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
0.18UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.13UNLIKELY
Fear
0.15UNLIKELY
Joy
0.56LIKELY
Sadness
0.55LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.46UNLIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.53LIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.69LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.52LIKELY
Extraversion
0.15UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.82LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.64LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
\\ "/So he got up and went to his father.
“But *while he was still a long way off, his father saw him* and was filled with compassion for him; *he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.*
//“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ //“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick!
Bring the *best robe* and put it on him.
Put a *ring on his finger* and *sandals on his feet*.
//Bring the fattened calf and kill it.
*Let’s have a feast and celebrate.*
//For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’
So they began to celebrate.
//“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field.
*When he came near the house*, he heard music and dancing.
//So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on.
//‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
//“The older brother became angry and refused to go in.
So his *father went out and pleaded with him*.
//But he answered his father, ‘Look!
All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders.
Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.
//But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
//“ ‘*My son*,’ the father said, *‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.*
//But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’
” /" (Luke 15:20-32, NIV) [1]
Have you ever heard of “emotional word pictures”?
Gary Smalley advocates their use as a means of gripping communication.
It is communication, sometimes story telling that carries a powerful message deep to the heart of the hearer.
He talks about a man who began to dread to come home to his wife at the end of the work day.
It seemed to him that he was barely in the door when he was confronted with her frustrations.
It made him want to leave again.
To try to communicate his feelings, he talked about the new little puppy that they had just purchased.
Often the puppy would be in the fenced backyard, exploring and discovering new things.
He asked his wife to imagine that she was that puppy, absolutely caught up in the adventure in the backyard.
He asked her to imagine that she was so distracted by the world around her that she failed to hear her name being called to come in the house.
And when she finally heard, she ran to the door, oblivious to the fact that she had done anything wrong, still caught up in the euphoria of her romp.
She was greeted at the door in anger and swatted with a newspaper or some other weapon, driven behind some piece of furniture as a place of shelter.
Her husband asked her to imagine what it would be like the next day when she heard her name called.
Perhaps in good faith she would run in delight to the master’s voice.
Again she would be punished as she came in the door.
He asked her to try to imagine the cumulative effect that this would have over a period of days.
Perhaps it might have a negative impact to the point where, she – the puppy would run away and hide when she was called rather than responding.
And then he said, “That’s what I feel like every day that I come through this door and the greeting that I get is punitive for something that I failed to do.”
His wife got it.
So did David when he was confronted with an emotional word picture by Nathan the prophet.
"/ //The Lord sent Nathan to David.
When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor.
//The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, //but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought.
He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children.
It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms.
It was like a daughter to him.
//“Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him.
Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”
//David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! //He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”
//Then Nathan said to David, “*You are the man!*
This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul./" (2 Samuel 12:1-7, NIV) [2]
David was immediately gripped by the picture that painted the man that he had become.
It brought light and perspective to his heart and best of all, - repentance.
Rather than read the scripture through from the top today, I want to share Max Lucado’s word painting of the prodigal’s return in Luke 15.
/Stand before it a thousand times and each gaze is as fresh as the first.
Let a million look at the canvas and each one will see himself.
And each will be right./
/ /
/Captured in the portrait is a tender scene of a father and a son.
Behind them is a great house on a hill.
Beneath their feet is a narrow path.
Down from the house the father has run.
Up the trail the son has trudged.
The two have met, here, at the gate./
/ /
/We can’t see the face of the son; it’s buried in the chest of his father.
No, we can’t see his face, but we can see his tattered robe and stringy hair.
We can see the mud on the back of his legs, the filth on his shoulders and the empty purse on the ground.
At one time the purse was full of money.
At one time the boy was full of pride.
But that was a dozen taverns ago.
Now both the purse and the pride are depleted.
The prodigal offers no gift or explanation.
All he offers is the smell of pigs and a rehearsed apology: “Father, I have sinned against God and done wrong to you.
I am no longer worthy to be called your son” (Luke 15:21)./
/ /
/He feels unworthy of his birthright.
“Demote me.
Punish me.
Take my name off the mailbox and my initials off the family tree.
I am willing to give up my place at your table.”
The boy is content to be a hired hand.
There is only one problem.
Though the boy is willing to stop being a son, the father is not willing to stop being a father./
/ /
/Though we can’t see the boy’s face in the painting, we can’t miss the father’s.
Look at the tears glistening on the leathered cheeks, the smile shining through the silver beard.
One arm holds the boy up so he won’t fall, the other holds the boy close so he won’t doubt./
/ /
/“Hurry!” he shouts.
“Bring the best clothes and put them on him.
Also, put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
And get our fat calf and kill it so we can have a feast and celebrate.
My son was dead, but now he is alive again!
He was lost but now he is found!” (Luke 15:22–24).*[3]*//
/
The word pictures from our scripture today are sketchy in some places.
They require some imagination on your part.
Perhaps they won’t impact you to the same degree that they impact me.
I suspect that most of us can make the attempt as we allow God to drive his truth deep into our hearts today.
Let’s look at these three pictures:
*/1.
/**/The Long Walk Home/*
"/So he got up and went to his father.”/
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9