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
0.12UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.54LIKELY
Fear
0.13UNLIKELY
Joy
0.65LIKELY
Sadness
0.5UNLIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.64LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.47UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.68LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.93LIKELY
Extraversion
0.42UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.73LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.7LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Resolutions
Luke 2:41-52
Did anyone come down to breakfast this morning with the announcement, "I'm so hungry.
I feel like I
haven't eaten for a year!"
It's fun to play with all the brand-new possibilities open to you on January 1. Go jogging
today, and you have jogged every day this year.
Start your diet, and you will be reflecting a whole new healthier
year.
So far this year, you have never left your dirty socks on the floor, never left the dishes in the sink, never
yelled at the kids, and you have never forgotten to read the Bible in the morning!
On January 1, we can transform
our whole life.
Our good intentions can be jumpstarted, and all of our bad habits can be unplugged - at least, for a
few hours, or minutes?
The year, so far, is a perfect reflection of your best effort.
I’m assuming.
Then we have January 1 followed by January 2 and 3.
The day will come when you opt for staying in bed,
rather than plunging into the cold to go for a walk; and by the 7th, you may well leave those socks on the floor; and
by the 8th of January, those dishes will have piled up at least a little bit; and by the 10th, you will have rushed out the
door some morning before ever getting the Bible open.
For all but a few of us, most New Year's resolutions get packed away with the last of the Christmas
decorations.
By Epiphany, our behavior and the whole New Year may be just as tarnished as they were before
January 1.
Maybe it is because most of our resolutions are too safe, too reasonable, and too self-centered.
We try
to make little, cosmetic changes in our lives but refuse to change the structure by which we live, or improve the
things that may really need to be changed; the more challenging exercises of behavior.
Luke's story of Jesus offers us an example of what it would mean if we were to transform our lives by
making the ultimate resolution, the mother of all New Year's resolutions, the resolution that ends all resolutions, to
declare that from this day forward, that we will be (pause for effect) "about our Father's business."
Mary and Joseph were obedient parents, who kept the law by making the required trek to Jerusalem each
year on the festival of the Passover.
Jewish tradition recognized the age 12 as the beginning of the end of
childhood.
Parents would be more indulgent and permissive when a child was young and would place more
expectations upon the child as the child would grow, until by 12, binding vows and fasting for full days would be
expected.
Yet, at 12, Jesus took off, scurried away, got lost from His father and mother, so it seemed, on this day.
The scene that we read about here suggests that Joseph and Mary traveled with a caravan of friends,
neighbors and relatives.
The traditional form would be men traveling first, animals and possessions in the center
2
and women bringing up the rear.
Usually the children would be assigned an animal or a bundle to care for, but their
movement within the group was much more fluid.
So, Mary and Joseph could easily assume Jesus was somewhere
in the caravan, until that evening, when they stopped and settled in for the night.
Panic stricken to find Him absent,
Mary and Joseph went back immediately to find Jesus.
By the time they had found Jesus, it had been three whole days and they were near hysteria.
Can you
imagine the fear they went through, losing their child, and especially this Child whose name is Jesus, the One who
saves His people from their sins, this One whose name is Immanuel, God with us, and He’s not with them?
Can
you hear Mary scream with terror and fear, can you see the furrow on Joseph’s brow?
When they did find Him, it
was at the temple, and all present were being amazed at Jesus being able to dialogue and banter with the
intellectuals.
This was not a story of some miraculous wonder of Jesus the Boy-Child to further credentialize Jesus'
adult ministry.
Luke wanted to establish this time, this event, which Jesus Himself claimed, as His dedication to the
service of God and the bringing of the Kingdom of God to earth, as had been promised at His birth and
circumcision.
But that long-ago event of the exciting time of angels and shepherds and wise men were far from
Mary and Joseph's minds as they confront Jesus in the temple.
When Jesus was asked by Mary why He would do
such a thing as not staying with them, Jesus' response clearly shows that He felt the call to be "about His Father's
business."
Mary and Joseph apparently do not celebrate this moment of dedication in Jesus' life, and He obediently
follows them back to Nazareth and awaits His eventual adulthood.
They hit the road, anxious to get back to all the
chores and responsibilities that filled their lives.
Jesus refuses to let His relationship with God be regulated,
though, according to some prearranged, culturally imposed schedule.
Instead of going along with the
return-to-business-as-usual attitude, He has already answered the most important call of all - to be about His
Father's business.
What if we were to act in a similar way?
What would it mean to live according to what the Lord requires of
us?
What would it mean to be about our Father's business, rather than to be about everyone else's business or other
people's definition of God's business?
Jesus discovered, even at this early age, that focusing on God's business
could get you in trouble, even with your own family.
In fact, answering God's expectations could put a crimp in the
family business.
Business-as-usual may not be the way God does business, and the world and the church find that
unnerving.
The church might even question if its business-as-usual is the way God would have us to do His
3
bidding.
The ultimate New Year's resolution does not challenge us to cut fat grams or quit smoking or get to
aerobics class twice a week.
The ultimate resolution a Christian can make is to live in the light of divine intentions,
not human inventions, to make it my business and your business to be a part of God's business.
But what is God's
business?
God's business is transformation.
An electrical transformer takes high voltage and transforms it into energy
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9