Acts 11:1-18 Sermon Commentary
Easter 5C
Illustration/Worship Idea: To start the sermon this week, consider making a big announcement that, effective immediately, all of people’s beloved traditions and favorite programs are canceled. Worship, Music, small groups, Sunday school, service projects. Every church has their own canon of beloved things. Name them and announce you are canceling them. That’s not how we…
Psalm 148 Sermon Commentary
Easter 5C
Psalm 148 gives us a lot of movement. The first four verses have us moving in a downward direction. We begin in the heights above, in the heavens. Then we move down a rung to see angels and heavenly hosts. Continuing the descent we arrive at the sun, moon, and stars. Finally we get to…
John 13:31-35 Sermon Commentary
Easter 5C
How confusing this all must have been for the disciples. During the supper that they’ve just shared, Jesus has taken on the role of a servant and washed their feet—an act he tells them should be part of what they do for one another (verses 1-17). Then Jesus starts to speak of belonging to him…
Revelation 21:1-6 Sermon Commentary
Easter 5C
When I was in seminary, we studied the appropriate “ologies,” including the theology of the last things. We discussed theories of the when’s and how’s of Christ’s return, as well as the Last Judgment. Yet my professors, fellow students and I spent almost no time talking about the new earth and heaven. Such neglect is,…
Psalm 23 Sermon Commentary
Easter 4C
Not even an hour before I sat down to begin working on this sermon commentary on Psalm 23, one of my students preached an in-class sermon on Jesus’s Parable of the Lost Sheep from Luke 15. She reminded us in the course of the sermon that there are connections between that parable and the I…
John 10:22-30 Sermon Commentary
Easter 4C
After two weeks of post-resurrection Easter encounters, the lectionary always brings us back to pre-Easter events and to Jesus’s teachings about the new life he envisioned for his beloved. We start here at the Festival of Lights/Dedication or as it is more well-known today, Hannukah. It is a gift to return to these texts during…
Acts 9:36-43 Sermon Commentary
Easter 4C
Last week we heard the story of Saul’s conversion. Then, in the next part of the story (which the Lectionary omits) Saul travels to Jerusalem, with a stop in Damascus where, according to verse 20, “At once he began to preach…” Before moving on to Peter in this morning’s text, let’s spare a thought for…
Revelation 7:9-17 Sermon Commentary
Easter 4C
I will always remember the first time I preached on Revelation 9:9-17 in Washington DC’s King Emmanuel Baptist Church. Most of the members of that church were Christians who are African American. My dear friend Pastor Harold Hunter invited me to preach the word to a group of Jesus’ followers comprised of, on that Sunday,…
Psalm 30 Sermon Commentary
Easter 3C
A core tenet of the Christian faith is, to quote from the much-loved hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” “Thou changest not, thy compassions they fail not, as Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.” The more fancy theological term for this is the Doctrine of Divine Immutability. Or we sometimes say God is the same…
Sermon Commentary Library
Our weekly sermon commentaries are Lectionary-based, which across its three-year cycle, encompass a vast array of biblical texts. Filter the Sermon Commentary Library to search Scripture texts by book and chapter to find commentary, illustrations, and reflections to spark ideas.
Looking for something else? View our Heidelberg Catechism sermon resources and our Reformed Connections to the RCL section that traces Lectionary texts to specific parts of the Heidelberg Catechism and the Belgic Confession.