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illustration
Never Leaving Their Work
Because of the modern rhythms of work that are mediated through personal computers and phones, people, in the words of one cultural commentator, “leave the office, but they do not leave their work. Th... -
Quote
Our love of rhythm and meter, in fact, is directly “related to the beat of our hearts, the pulse of our blood, the intake and outflow of air from our lungs. -
Quote
Our bodies move to a rhythm of work and rest that follows the rhythm originally strummed by God on the waters of creation. As God worked, so shall we; as God rested, so shall we. Working and resting, ... -
illustration
A Workable Structure for Life
Worship gives us a workable structure for life. The psalm says, “Jerusalem, well-built city, built as a place for worship! The city to which the tribes ascend, all God’s tribes go up to worship.” Jeru... -
illustration
When Slowing Down Becomes Essential
Jean-Dominique Bauby was widely esteemed as one of France’s most prolific and influential journalists. His work widely shaped the quickly evolving cultural landscape of Europe during the 1980s and ’90... -
illustration
The Two Runners
The true story of Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams, two British sprinters who qualified for the 1924 Olympic Games, illustrates two contrasting approaches to life and identity. Abrahams was driven by ... -
illustration
A Coca-Cola Philosophy & Empty Calories
Studies reveal that 37 percent of Americans take fewer than seven days of vacation a year. In fact, only 14 percent take vacations that last longer than two weeks. Americans take the shortest paid vac... -
illustration
Culture is Like Gravity
Culture is like gravity. We never talk about it, except in physics classes. We don’t include gravity in our weekly planning processes. No one gets up thinking about how gravity will affect their day. ... -
blog
5 Quotes on Summer
Looking for inspiration for your summertime sermons? Here are five quotes that highlight different themes about summer. Quote 1 Comment: I love The Office , but in this short quotation... -
blog
Finding the Right Pastoral Work–Life Balance: A Few Unbalanced Thoughts
I might not be the best person to be writing this. After an eleven-year career in business in my twenties and early thirties, I’ve been an ordained pastor now for nearly twenty-seven years. There are... -
blog
The Two Servants: Sermon Illustration Tuesday
In this modern day parable, Alan Fadling describes a king and his two servants. Each of the servants desires to do the will of the king, but they approach their work very differently: One of the ser... -
Quote
It’s the rest in a piece of music that gives it resonance and shape. -
Quote
Everything has its time and the main thing is that we keep in step with God and do not keep pressing on a few steps ahead-nor keep dawdling a few steps behind. -
illustration
Community & Identity in the Himba People
There’s a brilliant family of people in Africa, called the Himba. When a Himba woman is expecting a child, she goes out into the wilderness with a few of her sisters, and together they wait till they ... -
Quote
Time goes on crutches till love have all his rites.” -
illustration
Ritual and Repetition
The influence of the familiar on our lives is something that advertisers never forget. The point of advertising is to capitalize on real needs or to create needs and then to provide a product to fill ... -
Quote
History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes. -
illustration
Rightly Tuning Grace and Truth
When a musical instrument’s strings go loose, it sounds awful. But you can also overtighten the strings, breaking them or creating discord. There’s a perfect tension to grace and truth, which makes th... -
Quote
Underneath our frantic pace is a question: Is this work I do good enough? -
illustration
Rush Hour, Ireland
On the fridge in our home is a little magnet that shows a flock of sheep meandering down a country road. Underneath is a caption: “Rush hour, Ireland.” It reminds me of a story of a Spanish professor ... -
Quote
In our rushing, bulls in china shops, we break our own lives. -
illustration
The Hurry Sickness Disease
Psychologists and mental health professionals are now talking about an epidemic of the modern world: “hurry sickness.” As in, they label it a disease. Here’s one definition: A behavior pattern chara... -
liturgy
Gracious God, when I think of how you
Gracious God, when I think of how you created all things in a step-by-step manner, I am reminded of my own impatience. There are so many times, Lord, when I want you to move at my pace, not yours. I c... -
illustration
Stories in Music
The musicologist and neuroscientist Daniel Levitin estimates that we hear about five hours of music per day. It sounds impossible, but Levitin is counting everything: elevator music, movie scores, com... -
illustration
Keeping Time
Did you know that the first group of people to use clocks were Christian monks? Monks desired the ability to pray around a rigorous and exact prayer schedule. Benedict of Nursia, the great architect o... -
liturgy
Adapted from Psalm 30
Leader: You have turned our mourning into dancing! You have taken away our sackcloth and clothed us with gladness, so that our whole being—body, mind and soul— may sing your praise and not be silent. ... -
Quote
Our worship bands are more technically proficient than ever, and louder than ever. The people holding microphones are singing, often expertly and almost always passionately. It’s just the rest of us w... -
Quote
I like hanging around words, listening to what they say. -
Quote
The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between. -
illustration
Music: Yesterday & Today
These days, music is everywhere. It’s on television and film, elevators and restaurants, public bathrooms and dentist offices. It’s in our cars and on our phones. With just a few taps to our screens, ...
