“Too slow! Always a foot behind and a minute late.” Does that describe anyone you know – – late for work, late for Church, late for appointments? For example, there was a certain funeral director…
Sermon Illustrations
A number of years ago, in a New York Times editorial, the following proposal was made: “Amid all the ‘Weeks’ observed during the year on behalf of this, that, and the other thing, there should…
A butcher had suffered a heart attack and was carried to the back of his store. Pale and weak, he sensed there was no hope. The doctor was called. He informed the family that the…
There was a woman who lived all of her life in the Deep South. The Southland was for her the Universe just as Boston is the center of the Universe for many New Englanders. This…
In the Summer of 1845, Henry David Thoreau built a small cabin on Walden Pond near Concord, Massachusetts. There he stayed for two years and three months. “I went to the woods,” he wrote, “because…
“For the Kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Romans 14:17 Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), the New England Yankee social critic who wrote “Walden,”…
If my son brings breakfast in bed to my daughter-in-law, she’s a lazy good-for-nothing and he spoils her. If my son-in-law brings breakfast in bed to my daughter, she deserves it and he’s a doll.…
A young boy in elementary school had heard much talk about his uncle, who was a great preacher. But he had never met him or heard him preach a sermon until one Sunday when his…
A pastor pleasantly surprised his congregation by delivering a 10-minute sermon instead of the usual 30-minute message. In concluding he explained, “I regret to inform you, brethren, that my dog, who appears to be inordinately…
A preacher, known for long and boring sermons, had been into a particularly tedious one for nearly an hour, when he stopped to scold his congregation. ”I know you think my sermons are long, but…
The minister’s son loved to watch his father as he would prepare his Sunday sermons. One day the boy asked, “Daddy, does God tell you what to say?” “Of course he does son,” the father…
A preacher was asked to fill in for the pastor who was unable to perform his duties because of illness. The substitute began his sermon by explaining the meaning of the word substitute. He said,…
“Let no one deceive you with empty words . . .” (Ephesians 5:6). A young preacher was assigned to a Church in Kentucky, not far from the home of the Kentucky Derby. Because he wanted…
As you know, many seminaries send their advanced students into parishes for a kind of internship before ordination. As one such seminarian was concluding the last sermon of his internship, he noticed a woman in…
A certain, highly-gifted preacher often spiced his sermons with humor drawn from his collection of well-intentioned responses to his preaching over the years. For example, he told of the woman who came up to him…
A woman, new to the community, called the pastor of the local church with a few questions. “What is the capacity of your Church?” she asked. “It sleeps 500,” replied the pastor.
After delivering a carefully prepared sermon, a certain visiting preacher stood outside the Church alongside the pastor. There he received the usual accolades from many of the people who were filing out. It was the…
A little boy was in the back yard when his father walked up and noticed the kid was building something. “What are you building?” he asked his son. The boy whispered to his dad, “I’m…
There is a wonderful story about a bishop and a young clergyman who were travelling together. One bitterly cold night they stayed in a farmhouse in which the bedrooms were unheated. The old bishop undressed…
We eat, we work, we shop, we run around, and we tire. We get physically weary. We get emotionally weary. We get spiritually weary. And we wonder why our life seems to be going full…