12. Hell, Fire Brimstone. It is certainly not fashionable to preach a sermon that starts out: "There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the pleasure of God." But I think such historical warnings as Jeremiah crushing a clay vessel and Jonathan Edwards warning of the punishments of hell are worth a treatment. I use part of a sermon by Jonathan Edwards and add Jeremiah's touch of crushing a clay pot. A warning: I was so concerned the clay pot might not break as Jeremiah's did that the pieces scattered literally from wall to wall and I cut my knuckles.
13. Jesus Was a Kid. A real proof of the scriptures for me is to compare it to the Apocrypha. There's some great comic book-type stories in the Apocrypha. My favorite is a story about Jesus going out to play and the other kids hiding from him. As Jesus went looking and approached the stables, the children made bleating noises. Jesus turned them into literal kids. When the parents went to Mary to complain, Jesus turned them back into children. "Don't mess with the son of God." I think this kind of story is useful in controlling the serious intents of the writer of the scripture in our Bible.
14. Easter. Easter makes for great visual aids. The symbols of Easter can be brought, shared, and discussed with the congregation. Any encyclopedia is a good source of material. Red Easter eggs are a mix of two traditions--- the red from the blood of Jesus in Catholic lent, and the eggs as an Egyptian fertility symbol. The rabbits are also related to European hares which were pre-Christian symbols of fertility. The lamb is a Christian symbol for Christ. The traditional Protestant Easter dinner of ham was a custom started in England to insult the Jews at Easter time for their ad- herence to the Old Testament prohibitions against ham. White lilies are nice symbols of the purity of Christ.
15. Stereo. My point in this parable is that with concentration, and selective perception, we can hear God's word through the dim of our daily con-fession. Two speakers read simultaneously. The first speaker reads admonitions and resisted temptations. The second speaker reads temptations and sin.
| Speaker 1 | Speaker 2 |
|---|---|
| Matthew 28:16-20 | Exodus 3:11, 13 |
| ; 4:1, 10, 13 | |
| II Timothy 4:1-5 | Exodus 3:11, 13 |
| 4:1, 10, 13 | |
| Matthew 4:1, 2 | Matthew 1, 2 |
| 4 | 3 |
| 5 | 5 |
| 7 | 6 |
| 8 | 8 |
| 10 | 9 |
| 11 | 11 |
| Job 2:10 (3 times) | Job 2:9 (3 times) |
| James 1:12-18 | II Sam. 11:2-5 |
| Luke 12:20 (3 times) | Luke 12:16-18 |
16. What's Happened to Jesus? Similar to the "Trial of Paul," this lesson elicits testimony about the risen Christ. Testimony is taken from:
1) The soldier (Matthew 28:1-15, especially 4 and 11-15)
2) Mary Magdalene (Matthew 28:1-8, Mark 16:3-8, Luke 24:1-10, and John 20:1-4 and 11-18)
3) Cleopas (Luke 24:1-31)
4) Peter (John 20:2-10 and John 21:3-25)
5) Thomas (John 20:24-30)
The minister asks such questions as:
a) What is your name?
b) What is your relationship to the deceased?
c) What were you doing at dawn Sunday?
d) Were you with Mary Magdalene?
e) What did you see?
17. Galatians. Paraphrase the story as if you were Paul.
1) Proverbs 1:10-19
2) Proverbs 2:1-5
3) Proverbs 3:27-30
4) Proverbs 1:33
5) Proverbs 3:9-10
6) Proverbs 3:31
7) Proverbs 3:5-8
At the end I read and briefly discussed Luke 11:11-13, Ephesians 1:3, and Phillipians 4:20. Happy Father's Day!
19. Monopoly. This is one of the most complicated parables I ever preached, a reenactment of the Parable of the Shrewd Steward, Luke 16. I considered each row of pulpits a piece of property, and I gave the person on each end the money to buy a deed and title from my Monopoly game. I sold the deeds at a discount to my "friends" and pocketed some of the money given to me. I also gave out interest-free loans for those with insufficient funds. Then the "rich man," a respectable member of the congregation called me to give an accounting of his property.
Should I did ditches? Beg? No. I went to some of the deed holders who owed money on loans and discounted those loans. Then the rich man cast me out, but I had "friends" who took me in. I went to sit in the pew with one of them. The rich man, a respectable member of the congregation, praised me for my shrewdness.
I am convinced this parable warns Christians against being so other worldly that they become naive and helpless in the world.
20. Jail. I was a jail Chaplain for six years. I'm convinced if very many middle class people were put in jail all of a sudden, the jails would experience more, not less, violence. The middle class would have a difficult time bearing up under the frustrations and capriciousness of jail life. While preaching any sermon I would ask the members to keep their hands underneath their legs and both feet on the floor. When anyone distracted me (or didn't distract me, and I just wanted to hassle them), I would express anger at them and/or move them onto an already overcrowded pew. Members did not like this treatment, but what happens if you are mistakenly put in jail? And why aren't you more sympathetic to prison reform?