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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INTRODUCTION
GRACE FISHER IS A FOUNDATION CREATOR AND FOUNDER, A YOUNG WOMAN WITH COURAGE AND DETERMINATION
AND A NEVER QUIT SPIRIT.
In 2014 during her senior year of High School, Grace Fisher’s spine was ravaged by a
virus leaving her paralyzed from the neck down.
In the days following, she was diagnosed with Acute Flaccid
Myelitis and sent to Craig Rehabilitation Hospital in Denver, CO.
GRACE FISHER BECAME A QUADRAPALYGIC AT AGE
17 AFTER LEADING A CHILDHOOD OF ACTIVE PARTICIPATION IN THE ARTS THROUGH DANCE AND A WHOLE RANGE
OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES..... DID I MENTION GRACE IS ALSO A BLOGGER? IN A BLOG POST SHE CALLED, SMALL
MIRACLES SHE QUOTED MY UMC COLLEAGUE, THE REVEREND ADAM HAMILTON AS SHE REFLECTED ON ALL
THAT HAD HAPPENED TO HER IN HER LIFE, SO FAR.....REVEREND HAMILTON WAS ONCE HEARD TO SAY:
“God is not a divine vending machine- we slip in a prayer and out pops a miracle.”
IN HER BLOG POST, SMALL MIRACLES SHE WENT ON TO WRITE:
Pastor Alan, from our church, came every day and prayed over me and my family.
Many cards and notices
came from across the country and from all over the world.
When a prayer chain gets started, it travels fast
and far.
People sent their support, love and showed that they truly cared about me
and my family.
People even prayed for a miracle.
A miracle, I thought, would be my was out of this.
As time wore on and the prayer chain extended I was
questioning if God was even listening.
When I was in rehab some of my friends got some return of their
function.
For some these developments were miraculous.
For me, nothing much was
changing.
How do I interpret the results of all these prayers?
The obvious miracle is when the severely injured are healed and can walk, or the blind are suddenly
granted the ability to see.
These are grand miracles and obvious to everyone when they occur.
Some
miracles, though, are less obvious and require you to look hard.
Some miracles wouldn’t
make a great biblical story, or have a bankable Hollywood ending.
Some miracles are deeply personal yet
universal truths, that when realized are liberating and reveal God’s eternal wisdom.
The quiet concern of a friend, the warm casserole dish of a neighbor, the caring touch of a nurse, the
sympathetic cries of an elderly man, the sarcastic laugh of a childhood friend, the encouragement of a
music teacher, the compassion of a loving family, the giving back to a community which
has given so much.
I could go on and on… The miracle is that I have not given in and nobody has given up
on me.
Everyday something miraculous can happen.
HERE’S THE PROBLEM: LIFE IN THIS TIME AND PLACE WE’RE LIVING THROUGH HAS UPS AND DOWNS, TRIUMPHS
AND DISAPPOINTMENTS, EXPECTATIONS AND PROMISES, HOPES AND DREAMS AND LET DOWNS...... AND WITH
EACH ONE WE’RE CLOSER TO OUR NEXT MIRACLE, BELOVEDS....OR NOT......
WE ALL LIVE OUT SOME VARIATION OF MY COLLEAGUES DILEMMAS......REVEREND BARBARA BROWN TAYLOR WAS
REFLECTING OVER HER LIFE AND COUNTING HER LOSSES FIRST......SHE WROTE:
IN MY LIFE, I HAVE LOST MY WAY MORE TIMES THAN I CAN COUNT.
I HAVE SET OUT TO BE MARRIED AND
ENDED UP DIVORCED.
I HAVE SET OUT TO BE HEALTHY AND ENDED UP SICK.
I HAVE SET OUT TO LIVE IN NEW
ENGLAND AND ENDED UP IN GEORGIA.
