Bible passages which are never used as sermon topics
Moo
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in Kerygmania
There are some Bible passages which are never preached on for obvious reasons. One that struck me recently was this one.
What are some that you have noticed?
What are some that you have noticed?
Comments
It seems God has particular opinions on latrine matters, because he walks in the camp and thinks the ...waste... is gross.
LOL.
To avoid preaching on irrelevant passages is understandable, better to preach on something relevant. To avoid preaching on something because it will make the congregation uncomfortable, something that challenges them to do something about the injustices in our world (especially those they benefit from) is an entirely different issue. Of course, no one would preach on a single verse. Now, the whole chapter could lead to a very challenging sermon, especially to a wealthy western congregation. The prophet pulls no punches in portraying the unfaithfulness of his people, both northern and southern kingdoms, who have pursued other gods and alliances with other nations since He lead them out of Egypt. He leaves no doubt about how disgraceful their actions are, and nor does he neglect to describe the results of chasing after foreign gods and nations. A preacher could very easily challenge a congregation to assess what they follow and rely on, where they find their strength and security. Is it in God? Or, is in the things of the world, the equivalent of the apparently strong and virile warriors of Babylon?
Some of the "great preachers of the past" did precisely that! I think there is a place for doing so (a) if it's a very significant verse (such as one of Jesus' pithy statements) and (b) so long as it's set within its context and linked to other Scripture passages.
But I've never heard a sermon on Ezek 23:20 - or for that matter Song of Songs 4:5 or 1 Sam 25:34 as it is in the Authorised Version.
The one you cited seems like first class Israelite propaganda against people they really didn't like. A Bit like Irish, Belgian, French, Jewish, Scottish, Welsh etc. racist jokes.
I'm surprised there isn't a sermon in that somewhere.
I rarely hear anything ever preached about Song of Songs. I would enjoy hearing an in depth exegesis of its hidden, metaphorical interpretation. Nudge, nudge, win, wink, as the Monty Python team might say.
The irony is that in the dark ages the Jewish parts of town did not suffer disease the way the 'Christian' bits did, because the Jewish bits had better hygiene. This caused the 'Christian' bits to blame the Jewish bits for causing the trouble, (whereas they were causing it themselves by living in their own s__t), so the 'Christians' often persecuted the Jews because the Jews were not sh__ty enough for them. There's no pleasing some folks, is there?
There's probably a sermon in that too, somewhere.
That's set for Ascension Day this year!
I've done both the holy innocents and the circumcision
But I've never heard a sermon on Ezek 23:20[/quote]
not in the lectionary
There's a wondeful Youtube sermon on how America is no longer Christian because its men tend to sit when urinating - not a spoof either.
Eh? TextWeek doesn't list it. Acts 1, Ephesians 1, Luke 24
The clown in question is "Pastor" Steven Anderson of Faithful Word Baptist Church, not far from here. Two of his flunkies, I mean missionaries, just knocked on my door yesterday (I didn't answer) and left their calling card. I tore the card in half and left it in the basket I have hanging on my door in the hope that they'll be back.
"Pastor" Steve thinks all gays should be put to death, he prayed for the death of President Obama, denies the Holocaust, and after the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting he said it was good that there were 50 fewer pedophiles in this world. I could go on, but I'm about to vomit. (I really need that old emoji.) The Anti-Defamation League and Southern Poverty Law Center have designated FWBC as a hate group.
This jerk makes Fred Phelps look like a teddy bear.
With that said, are there passages of the Bible or even large portions of it that really don't need to be preached on ever or even read aloud in church ever? Or, taking the opposite view, should every part of the Bible, even the most obscure, be read in church and/or preached on from time to time?
Is this the guy who burned a Koran years ago? Or another crackpot?
That was Terry Jones (not the Monty Python one!).
Why is preaching on the circumcision a challenge? Off the top of my head, I can think of 2 easy starters - this was the first time that Christ's blood was shed for us (ie, his incarnation was very real, he had indeed become fully human); and at the circumcision he received his name of Jesus, ie Saviour.
Possibly because many people consider it barbaric torture and child abuse? (For any baby, not just Jesus.)
Yes but is that any reason to not preach on the subject, any more than it would be for not preaching on the crucifixion?
It think any objection would be more likely to be on grounds of prudishness and sensitivity.
But that is actually the point about circumcision that needs to be preached on. Sensitivity! and our natural human proclivity to avoid its effects, (particularly the spiritual aspects), on our lives, at all costs.
But that does not mean it can't be the subject of a sermon, the torture aspect in particular could be built in.
