities to crucify your sin when you keep you cool while dealing with a difficult boss/colleague/client or go out of your way to help that customer in need. Even non-paid work is a vocation, Luther thought:
What you do in your house [or on the job] is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow. Looking at your work that way makes it a lot more valuable, less the kind of unfulfilling hassle you’d like to leave. Your work is a blessing of God, Luther adds:
He [God] uses our labor as a sort of mask, under the cover of which He blesses us and grants us what is His... (What Luther Says, p.1495)
And through our work, God is using us to give His gifts to the people we help in our jobs. You and I are often doing God’s Work! Who would not be excited to do that kind of a job?
Mark E.
* * *
John 14:1-14
A young woman sat at the hospital bed of an older man who was dying. She asked him, “Do you want me to read to you the sweetest promise in the scriptures?” He smiled weakly. “Yes, young lady, I would.”
She opened her Bible and began reading John 14. “In my Father’s house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you.” She paused. The older man put his hand on hers. “Keep reading please, that’s not the best part.” She kept reading,"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."
The man closed his eyes and smiled. Peace came over his face, and he told her, "That is the sweetest verse, my dear. It is not the mansions—it’s Jesus I want."
The promise in this verse is clear and comforting. There’s no reason for the Christian to let fear and anxiety to rule the day. Jesus has promised that there is a place for his followers in heaven. He will come and take them with him so that they can be with him forever. Being with Jesus forever. Is there anything sweeter than that?
Bill T.
* * *
John 14:1-14
For many people the images of this passage call to mind their use in funerals, and that means pie in the sky when we die. It’s about our heavenly reward. But so much of this passage is in the present tense. Believe in God. Believe in Jesus, right now. Jesus talks about going away to prepare a place for us, but it’s so we can abide in Jesus now. Jesus is not going to become the way, the truth, and the life sometime in the future. Jesus says I AM the way, the truth and the life. Jesus is not going to become the Father sometime in the future. Jesus and the Father are one now. Because we believe in the Father we do the will of the Father right now. Yes, this is a farewell speech because Jesus will no longer be physically present with the disciples, but the abiding goes on and on and on. Right now.
Frank R.
* * *
John 14:1-14
In the daily newspaper column, originally written by Billy Graham, and is now written by an anonymous author based on Graham’s writings, there was a message dealing with the meaning of “conversion.” The article was published in April 2020. The word “conversion” means to “turn around.” In business companies want us to be converted to using their product. In Christianity it means to be converted from a life of self-indulgence to a life of self-sacrifice. In the article the author wrote, “Biblical conversion involves three steps. Repentance is the turning from the former life, faith is the turning to God and regeneration (receiving life eternal) which brings the soul into the family of God.”
Ron L.
In 1555, Dr. Nicholas Ridley was sentenced to be burned at the stake in England because of his witness for Christ. On the night before his execution, Ridley’s brother offered to remain with him in the prison chamber to be of assistance and comfort. Nicholas Ridley declined the offer saying, “I intend (God willing) to go to bed, and sleep as quietly tonight, as ever I did.” Because he knew the peace of God, he could rest in the strength of the everlasting arms of his Lord.
I think the peace Ridley knew was first experienced by Stephen. Stephen knew the presence, peace and power of Jesus. Before he died, he looked into heaven and saw Jesus. Like his Savior before him, Stephen prayed for the Lord to receive his spirit and asked for his attackers to be forgiven.
How, you ask, does this happen? Because Stephen and later, Dr. Ridley, knew that “our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” (2 Corinthians 4:17). According to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, in the last decade alone, there have been over 900,000 Christians martyred. They serve as a powerful, silent reminder that all who know Jesus should stand for him, unashamed and unafraid.
Bill T.
* * *
Acts 7:55-60
Today’s lectionary text concerns the martyrdom of Stephen. His faithfulness is inspiring, and was meant, as an example, to strengthen Christians who might be facing death as well. But I’d like to back up one verse, to Acts 7:44. Stephen had been speaking to the crowd about their shared history. Speechifying was respected in those days. You listened to a coherent argument which might lead you to a life-changing conclusion. Oratory they called it. Stephen reveals himself to be a master orator. The people could agree with everything he said about their history, about their faith and also their failures. But Stephen tied it all together by making a connection between their distant ancestors who would not listen to their prophets (now venerated) and even persecuted and killed them. Okay, that’s fine. But then he made a connection between those ancient sins and his contemporary listeners.