WHEN I WAS 30, I SET OUT TO BE A PARISH PRIEST, PLANNING TO
SPEND THE REST OF MY LIFE CARING FOR SOULS IN ANY CONGREGATION THAT WOULD HAVE ME.
ALMOST 30
YEARS LATER, I TEACH SCHOOL.
WHILE NONE OF THESE DISPLACEMENTS WAS PLEASANT AT FIRST, I WOULD NOT GIVE A SINGLE ONE OF
THEM BACK.
I HAVE FOUND THINGS WHILE I WAS LOST THAT I MIGHT NEVER HAVE DISCOVERED IF I HAD
STAYED ON THE PATH.
I HAVE LIVED THROUGH PARTS OF LIFE NO ONE IN HER RIGHT MIND WOULD HAVE
WILLINGLY CHOSEN.....
WHAT ARE YOU LIVING THROUGH, RIGHT NOW? DOES YOUR NEXT MIRACLE FEEL CLOSER TO YOU OR FARTHER
AWAY FROM YOU? TAKE HEART BELOVED, WE HAVE COME TO WORSHIP TODAY TO BE INSPIRED BY WHAT
HAPPENED TO THE APOSTLE PAUL.......
PAUL’S MIRACLES FROM OUT OF NOWHERE
OUR TEXT THIS MORNING FROM ACTS PICKS UP WITH A RATHER ORDINARY CONVERSATION WITH SOME
EXTRAORDINARY EDGES TO IT.......IT’S PAUL, IN EPHESUS AGAIN......A PLACE WHERE PAUL ESTABLISHED A CHURCH
Paul’s first question to the believers is not “how were you baptized?”
(although he DID get around to that).
His first
question is whether they have received the Holy Spirit (19:2).
Do they live their lives aware of, open to, filled with,
and guided by the Spirit of God?
And, the key question does not find its final answer in the fact that after Paul laid his hands on the believers they
spoke in tongues and prophesied
IT IS MY DISTINCT IMPRESSION HERE, BELOVEDS, THAT THESE 12 BELIEVERS SHOW US SOMETHING IMPORTANT,
SOMETHING VITAL, SOMETHING FOR US TO SEE AND HEAR AND HOLD ONTO.
THEY SHOW US THEY WERE OPEN TO
WHAT PAUL WOULD DO.....OPEN TO THAT EXTRAORDINARY MOMENT WHEN PAUL WOULD LAY HANDS ON THEM.....
OPEN TO THAT EXTRAORDINARY MOMENT WHEN THE MIRACLE WOULD HAPPEN....OPEN TO THE BAPTISM BY PAUL
AND THEIR OWN TRANSFORMATION.....OPEN BELOVEDS, AND THAT OPENNESS IS IMPOSSIBLE WITHOUT
BELIEF.....AMEN?
THESE BELIEVERS PROPHESIED AND SPOKE IN TOUNGES......
THIS DOESN’T MEAN EVERYBODY HAS TO DO IT THEIR WAY.......BUT WHAT IT DOES MEAN, BELOVEDS, IS THAT YOUR
OPENNESS TO THE EXTRAORDINARY COMES BEFORE YOUR NEXT MIRACLE, AMEN?
CRAFTY WAYS TO BE OPEN TO THE EXTRAORDINARY NEXT MIRACLE GOD HAS FOR YOU
ONE OF AMERICA’S FAVORITE LIVING PREACHERS AND PROLIFIC SPIRITUAL WRITERS, MAX LUCADO, REMINDS US:
WE NEED TO COME TO GOD HUMBLY.
NO SWAGGER, NO BOASTS, NO “ALL BY MYSELF DECLARATIONS.”
WE
FLEX NO MUSCLES AND CLAIM NO ACHIEVEMENTS.
WE CUP SULLIED HEARTS IN HANDS AND OFFER THEM TO
GOD AS WE WOULD A CRUSHED, SCENTLESS FLOWER, ASKING: ‘CAN YOU BRING LIFE TO THIS?’
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