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D
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E
- Easter
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F
- Face of God
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- Farming
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G
- Games
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H
- Habits
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I
- Ideas
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J
K
L
- Labor
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M
- Magnificat
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N
O
P
- Pace
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- Passion
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R
- Race
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- Romantic Love
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- Rootedness
- Routines
- Rules
- The Rich
- The Risen Lord
- The Rock
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S
- Sabbath
- Sacred vs. Secular
- Sacrifice
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- Salt and Light
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- Salvation
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- Satan
- Satisfaction
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- School
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- Sea
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- Self-Expression
- Self-Help
- Self-Image
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- Self-Interest
- Self-Knowledge
- Self-Love
- Self-Reliance
- Self-Renunciation
- Self-Righteousness
- Self-Sufficiency
- Selfishness
- Selflessness
- Servanthood
- Service
- Settling
- Sex
- Shallowness
- Shalom
- Shame
- Sheep
- Shelter
- Shepherds
- Sickness
- Silence
- Simplicity
- Sin
- Sinfulness
- Singing
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- Skepticism
- Slavery
- Slowing Down
- Smart Phones
- Social Media
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- Society
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- Songs
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- Spectacle
- Spiritual Disciplines
- Spiritual Formation
- Spiritual Growth
- Spiritual Hunger
- Spirituality
- Sports
- Spring (Season)
- Standards
- Stars
- Status Quo
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- Steadfast Love
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- Stories
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- Structures
- Stuff
- Stupidity
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- Summer
- Sun
- Supernatural
- Surgery
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- Suspicion of Authority
- Sustainer
- Sweetness
- The Sacraments
- The Saints
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- The Soul
T
- Talents
- Talking
- Targets
- Tears
- Technology
- Teenagers
- Television
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- Thanksgiving (General)
