Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
Emotion Tone
Anger
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Disgust
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Fear
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Joy
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Sadness
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Analytical
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Openness
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Conscientiousness
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Extraversion
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Agreeableness
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ACTIVITY | Reverse Emotion Charades
Did you know scientists used to believe that there were only six distinct human emotions?
Now, they identify at least 27!
Those are a lot of feelings to keep up with.
INSTRUCTIONS: Split your students into two teams and call two students to the front to be the guessers.
Have them stand facing the rest of the students.
While you stand behind the guessers (where they can't see you) hold up a dry erase board where you can write emotions for the audience to act out.
Remind your actors not to use words or sounds and award points to the team that guesses each emotion correctly, like . . .
In love.
Scared.
Excited.
Bored.
Relieved.
Insulted.
Confused.
Annoyed.
QUESTION | "Has anyone ever acted before?"
Being a good actor can help you win a game of Reverse Charades, but acting is also a great way to imagine what it's like to be someone else.
Actors are really good at putting themselves in others' shoes.
INSTRUCTIONS: Ask students to raise their hands in response to the first question below.
Then ask a few of those students to respond to the follow-up questions.
Has anyone ever acted before?
Who was your favorite character to play?
Have you ever had to perform a really emotional scene?
Which emotion is the most difficult for you to portray?
Why?
Acting can help us put ourselves in the shoes of other people, but the ability to understand other people's emotions and perspectives isn't just a skill actors need.
It's something every follower of Jesus needs to learn too.
SO WHAT?
Why does it matter to God and to us?
STORY | Talk about a time someone was insensitive while someone else was grieving.
Emotions are complicated.
Take grief, for example, which we feel when we experience the loss of someone or something that matters to us.
Grief isn't one of the 27 emotions we mentioned because grief is a combination of a lot of feelings, like . . .
Sadness.
Fear.
Confusion.
Nostalgia.
Anxiety.
And more.
When a friend is experiencing all of those feelings at once, it's understandable that you might have feelings of your own, like . . .
Sympathy.
Anxiety.
Awkwardness.
Confusion.
When a friend is grieving, you don't always know what to say or do, and you definitely don't want to do the wrong thing.
Should you call them?
Give them space?
Act sad? Try to make them laugh?
Say something?
Not say anything?
INSTRUCTIONS: Tell a story from your own life (or ask a volunteer or student to tell a story) about a time someone said something unhelpful when someone was grieving.
We we at the visitation right after my mom passed away at the Hermitage Funeral Home right outside of Nashville.
Hundreds of people came through the line to see Mom and comfort us.
Honestly, I was glad to see them all and they were a comfort to me.
That is, except for one guy who showed up at the end...
His name was Ron, and he used to be my Pastor and a close friend of my Dad’s.
When I was a kid, Ron left our church in Hermitage and went to Pastor a church out in Knoxville.
While he was Pastoring there, there church doubled in attendance and seemed to be doing great.
But there was a secret ole’ Ron was hiding from everyone:
He was cheating on his wife with the church secretary.
But people found out, he was fired and his Credentials to be a Pastor was taken away by the church District.
He was faking it as a Christian and as a Pastor.
He hurt his family, his church, and his friends.
Including my Dad.
So there Ron was at the visitation, a guy I hadn’t seen in over 20 years
(and honestly didn’t care to see at all.)
He came up all smiling and seeming like he wanted me to be excited to see him.
I wasn’t.
AT ALL.
I honestly tried to be nice, but was failing at that.
Just the way he came up and talked to my family seemed off and out of place.
I kind of wanted to punch him in the face (but I didn’t!)
My hero had just died, and I just didn’t want to be around a guy that was a complete snake to me.
QUESTION | "Why aren't these statements helpful?"
When someone is experiencing loss, people usually mean well, but sometimes say the wrong thing.
"God needed an angel!" "Everything happens for a reason."
"God will never give you more than you can handle."
"There are plenty of fish in the sea." "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."
Or even, "I know exactly how you feel," followed by a story that is not at all relevant.
When someone is grieving, why do you think these statements aren't helpful?
INSTRUCTIONS: Give a few students a chance to respond.
When someone is grieving, comments like these can be hurtful because they minimize a person's pain or rush them to "just get over it."
So if we want to be people who love God by loving others well, we've got to figure out how to love others when they're grieving.
IMAGE | Job's Friends
The Bible is full of clear guidance and wisdom about how to love God and others, but the Bible is full of stories that show us what not to do as well.
One of these stories is the story of Job and his friends Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar.
INSTRUCTIONS: As you teach, show the image of Job and his friends, like this one, on screen.
Job is the main character in the Old Testament book of Job, and he had it all — ten kids, a wife, tons of animals, and a bunch of land.
He was happy, wealthy, and he loved God too.
But suddenly, everything was taken away from Job.
His animals were either stolen or killed.
All of his children died in a natural disaster.
He got sick, with horrible sores all over his body.
His only remaining family member, his wife, told him to give up, "curse God, and die."
Then his friends showed up and lectured him!
SCRIPTURE | Job 16:2
While Job was grieving, his friends gave long speeches, telling him what to do, making assumptions about his character, and making judgments about why God let this happen to Job.
God eventually spoke and said Job's friends needed to stop talking.
Job reacted this way . . .
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