Preaching Connection: Image Of God

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Reading for Preaching

Craddock on the Craft of Preaching

Craddock and wife Nettie were vacationing in the Smoky Mountains, eating hamburgers in a restaurant. An old guy comes up to them and asks them who they are, what Fred does for a living, how long they plan to be there, etc., all making Fred antsy. Then, after finding out that Fred is a preacher,...
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The mirror makers: A history of American advertising and its Creators

David Ogilvie was fascinated by eye patches. When he used a white, Russian model for his new Hathaway Shirt line in 1951, he decided to photograph the guy with an eye patch! The ad, he thought, would have story appeal. People would wonder how the guy got it and why he was wearing it. ‘It...
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Additional content related to Image Of God

Matthew 22:15-22

Over the last three Sundays we’ve watched as the Pharisees (as part of the temple leadership) were brought to task by Jesus. They’ve retreated and regrouped now and are trying a new tactic for solving their Jesus problem. Their new plan is to try to seduce Jesus with compliments and praise, suggesting that his influence…

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Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28

Patterns of preference and favoritism and jealousy replay themselves with uncomfortable regularity through the history of God’s people. Abraham’s son Ishmael is nearly written out of the story by Sarah’s jealousy.  Isaac and Rebekah are #TeamEsau and #TeamJacob accordingly. Jacob shames Leah and honors Rachel.  No doubt the ten sons of Leah have noticed Jacob’s…

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Psalm 8

There is a sense in which Psalm 8 comes down to just one question asked of God by the psalmist: How in the world are you even able to see us at all?  Dwarfed by and mystified by the expanse of a starry sky on a cloudless night and long before there was such a…

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Colossians 1:15-28

“Sedition” and “seditious” are concepts to which at least some Americans have paid a lot of attention over the past eighteen months. Some are asking themselves and each other whether a mob’s January 6, 2021’s storming of the United States Capital building was an act of sedition. At least some Americans who wonder that also…

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Isaiah 12:2-6

More than we realize, the Bible is a trove of images, similes, metaphors, and visual depictions.  Throughout Scripture God describes himself through a battery of metaphors that inevitably lead you to form a picture in your mind’s eye.  Many of the images are, on the face of them, contradictory, until you realize that even to…

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Matthew 25:31-46

Why don’t we pay more attention to life as we live it?  Why do we miss so much?  In Matthew 25 both groups, sheep and goats alike, say they didn’t realize that the poor of the world represented Jesus. Both missed that connection. Ever noticed that before?  The righteous are not commended for spying Jesus…

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Ephesians 4:25-5:2

“Imitation” may be, as Charles Colton once famously wrote, “the sincerest of flattery.”  However, some attempts at imitation may also be the sincerest of sheer folly.  A son may, after all, flatter his mother by trying to successfully cook like she does.  Who can, however, as Paul’s calls us in Ephesians 5:2, imitate God? Even…

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Matthew 25:31-46

Why don’t we pay more attention to life as we live it?    Why do we miss so much?   In Matthew 25 both groups, sheep and goats alike, say they didn’t realize that the poor of the world represented Jesus. Both missed that connection. Ever noticed that before?  The righteous are not commended for spying Jesus…

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2 Samuel 6:1-5; 12b-19

One of my students once preached a sermon from Joshua that was, shall we say, downright “edgy.”  He began by quoting a comedy routine done by a non-practicing Jew in which this comedian tackled—without knowing he was doing so—that great question long ago raised by Marcion: why does the God of the Old Testament appear…

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Psalm 98

Comments, Observations, and Questions to Consider Psalm 98 is a stirring call to joyfully (and boisterously!) celebrate God’s reign over all creation.  It’s very similar to Psalm 96.  After all, both invite the listening congregation to sing a new song and each ends with God’s righteous judgment being a reason for jubilant singing.  Each psalm…

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