Sermon Resources on Citizenship

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There have been times, not least the time of the birth of Athenian democracy, when most of the people who thought and wrote about human wholeness concluded that no one could be a whole human being, no...

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Author

Daniel Webster

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Whatever makes men good Christians, makes them good citizens.

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The Two Cities

Author

Diana Butler Bass

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Scripture

Philippians 3:20, John 17:28-38, John 18:36, Hebrews 13:14, Hebrews 11:8-10, Matthew 22:21, Romans 13:1, 1 John 2:16, James 4:4, Genesis 11:1-9

In 410 AD, Rome fell to the barbarian Germanic tribe known as the Visigoths, led by King Alaric. The idea of a “Christian” city (and empire) falling was a terrible defeat, not just militarily, but als...

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We Are Citizens of One Kingdom

Author

Scott B. Bullock

Keywords

Scripture

1 John 2:17, Romans 8:38-39, Philippians 3:20, Colossians 3:1-2, John 15:5, Jeremiah 17:7-8

A Tree in Which to Perch An impressive California Sycamore tree used to grace our village. It rose majestically by the water’s edge, a few yards away from the wooden bridge that spans the lake whi...

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Identifying the Idols of the City

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Scripture

Acts 17:16, Ezekiel 9:4

Identifying the idols of the city takes place in the untamed context of spiritual warfare. Those who are engaged in mapping the idolatry of the city know that this process is not simply a rational, co...

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Author

Jacques Barzun

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Learning

You know by instinct that it is impossible to “teach” democracy, or citizenship or a happy married life . . . They come, not from a course, but from a teacher; not from a curriculum, but from a human ...

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The Farmer’s Market and Increasing Optimism in Politics

Author

Eric O. Jacobsen

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Daniel Kemmis provides a political model for seeing redemptive possibilities in our cities. Kemmis, a former mayor of Missoula, has noted an increasing cynicism about political life in this country. T...

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Author

Susan Sontag

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Scripture

2 Kings 20:1-7 , Job 2:1-10 , Numbers 21:4-9 , Mark 5:25-34, John 9:1-7, Psalm 103:2-4

Illness is the night-side of life, a more onerous citizenship. Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick.

scripture guide

Scripture Guide, Luke 12:32-40

Author

Bradley Long

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Scripture

Luke 12:32-40

Context This passage takes a number of turns that may, at first, seem disconnected from one another. Our text is part of a larger teaching discourse of Jesus in Luke’s gospel that has been causing te...

lectionary

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

Author

Bradley Long

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 12:32-40

Context This passage takes a number of turns that may, at first, seem disconnected from one another. Our text is part of a larger teaching discourse of Jesus in Luke’s gospel that has been causing te...

scripture guide

Scripture Guide, Mark 4:26-34

Author

Charles Teixeira

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Scripture

Mark 4:26-34, Matthew 13:31-32, Luke 13:18-19

Glimpses of God’s Kingdom In these parables, Jesus provides two glimpses of God’s Kingdom: the slow growth of a seed into a stalk of wheat and the growth of a humble mustard seed. Both of Jesus’ para...

lectionary

Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Author

Charles Teixeira

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Scripture

Mark 4:26-34, Matthew 13:31-32, Luke 13:18-19

Glimpses of God’s Kingdom In these parables, Jesus provides two glimpses of God’s Kingdom: the slow growth of a seed into a stalk of wheat and the growth of a humble mustard seed. Both of Jesus’ para...

liturgy

Leader: In Jesus Christ God has removed

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

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Scripture

Revelation 3:5, Ephesians 2:19, Romans 8:1, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Philippians 3:20, John 15:15, Isaiah 43:1

Leader: In Jesus Christ God has removed our sins from us and given us a new name. People: Now we are called Forgiven. Leader: In Jesus Christ God has assured us that he could never forget us. Peopl...

liturgy

Lord of families, tribes, peoples,

Author

Richard Herman

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Scripture

Galatians 5:1

Lord of families, tribes, peoples, nations and all the world: it’s for freedom You’ve set us free from sin, guilt, and judgment; free to do what is right and just, what is compassionate, gracious and ...

lectionary

Second Sunday after the Epiphany

Author

C. Hassell Bullock

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 62:1-5, Revelation 19:9

Preaching commentary Speakers in the Text First, let’s sort out the text on the basis of the speakers. The books of the major prophets, much like the Psalms, are anthologies of the respective proph...

scripture guide

Scripture Guide Mark 11:1-11

Author

Heather Ghormley

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Scripture

Mark 11:1-11, Mark 14:, Mark 15:, Mark 8:32, Mark 9:32, Mark 10:37, Zechariah 9:9, Genesis 49:11, Mark 1:1, Mark 5:7, 2 Samuel 7:12-16, 1 Kings 1:38, Revelation 4:8, Psalm 146:2-8

