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.
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Anger
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Analytical
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Openness
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Conscientiousness
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Tone of specific sentences
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I walked into Pastor Marc’s office one morning a couple of months ago and painted a word picture for him.
“Marc, I see a raging river and there are people being swept along in the current.
They are perishing.
The river is the culture of our day pervasive in its ungodly values and focus.
For years I have heard preaching that implies that the church needs to run counter culture.
We swim or walk upstream.
But how can we possibly rescue the perishing if we are headed upstream and they are headed downstream.
It’s wrong somehow.
Over the years some have seen the folly here and they have stopped moving.
They remain stationary and ineffective at the water’s edge repeating previously unsuccessful strategies to get people out of the water.
We have fallen in love with our methods and deified a few.
While staying still may be better than heading in the opposite direction, it is still marginally effective.
It would seem to me that if we really are serious about rescuing people, we should be headed in the same direction as the current.
This does not reduce our spirituality or compromise us in any way.
The greatest compromise is to choose proven ineffectiveness over openness to new ways to reach the lost.”
This service arises from this conversation.
We are trying to open the way for a movement of God to empower His church like never before.
I’m hoping that you can give this your prayerful consideration today and allow the Spirit of God to rock your boat a little bit.
There are certain incidents in life that a person never forgets.
They stay with you and often they carry life perspectives and lessons that shape the way that you live and relate to people.
I had one of those occur in my own life a couple of Falls ago now.
It was a frigid Saturday morning late in October.
The frost had freshly invaded the boards beneath our feet and they snapped at us in protest as 3 of the 6AM runners crossed the river on the old train bridge.
There was the usual nonsensical banter, a verbal sparring that middle aged men specialize in.
We were missing at least one expected runner, Brian Scott.
Normally we miss him because he is far in the front.
We were approaching the north side of the river.
The vapor was heavy and thick on the river that morning, like an ethereal convention of displaced, otherworldly spirits.
I listened to their faint cries.
I could almost make out their hopeless cries for help.
But like the rich man in torment who saw Lazarus the beggar in the bosom of Abraham, these were beyond help.
The same is true for any soul that leaves this life without Christ, the Living Hope.
From a distance we could see a crumpled from lying on the deck of the bridge.
As it grew closer we discovered a discarded jacket.
Donnie LeBlanc in the spirit of the run offered, “Gee, I hope he didn’t jump.”
That statement hung in my consciousness just long enough for me to realize that I had not been hearing voices of the vapor ghosts.
What if someone did jump?
I had to look over the edge.
We all know of people who have stepped off that train bridge into eternity.
As I looked down into the mist, I saw a nearly lifeless form of a man clinging to a buoy.
His arms were draped over the float and he could barely keep his head out of the chilling water.
I shouted and he lifted his head to see Donnie, his son Jason and myself peering down.
We strained to hear his weakened voice and wondered how much longer he could cling to the buoy.
My first reaction was to jump.
This quickly passed as I saw the result below me.
I wondered how we might get him out of the water without getting wet.
We ask ourselves the same question in the church today.
How do we get people out and remain dry?
*Scene 1**: “Come ye out and be dry.”*
* *
Throughout the service, a fairly steady stream of people move down the left aisle, across the front of the sanctuary, and up the right aisle.
Some completely ignore what’s happening on the platform.
Some gently revolve, like they’re caught in a current.
A few look at the lifesaving stations, even reach toward them, try to fight their way back upstream a bit, etc., before being washed along with the flow.
/ /
/Scene 1 opens with a cluster of people wearing “Lifeguard” T-Shirts pulled over dresses, or with neckties, jackets, etc. sitting toward the back of the platform.
Behind them on the wall is a banner that says, *“Better Safe Than Soggy”.
*The choir platform in front of them; (“The hill”) is scattered with dozens of small pamphlets.
Each Lifeguard has a small booklet with a large red cross on the cover.
A meeting is in progress, and is being addressed by the leader.
Except for the T-shirt, he looks and sounds like a TV Evangelist.
A southern accent would be a real bonus!/
/ /
*Leader: *Turn with me, fellow lifeguards, to the Red Cross book of water safety, chapter 7; entitled: “Open Water Swimming”.
/(They all flip through the pages)/
/ /
*Leader: /(cont.)
/*I want to draw your attention to the following passage:
“There are many inherent dangers in swimming in lakes and rivers . .
.”
/(Several lifeguards murmur “That’s right!
Amen!, mmm-hmmm, etc . . . .
He nods, gratified by their response, then continues reading)/
/ /
“Rivers in particular . . .
” the book goes on to say, /(with great/
/ emphasis) /“*Rivers . . . in par-tic-u-lar!!!!! . . . .
*due to the
existence of unpredictable currents, hidden rocks and undertows are treacherous to the swimmer!”
*Lifeguards: *Treacherous!
Uh Huh! /(etc)./
/ /
*Leader: *And I don’t have to tell you, brother and sister lifeguards, that we have here in our midst; flowing like a stream of evil through the very center of our town, a river!
*I say a river!!!!*
* *
And down that river there is a constant flow of humanity; bobbing and splashing and playing, oblivious to fact . . .
*BLIND . . . to the fact*, that they are being inexorably washed along the valley into the very *sea itself!!!!*
* *
But we . . .
*WE!!!!! . . .
.* have had our eyes opened to the dangers of the river.
We have *seen* its wetness!!! We have *felt* the cold chill of its icy current!!! /(really getting into it now, as the crowd spurs him on with “Amens”)/
/ /
/(In a rapid fire breathless flow of words)/ We have *stumbled* on those sharp little rocks that get up into the bottom of your bare feet and make you limp and dance like a noodle headed ninny!!!!!
*BUT NO MORE!!!!!!! */(more subdued) /No more.
I say unto you, come away from the river, and *be ye dry*!!!!
/(loud burst of “Amens” and applause.
At the back of the crowd, one young lifeguard raises a hand to ask a question) /
/ /
*Young Lifeguard: *Excuse me . . .
?
Um . . .
I’m sort of new at this.
I haven’t been out of the river for very long.
But I’m just wondering . . .
aren’t we supposed to be lifeguards?
*Leader: */(With a patient, patronizing smile) /Supposed to be?
My dear young friend . . . .
we *are* lifeguards!
We wear no other shirts but lifeguard shirts.
Our every waking moment is governed by /(he says it all in one word) /
* *
*TheRedCrossBookOfWaterSafety*!
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