I understand the cultural and religious aspects. But I and many other people consider any circumcision of children to be evil. By definition, it's not consensual. It's an amputation. There's no medical need for it.
So if someone preaches on it, there's a good chance that many in the congregation will feel the same. Whether or not they speak up is another matter.
A historical/cultural observation that Jesus was circumcised in accordance with cultural practice doesn't say anything. Does it mean we should blindly follow current cultural practices? The coming-of-age practice of getting blind drunk? Give your son his own gun? How about following fashion trends and getting piercings and/or tattoos?
My approach would be to consider the role of circumcision within the covenantal relationship between God and His people, A sign of faithfulness by the people of Israel. Which leads to asking what are our signs of faithfulness (eg: baptism, but more importantly our actions towards each other and others - "by this will all know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another"), and also how we show that as a community - noting that circumcision was a sign of membership of the people of God, a sign of the community (parents and extended family at the least) rather than personal faith.
It's in the compilation by The Rev. Richard Losch of Coldwater, Ala., from compilation "When will it be read?" by The Rev. Richard Losch of Coldwater, Ala., Vanderbilt Library that used to be online.
You never know what passage which seems unappetising (sorry for the pun - and the spelling!) to us, may be relevant elsewhere in the world.
I've from time to time commented that 50+ years ago, 1 Cor 14 and the part of 1 Cor 12 before the 'body' passage were regarded as just mystifying and as irrelevant as much of the regulations relating to the different sorts of sacrifices in Leviticus. One can tell from translations from that era or earlier that even the scholars did not really know what the passages were talking about. Now, even those who aren't very keen on things charismatic, at least know what they mean and to whom they might be important.
There are also large sections of the minor prophets which are rarely read. I think there are lots of chapters and probably whole books that I've never heard a sermon about.
We tend to only read a selection of the minor prophets during Advent, so usually that's quite lopsided even when we do read them.
In some lectionaries, it seems that readings come up more regularly from some of the Apocryphal books than some of the minor prophets.
And just to throw this out there: I'm not sure this has always been the way. I read a lively theological debate in the letters to a (local) newspaper from the 19 century where very obscure stories were discussed in detail. I think that there is evidence that these were better known in the past, perhaps because people had little time to read much else.
I'm pretty certain I've never heard a sermon on the issue of (1) whether anything good can come out of Nazareth; (2) whether it was that unusual to find an Israelite in whom there is no deceit; (3) whether sitting under a fig tree is a good proof of one's lack of deceit; (4) whether anybody is impressed that Nat proclaims Jesus as the Son of God long before Peter makes that attestation (and before Jesus even does his first public miracle); or (5) when Nat actually got the chance to see the angels engage in a sky ballet.
Wouldn't that be like expecting every book in a library to be suitable for reading aloud to an audience?
For example, regulations on dealing with dry rot, rising damp, disease control and insect infestations, (Lev.14:33ff) might be interesting to an audience of superstitious hygiene inspectors, but hardly of interest to anyone with less specialized interests.
Or perhaps a really avid historian specializing in ancient Hebrew family lines might find 1 Ch.1:1 to Ch.4:43 interesting, but I guarantee no one else will.
I preached on that some years ago, under the title 'Come and see'
There might also be some mileage in the symbolism and metaphorical significance of Jacob's Ladder, too. Plus the insight perhaps that the significance of the fig tree was not the tree itself but what Nathaniel had been meditating upon while he was sitting under it. Christ seemed to know what that had been, and apparently Nathaniel figured that Christ knew too. It had probably been about the Christ, and the meeting had confirmed Christ's credentials for Nathaniel.
And Jacob said to Rebekah is mother, Behold, My brother Esau is an hairy man but I am a smooth man.
Then it came to me that I have indeed heard such a sermon: preached by Alan Bennett, in his days with Beyond the Fringe. I'm old enough to remember sermons not unlike Bennett's. The good old days. How I miss them.
P.S. The sermon, mercifully short, can be found at You Tube under the title "Take a Pew." I tried to post the link but failed -- it kept returning to the top of this page.
Tried again. It works! Thank you, Twilight.
Take a Pew - Alan Bennett. https://youtube.com/watch?v=UOsYN---eGk
Why not try some audiovisual supplements?
(Possibly NSFW)
[Definitely NSFW. Mamacita, Host]
Which is almost exactly what we had. Add to that the plumbline of Amos, echoed by Martin Luther King and the king living at Bethel (Trump Towers) not Jerusalem (White House)