Ancient Lens What can we learn from the historical context? Connecting the Triumphal Entry and the Passion At last we come to Jerusalem. On this sixth Sunday of Lent, lectionary-following congreg...

scripture guide

Scripture Guide Ephesians 3:14-21

Author

Scott B. Bullock

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 3:14-21, 2 Samuel 11:1-15, Psalm 14:, Ephesians 2:19-22, John 6:1-21, Colossians 1:16, Luke 11:2, Psalm 95:6, Galatians 5:

Questions for Consideration What does a prayer reveal about a person? What do you most often pray for/about and what might that reveal about you? A Beautiful and Compelling Gospel Prayer The...

lectionary

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

Author

Scott B. Bullock

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 3:14-21, Colossians 1:16, Luke 11:2, Psalm 95:6, Galatians 5:null, Ephesians 2:19-22

Preaching commentary Questions for Consideration What does a prayer reveal about a person? What do you most often pray for/about and what might that reveal about you? A Beautiful and Compel...

lectionary

Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

Author

Scott B. Bullock

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Scripture

Ephesians 2:11-22, Romans 6:6, Psalm 23:null, Lamentations 3:22-24, Jeremiah 23:1-6, Romans 6:6, Psalm 89:null

Preaching Commentary Paul’s Prize Fight Paul pulls no punches in this letter to the church of Ephesus. It is an onslaught of theological intensity from the first ring of the bell. Like a prize figh...

lectionary

Sixth Sunday in Lent, Liturgy of the Palms

Author

Heather Ghormley

Keywords

Scripture

Mark 11:1-11, Mark 14:, Mark 15:, Mark 8:32, Mark 9:32, Mark 10:37, Zechariah 9:9, Genesis 49:11, Mark 1:1, Mark 5:7, 2 Samuel 7:12-16, 1 Kings 1:38, Revelation 4:8, Psalm 146:2-8

Lent 2021: A 40-day Heart Restoration The Triumphal Entry Bonus Content: Video prep session with Heather Ghormley on Mark 11:1-11 . Passcode: 0DU^5?GZ AIM Commentary Ancient Lens What can w...

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The Theological Roots of Apartheid

Author

Brenda Salter McNeil

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Did you know that apartheid in South Africa was based in large part on theological doctrines that were formed at Stellenbosch University in the 1930s and 1940s? Isn’t that chilling? Many of the intell...

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The Broad Reality of Vocation

Author

Steven Garber

Keywords

The word vocation is a rich one, having to address the wholeness of life, the range of relationships and responsibilities. Work, yes, but also families, and neighbors, and citizenship, locally and glo...

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The Pressures of Modern Life (Written Almost a Century Ago)

Author

Thomas Kelly

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The problem we face today needs very little time for its statement. Our lives in a modern city grow too complex and overcrowded. Even the necessary obligations which we feel we must meet grow overnigh...

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Kingdom-Based Coffee

Author

Jonathan Walton

Keywords

Scripture

Colossians 3:23-24, Galatians 6:9-10, Philippians 2:4, Matthew 5:16, Proverbs 31:8-9, James 1:27

Brandon and Faith Lee, who started Bird and Branch Coffee, are what faithful witnesses look like. When they sat down across from my wife and me, they had a dream to start a coffee shop that would serv...

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The Unique Quality of Christians

Author

James Bryan Smith

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Scripture

Galatians 6:10, Hebrews 11:13-16, 2 Corinthians 6:9-10, Matthew 5:44, 1 Peter 2:11-12, John 17:15-16

In an early Christian document known as the Epistle to Diognetus (c. A.D. 120-200), the author wrote a response to some propaganda circulating in the Roman Empire. People had spread false rumors about...

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Author

Richard John Neuhaus

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Citizens are the bearers of opinion, including opinion shaped by or espousing religious belief, and citizens have equal access to the public square. In this representative democracy, the state is forb...

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Author

Winston S. Churchill

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Politics

Healthy citizens are the greatest asset any country can have.

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Author

1927 U.S. Journalist

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A change has come over our democracy. It is called consumptionism. The American citizen’s first importance to his country is now no longer that of citizen but that of consumer.

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Author

Noah Webster

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When a citizen gives his suffrage (vote) to a man of known immorality he abuses his trust; he sacrifices not only his own interest, but that of his neighbor, he betrays the interest of his country.

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Author

George Bernard Shaw

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Patriotism is, fundamentally, a conviction that a particular country is the best in the world because you were born in it....

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