Their reaction, described in 7:44, reflects their rage against Stephen’s accusations. Literally, it speaks of them sawing their hearts in two pieces, as they ground their teeth down. They are so angry by what they heard they harmed themselves.
Now just as those listeners were willing to nod their heads in agreement when the sins of their biblical ancestors was discussed but reacted with self-damaging rage when they heard something they disagreed with, so we too in our time are willing to listen to the follies of our biblical and national ancestors, but when we hear something we disagree with, religiously, politically, or within our families, how often do we react not with a willingness to listen, or at least to disagree respectfully, but with the self-damaging rage that demonizes others and leads us to attack, if not with literal stones, then with hateful words that are damaging both to ourselves and to our targets?
Frank R.
* * *
Acts 7:55-60
Margaret Atwood wrote the dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale, which was published in 1985. The story take place in the future, and the setting of the story is Cambridge, Massachusetts. A military coup has overthrown the United States government, killing the president and all the members of congress. The country is now ruled by theocratic regime who have renamed the country the Republic of Gilead. The new country is hierarchical, with strong class, race and gender distinctions. The book pivots on the theme of how women are subjugated to men. One catalyst for the coup was the low birth rate in the country. This was due to pollution and radiation poisoning. Because of the need to repopulate the country, and because there are so few fertile women, those who can bear children are taken into custody by the state. The females who lost their ability to reproduce are called “unwomen.” These women are sent to the Colonies to work in the polluted and radiated land. In these conditions they can only live a few years. Women who are still fertile are called “Handmaids.” They are assigned to a Commander, a member of the ruling class who will inseminate them, as their wives are infertile. A Handmaid no longer has her own name, no longer has her own identity, and is not permitted to read or write. A Handmaid takes on the name of the Commander to whom she is assigned. The central character of the book is Offred, which means she is “Of Fred.” She has been assigned to Frederick R. Waterford. The reader never learns of Offred’s real name. Handmaids have only one purpose in society, and that is to produce children. Only their wombs are important. In one incident in the book a Handmaid who tried to escape was beaten on her feet with a steel cable that was frayed. For weeks she was unable to walk. This is because, the reader is told, the hands and feet of a Handmaid are not important. Neither is their appearance, so they are denied cosmetics and have to wear uniforms. Reflecting on her loss of control and identity, Offred share these thoughts with the reader, “We are containers, it’s only the insides of our bodies that are important.”
Ron L.
* * *
1 Peter 2:2-10
The human mind is not good at dealing with difference, as the famous poet-philosopher Audre Lorde explained in a lecture,
Much of Western European history conditions us to see human differences in simplistic opposition to each other: dominant/subordinate, good/bad, up/down, superior/inferior…we have all been programmed to respond to the human differences between us with fear and loathing and to handle that difference in one of three ways: ignore it, and if that is not possible, copy it if we think it is dominant, or destroy it if we think it is subordinate. But we have no patterns for relating across our human differences as equals.
What Lorde is talking about is the difficulty in recognizing difference as difference and not as value. Humans are so quick to sort things into the categories of good or bad; better or worse; desirable or undesirable. The problem is that, when it comes to human difference, this tendency for humans to categorize difference by value can have dire consequences. It is imperative, Lorde urges, that we find a different relationship to human difference, one that responds to difference without fear and loathing.
When I read 1 Peter 2:4 describe Christ as “a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight,” I always think back to the geology of the Holy Land. The Galilee, where most of Jesus’s ministry took place is basalt country. As you can see in this photograph of the floor of the synagogue in Capernaum where Jesus taught, basalt is a black, volcanic rock. Jerusalem, by contrast, is on limestone. The Western Wall, supposedly the last remaining wall of the temple, is built of interconnecting stones of white limestone. (Unfortunately, photography at the Western Wall is strictly forbidden.)
