SHARED LIGHT In a mountain village in Europe, many centuries ago there was a nobleman who wondered what legacy he might be able to leave for his townspeople. At last he decided to build a…
Sermon Illustrations
POTENTIAL WORTH One of Ripley's "Believe It or Not" items pictured a plain bar of iron worth $5. The same bar of iron made into horse shoes would be worth $50. If it were made…
THE ORDINARY The culture conditions us to approach people and situations as journalists do: see the big, exploit the crisis, edit and abridge the commonplace, interview the glamorous. The Scriptures and our best pastoral traditions…
GRIDIRON GLOSSARY In a never-ending effort to attract the unchurched, some churches have considered translating their unfamiliar terminology into familiar football phrases. Blocking: Talking endlessly to the pastor at the church door and keeping everyone…
JUST A POOR PREACHER The new minister's car broke down just after the morning service, so on Monday he had it towed to the local garage for repairs. "I hope you'll go a little easy…
BREATH TEST: This is an old one that has appeared in numerous church bulletins...but in case any readers have missed it, here goes once more: Hold this page near your face and blow on it.…
DISEASE OF LONELINESS "The biggest disease today is not leprosy or cancer, it is the feeling of being uncared for, unwanted - of being deserted and alone." By Mother Teresa, from Leadership, Fall, 1980
PEWS HARDER THAN ROCKS? As a woman watched her husband fishing for hours, sitting on the rocky shoreline of the lake, she commented to her friend, "Can that possibly be the same man who complains…
PROFOUND SIMPLICITY "If all of us had the good common sense found in one of our most ancient nursery rhymes, we would be better off. Jack Sprat could eat no fat, His wife could eat…
PRAYER PATTERN IS THE KEY A poor but honest jeweler was arrested for a crime he never committed. He was placed in a high and well-protected prison in the center of the city. One day,…
THE DIAMOND The sannyasi had reached the outskirts of the village and settled down under a tree for the night when a villager came running up to him and said, "The stone! The stone! Give…
FREE SOULS We on this continent should never forget that men first crossed the Atlantic not to find soil for their ploughs, but to secure liberty for their souls. Robert J. McCracken, taken from 12,000…
LET IT RAIN Here's a rural person's advice on how to avoid high blood pressure: "If it starts to rain, let it."
TWELVE SIMPLE RULES FOR HAPPINESS: 1. Live a simple life. Do not plan too many things for each day. Be temperate and moderate in your lifestyle. 2. Spend less than you earn. This may be…
NO CONDEMNATION I take flight From everyman in my soul With judgmental righteousness That accuses me, Tries me and finds me guilty. It's the thief in me Condemning another for his larceny. It's the pride…
OPTIMISTIC RESPONSE An optimist is one who makes the best of it when he gets the worst of it. From Pulpit Helps
EDUCATED MENACE To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society. (Theodore Roosevelt) From Pulpit Helps
SILENT REFRESHMENT True silence is to the spirit what sleep is to the body: nourishment and refreshment. From Pulpit Helps
SAFE SIDE OUT The safest side for a man to take in an argument between two neighbors is the outside. From Pulpit Helps
PARTIAL REPENTANCE A man with a nagging secret couldn't keep it any longer. In the confessional he admitted that for years he had been stealing building supplies from the lumberyard where he worked. "What did…
