Introduction – Part 1
Changing times are often the backdrop for good stories.
For example, Tevye, the poor Jewish dairyman in Fiddler on the Roof, is caught between the tradition of his people and the will of his more modern daughters. Times are changing. These five young women no longer want marriages arranged by the matchmaker in their small Russian village. In one scene, Tevye is told by his daughter Chava that she has fallen in love with a young Russian man who is not Jewish. Tevye anguishes over the thought of her marrying outside the faith. “If I try to bend that far,” he says, “I will break!”
Even his town is changing. In Anatevka—“Anatevka, dear little village, little town of mine”—the Russian officials make it known that Jews are no longer welcome there. Changing times—how do people survive them?
Les Miserables is fast becoming the most popular musical of all time. Based on Victor Hugo’s novel, its backdrop is France in the early 1800s, where political leaders have become insensitive to the needs of the masses. Anticipating an insurrection, idealistic French university students sing:
There’s a river on the run
Like the flowing of the tide
Paris coming to our side!
The time is near!
But they’re wrong. The citizens of the city don’t rise up. And most of the students die fighting at the barricades they have erected.
This play, like Fiddler on the Roof, is marked by a number of prayers. The hero of Les Miserables is involved in a most tender scene just before the battle in the streets. Jean Valjean, by this time well into his middle years, asks God to please spare the young student Marins. That’s because Cosette, the girl Valjean has raised, is in love with Marins.
God on high,
Hear my prayer [sings Valjean].
In my need
You have always been there.
He is young. He’s afraid
Let him rest, Heaven blessed.
Bring him home … let me die [Valjean prays]
Let him live.
Like Tevye in Fiddler, Jean Valjean and young Marins in Les Miserables want to be survivors.
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Sunday’s coming. Do you have your sermon ready? Is it relevant? Will it effectively motivate your congregation to walk more in step with the Master? What about that Sermon Series you’ve been thinking about?
Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?
David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Saturday or Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions.
We also offer assistance as you create Topical Sermons, Sermons Series, and sermons for special times of the year. We have resources available to help you with Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermons, Easter Sunday Sermons, Patriotic Sermons, and more.
For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.
You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.
