MTP Sermon Resources

Isaiah 9:6; Luke 2:1-3 November 27, 2016 • Mount Pleasant UMC William Shakespeare’s famous play Romeo and Juliet contains an often-quoted question, perhaps taken a bit out of context. The question comes in the midst of Act 2, Scene 2 of the play when Juliet calls out to Romeo to deny his name. She argues that it doesn’t matter that their families are rivals, or that his last name is hated by her family. And that’s when she asks this: “What's in a name? that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet…” The implication, and the meaning we have when we use that phrase, is that the name isn’t what matters. It’s who the person is or what a thing is that counts, whatever it might be called. Not to question the Bard, but I have to disagree, at least to some extent. I believe names are important. Knowing a person’s name gives you access to that person. Names tell you something about a person or a thing. When Cathy was pregnant with Christopher, we spent qui

2 Corinthians 9:6-15 November 20, 2016 • Mount Pleasant UMC Sermon Study Guide I was inspired again this week, as I often am around here. On Wednesday afternoon, our Tweenz gathered here, packed up the 520 Operation Christmas Child boxes you donated, loaded them into various cars and took them over to Christway Church, which is the first stop on their journey to children overseas. It’s the culmination of a year’s worth of work, and it made me think how many hands were involved in this project, from folding the boxes to bringing in donated items, from stuffing the boxes to bringing them here to the worship center, from loading them into the cars to taking them over to Christway—lots and lots of you were involved in this project, and it filled my heart with joy and thankfulness to think about that. As I watched our Tweenz engaged in this project, I saw such joy on their faces as they prepared these boxes, and it made me think of our Scripture passage for this morning. It’s a

1 Timothy 6:11-21 November 13, 2016 (Generosity Sunday) • Mount Pleasant UMC Video Opener It is good, right and appropriate this morning that we have taken some time to honor those who have fought for and protected our country. It’s so appropriate, as well, to have Veteran’s Day come in the same week as the election, especially this year, as it gives us a pause, a time to remember that this freedom we value, this life we have, even the ability to vote and choose our leaders for better or for worse, is due in part to the many brave men and women who have given their all to provide and ensure that freedom. Thank you this morning to Tom Greenlee for helping us remember those who have fought the good fight. We borrow that phrase often, of course, from the passage of Scripture we read this morning. Paul, in writing to his young son in the faith, Timothy, encourages Timothy to “fight the good fight” (6:12) and then later on, in what is probably his last letter, Paul desc

Luke 12:13-21 November 6, 2016 • Mount Pleasant UMC VIDEO: “If I Were a Rich Man” clip I grew up in a comfortable home in the thriving metropolis of Sedalia, Indiana. You may know that Sedalia really is a big town—population 150. And I was related to about half of them! (I am not kidding.) We didn’t have an extravagant home, and sometimes I scare my kids by telling them tales of what we didn’t have. We didn’t have heat or air conditioning upstairs, in the bedrooms where my brother and I slept. We didn’t really have air conditioning downstairs, though Mom and Dad still have a window unit that is built into the wall. It will cool about a room and a half really well, but it had to be pretty hot outside for Dad to turn it on. We didn’t have a VCR or cable television. We only had one bathroom, no shower (just a bathtub), and—horror of horrors—the telephone was connected by a cord to the wall. Honestly, Sedalia was a great place to grow up, and there are times I long for the