- Thanksgiving (Holiday)
- The Temple
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- Theology
- Therapy
- Things
- Third Third of Life
- Thought
- Threats
- Time
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- Tongue
- Town
- Tradition
- Training
- Transformation
- Translation
- Travel
- Treasure
- Trees
- Trouble
- True Self
- Trust
- Truth
- Turning a Blind Eye
U
W
- The Way
- The Weak
- The Wild
- Waiting
- Wandering
- Wants
- War
- Water
- Ways
- Weakness
- Wealth
- Weariness
- Weather
- Weeping
- Western Culture
- Wickedness
- Wilderness
- Wisdom
- Wisdom of God
- Witnesses
- Wittiness
- Women
- Women Changing the World
- Wonder
- Words
- Work
- Work and Rest
- Work-Life Balance
- Workaholism
- Workmanship
- World
- World Leaders
- World Peace
- Worldliness
- Worldview
- Worry
- Worship
- Worth
- Writing
Y
Top_level_categories by Reference
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
2 Samuel
2 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Esther
Job
Psalm
- Ps 1 (5)
- Ps 2 (1)
- Ps 6 (1)
- Ps 8 (5)
- Ps 9 (2)
- Ps 10 (1)
- Ps 12 (1)
- Ps 14 (1)
- Ps 15 (1)
- Ps 16 (1)
- Ps 18 (1)
- Ps 19 (10)
- Ps 20 (1)
- Ps 22 (4)
- Ps 23 (16)
- Ps 24 (9)
- Ps 25 (1)
- Ps 27 (8)
- Ps 30 (4)
- Ps 32 (6)
- Ps 33 (5)
- Ps 34 (19)
- Ps 36 (1)
- Ps 37 (4)
- Ps 39 (2)
- Ps 40 (2)
- Ps 42 (6)
- Ps 46 (21)
- Ps 47 (1)
- Ps 48 (1)
- Ps 51 (18)
- Ps 52 (1)
- Ps 55 (1)
- Ps 56 (1)
- Ps 57 (2)
- Ps 62 (2)
- Ps 63 (2)
- Ps 65 (2)
- Ps 67 (1)
- Ps 68 (2)
- Ps 71 (1)
- Ps 72 (4)
- Ps 73 (3)
- Ps 78 (2)
- Ps 80 (2)
- Ps 82 (6)
- Ps 84 (2)
- Ps 85 (3)
- Ps 86 (3)
- Ps 88 (1)
- Ps 89 (1)
- Ps 90 (8)
- Ps 92 (2)
- Ps 94 (1)
- Ps 95 (4)
- Ps 96 (2)
- Ps 98 (6)
- Ps 100 (5)
- Ps 103 (9)
- Ps 104 (4)
- Ps 105 (1)
- Ps 107 (1)
- Ps 111 (1)
- Ps 112 (2)
- Ps 113 (2)
- Ps 115 (2)
- Ps 117 (1)
- Ps 118 (2)
- Ps 119 (9)
- Ps 121 (1)
- Ps 122 (1)
- Ps 124 (1)
- Ps 126 (2)
- Ps 127 (5)
- Ps 128 (1)
- Ps 133 (5)
- Ps 135 (1)
- Ps 136 (2)
- Ps 139 (16)
- Ps 141 (2)
- Ps 143 (1)
- Ps 145 (4)
- Ps 147 (6)
- Ps 148 (1)
- Ps 150 (1)
Proverbs
- Prov 1 (1)
- Prov 2 (1)
- Prov 3 (19)
- Prov 4 (7)
- Prov 5 (1)
- Prov 6 (1)
- Prov 9 (1)
- Prov 10 (2)
- Prov 11 (5)
- Prov 12 (6)
- Prov 13 (4)
- Prov 14 (9)
- Prov 15 (4)
- Prov 16 (10)
- Prov 17 (6)
- Prov 18 (8)
- Prov 19 (9)
- Prov 20 (2)
- Prov 21 (7)
- Prov 22 (7)
- Prov 23 (3)
- Prov 24 (2)
- Prov 25 (1)
- Prov 26 (1)
- Prov 27 (7)
- Prov 28 (2)
- Prov 29 (7)
- Prov 30 (2)
- Prov 31 (11)
Ecclesiastes
Song of Solomon
Isaiah
- Isa 1 (13)
- Isa 2 (4)
- Isa 5 (4)
- Isa 6 (3)
- Isa 7 (1)
- Isa 9 (14)
- Isa 11 (2)
- Isa 12 (1)
- Isa 25 (1)
- Isa 26 (5)
- Isa 28 (4)
- Isa 30 (7)
- Isa 32 (1)
- Isa 35 (1)
- Isa 40 (26)
- Isa 41 (11)
- Isa 42 (2)
- Isa 43 (10)
- Isa 44 (2)
- Isa 45 (1)
- Isa 47 (2)
- Isa 49 (3)
- Isa 51 (1)
- Isa 53 (11)
- Isa 55 (13)
- Isa 56 (1)
- Isa 57 (4)
- Isa 58 (7)
- Isa 60 (6)
- Isa 61 (16)
- Isa 64 (2)
- Isa 66 (2)