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The links below refer to some sermon illustrations used at the beginning of a sermon. In this month's article, I would like to look at each of this "attention grabbers" and see how they are used and how they bring the point of the sermon home to the listener at the very beginning of the sermon.
http://www.geocities.com:80/Athens/Forum... "Are you a fool? Let me repeat that statement. Are you a fool? Listen to the following story, then decide if you are a fool or not. "A certain lord kept a fool or jester, in his house as a great men did in olden times for their amusement. This lord gave a staff to his fool and told him to keep it until he met a greater fool than himself, and if he met such a person, a greater fool, he should give him the staff. Not many years after, the lord fell sick. His fool came to see him and was told of the lord's illness. The fool asked, "And whither wilt thou go?" "On a Long journey," said the lord. "And when will you come back again," asked the fool," within a month?" "No," said the master. "Within a year?" asked the fool. "No, never," responded the master. "And what provisions have you made for your long journey?" asked the fool. "None at all," replied the master. "You mean you are dying, going away forever," said the fool, "and you have made no provisions before your departure? No plans, no nothing? Here, take my staff for I am not guilty of any such folly as that. You are a greater fool than I am." Are you like the master, a fool, because you have not planned for your last journey? That is a harsh statement, but such a statement is called for as our gospel text this morning speaks about being ready for the coming of Christ. "Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. It will be good for those servants whose master find them watching when he comes . . . You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him." (RSV) Can you see how right from the beginning of the sermon the theme of being prepared is being set. And as I continued on with that theme, I would refer back to the "fool" and his "master" at the beginning of the sermon. Then throughout the sermon, the them of being prepared would be seen in different ways. And the congregation would be challenged to prepare for Christ's coming in their lives. |
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