I’ve often wondered if Peter, who was also from the Galilee, was thinking about Jerusalem builders rejecting the black Galilean basalt in favor of white Jerusalemite limestone when he wrote about Jesus being “the stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner” (2:7).
When we imagine the huge white walls of the temple with a black keystone holding it all together, what do we see? Do we think of “the black sheep,” or something out of place? Do we ignore it? Do we paint the black stone white to match the other stones, or all the white stones black? Or, is there a different way of seeing a black basalt cornerstone on a white limestone wall? What does it mean for the house of God to hold difference as something valuable, as the stone that was rejected, but is now the very head?
M T.
* * *
1 Peter 2:2-10
According to a July 2019 CNBC poll 1/3 of the American workforce seriously considered quitting their jobs. Of course, salaries of the working class is no doubt one factor. Add to that the significant number of employable men who have stopped looking for work (see Nicholas Eberstadt, Men Without Work: America’s Invisible Crisis). The American labor force needs new enthusiasm and motivation. Our Lesson’s word that we are all priests is a possible antidote to our ennui. Martin Luther most famously made this point:
But we are all priests before God if we ARE Christians, for... we also have everything He has. It would please me very much if this word “priest” were used as commonly as the terms “Christians” is applied to us. For priests, the baptized, and Christians are all one and the same. (Luther’s Works, Vol.30, p.63)
We are priests because we perform sacrifices, crucify our sin in our daily lives. A job certainly provides plenty of opportunities to crucify your sin when you keep you cool while dealing with a difficult boss/colleague/client or go out of your way to help that customer in need. Even non-paid work is a vocation, Luther thought:
What you do in your house [or on the job] is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow. Looking at your work that way makes it a lot more valuable, less the kind of unfulfilling hassle you’d like to leave. Your work is a blessing of God, Luther adds:
He [God] uses our labor as a sort of mask, under the cover of which He blesses us and grants us what is His... (What Luther Says, p.1495)
And through our work, God is using us to give His gifts to the people we help in our jobs. You and I are often doing God’s Work! Who would not be excited to do that kind of a job?
Mark E.
* * *
John 14:1-14
A young woman sat at the hospital bed of an older man who was dying. She asked him, “Do you want me to read to you the sweetest promise in the scriptures?” He smiled weakly. “Yes, young lady, I would.”
She opened her Bible and began reading John 14. “In my Father’s house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you.” She paused. The older man put his hand on hers. “Keep reading please, that’s not the best part.” She kept reading,"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."
The man closed his eyes and smiled. Peace came over his face, and he told her, "That is the sweetest verse, my dear. It is not the mansions—it’s Jesus I want."
The promise in this verse is clear and comforting. There’s no reason for the Christian to let fear and anxiety to rule the day. Jesus has promised that there is a place for his followers in heaven. He will come and take them with him so that they can be with him forever. Being with Jesus forever. Is there anything sweeter than that?
Bill T.
* * *
John 14:1-14
For many people the images of this passage call to mind their use in funerals, and that means pie in the sky when we die. It’s about our heavenly reward. But so much of this passage is in the present tense. Believe in God. Believe in Jesus, right now. Jesus talks about going away to prepare a place for us, but it’s so we can abide in Jesus now. Jesus is not going to become the way, the truth, and the life sometime in the future. Jesus says I AM the way, the truth and the life. Jesus is not going to become the Father sometime in the future. Jesus and the Father are one now. Because we believe in the Father we do the will of the Father right now. Yes, this is a farewell speech because Jesus will no longer be physically present with the disciples, but the abiding goes on and on and on. Right now.
Frank R.
* * *
John 14:1-14
In the daily newspaper column, originally written by Billy Graham, and is now written by an anonymous author based on Graham’s writings, there was a message dealing with the meaning of “conversion.” The article was published in April 2020. The word “conversion” means to “turn around.” In business companies want us to be converted to using their product. In Christianity it means to be converted from a life of self-indulgence to a life of self-sacrifice. In the article the author wrote, “Biblical conversion involves three steps. Repentance is the turning from the former life, faith is the turning to God and regeneration (receiving life eternal) which brings the soul into the family of God.”
Ron L.
