Sermon Illustrations on experience
Background
An Encyclopedia of Human Experience
There is no situation or emotion a human being can experience that is not reflected somewhere in the Psalms. Immersing ourselves in the Psalms and turning them into prayers teaches our hearts the “grammar” of prayer and gives us the most formative instruction in how to pray in accord with God’s character and will.
Vicarious Sensory Experiences
The drug problems in the U.S. demonstrate this pattern: by heightening powers of perception, chemical stimulants open up a new world to a generation that has never learned to appreciate fully the world we have. It is not enough to walk alongside a swamp and listen to the frogs and crickets, to watch the turtles plop like bloated submarines into the water, to seek out the faint scent of wildflowers.
It is not enough, even, to visit the outer reaches of wilderness, where nature is far from subtle. Instead, too often we experience all these things vicariously, slumped in front of a flickering television with its beams of Trinitron color and low-frequency radiation, receiving sensory stimulation through our eyes alone. We have been to Everest and back, we think, when in fact some of us have never climbed the Appalachians.
Philip Yancey, Where Is God When It Hurts? 1990, pp.49-50, Zondervan.
Stories
Describe Milk For Me
Sometimes in life it is best to experience something rather than try to explain it. In this funny little story about two Jewish men, one blind from birth and another, the point is made in a rather humorous way:
You want a glass of milk?” asks the one who can see.
“Well, describe milk for me,” says the blind one.
“Milk is a white liquid”
“Great. And what is white?”
“Well, for example, a swan is white.”
“Aha. And what is a swan?”
“A swan? It’s a bird with a long, curved neck.”
“Good, But what is a “curved”?
“Curved? Well, I’ll bend my arm, and you can feel it. Then you will know what “curved means.”
The Blind person carefully feels the other’s up-curved arm, and says:
“Terrific! Now I know what milk is!”
The point is rather obvious: sometimes it is best to just experience the thing rather than describe it. Why not simply drink the milk rather than try to explain it?
Taken from Gerhrard Lohfink, Is This All There Is?: On Resurrection and Eternal Life, Liturgical Press.
Making Good Decisions
I read of a young man who had just been appointed to the presidency of a bank at the tender age of thirty-two. The promotion was far beyond his wildest dreams and very frightening to him, so he went to the venerable old chairman of the board to ask for advice on how to be.
“What is the most important thing for me to do as a new president?” he asked the older man.
“Right decisions,” was the gentleman’s terse answer.
The young man thought about that for a moment, and said, “Thank you very much; that is very helpful. But can you be a bit more specific? How do I make good decisions?”
The wise old man answered, “Experience.”
Exasperated, the young president said, “But that is why I’m here. I don’t have the experience I need to make right decisions. How do I get experience?”
“Wrong decisions,” came the old man’s reply.
Taken from Waiting: Finding Hope When God Seems Silent by Ben Patterson Copyright (c) 1989 by Ben Patterson. Published by InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL. www.ivpress.com
“She Knows Now”
A mother ran into the bedroom when she heard her seven-year-old son scream. She found his two-year-old sister pulling his hair. She gently released the little girl’s grip and said comfortingly to the boy, “There, there. She didn’t mean it. She doesn’t know that hurts.” He nodded his acknowledgement, and she left the room.
As she started down the hall the little girl screamed. Rushing back in, she asked, “What happened?”
The little boy replied, “She knows now.”
Joke a Day Ministries Group
Analogies
Vicarious Sensory Experiences
The drug problems in the U.S. demonstrate this pattern: by heightening powers of perception, chemical stimulants open up a new world to a generation that has never learned to appreciate fully the world we have. It is not enough to walk alongside a swamp and listen to the frogs and crickets, to watch the turtles plop like bloated submarines into the water, to seek out the faint scent of wildflowers.
It is not enough, even, to visit the outer reaches of wilderness, where nature is far from subtle. Instead, too often we experience all these things vicariously, slumped in front of a flickering television with its beams of Trinitron color and low-frequency radiation, receiving sensory stimulation through our eyes alone. We have been to Everest and back, we think, when in fact some of us have never climbed the Appalachians.
Philip Yancey, Where Is God When It Hurts? 1990, pp.49-50, Zondervan.
Humor
Describe Milk For Me
Sometimes in life it is best to experience something rather than try to explain it. In this funny little story about two Jewish men, one blind from birth and another, the point is made in a rather humorous way:
You want a glass of milk?” asks the one who can see.
“Well, describe milk for me,” says the blind one.
“Milk is a white liquid”
“Great. And what is white?”
“Well, for example, a swan is white.”
“Aha. And what is a swan?”
“A swan? It’s a bird with a long, curved neck.”
“Good, But what is a “curved”?
“Curved? Well, I’ll bend my arm, and you can feel it. Then you will know what “curved means.”
The Blind person carefully feels the other’s up-curved arm, and says:
“Terrific! Now I know what milk is!”
The point is rather obvious: sometimes it is best to just experience the thing rather than describe it. Why not simply drink the milk rather than try to explain it?
Taken from Gerhrard Lohfink, Is This All There Is?: On Resurrection and Eternal Life, Liturgical Press.
Making Good Decisions
I read of a young man who had just been appointed to the presidency of a bank at the tender age of thirty-two. The promotion was far beyond his wildest dreams and very frightening to him, so he went to the venerable old chairman of the board to ask for advice on how to be.
“What is the most important thing for me to do as a new president?” he asked the older man.
“Right decisions,” was the gentleman’s terse answer.
The young man thought about that for a moment, and said, “Thank you very much; that is very helpful. But can you be a bit more specific? How do I make good decisions?”
The wise old man answered, “Experience.”
Exasperated, the young president said, “But that is why I’m here. I don’t have the experience I need to make right decisions. How do I get experience?”
“Wrong decisions,” came the old man’s reply.
Taken from Waiting: Finding Hope When God Seems Silent by Ben Patterson Copyright (c) 1989 by Ben Patterson. Published by InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL. www.ivpress.com
“She Knows Now”
A mother ran into the bedroom when she heard her seven-year-old son scream. She found his two-year-old sister pulling his hair. She gently released the little girl’s grip and said comfortingly to the boy, “There, there. She didn’t mean it. She doesn’t know that hurts.” He nodded his acknowledgement, and she left the room.
As she started down the hall the little girl screamed. Rushing back in, she asked, “What happened?”
The little boy replied, “She knows now.”
Joke a Day Ministries Group
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