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
0.09UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.05UNLIKELY
Fear
0.1UNLIKELY
Joy
0.69LIKELY
Sadness
0.53LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.61LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.36UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.7LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.98LIKELY
Extraversion
0.31UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.9LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.79LIKELY

Tone of specific sentences

Tones
Emotion
Anger
Disgust
Fear
Joy
Sadness
Language
Analytical
Confident
Tentative
Social Tendencies
Openness
Conscientiousness
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Emotional Range
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Begin the service and explain.
reflection, some soul work, need for a removal of distractions
Make All Things New: Giving Jesus Past Failures and Present Plans
Welcome to our New Years Eve Service!
Welcome to our New Years Eve Service!
This morning will be different than our usual service.
We won’t be having a regular format of worship up front followed by the message.
Instead the service this morning will be more about reflection and hope.
It will be about leaving the past in the hands of God, and and placing our future in his hands as well.
Psalm
So our service is going to be one of worship and of prayer.
This New Year’s Eve service is really a series of three services connected by music sung by the congregation.
Each section focuses on a different part of the Old Year or New Year.
Divided into 3 sections which I will explain as we go.
But I want to invite you to allow the Spirit of God to take this moment with you.
To allow this next hour to be one of submission to something greater than our failures and plan.
One of the things I try to do in my preaching, and that Jon does his best to do in his choices for worship is to paint a picture for you.
To raise your heads above your circumstance and find hope in the story you have been welcomed into and that heading toward this moment.
In the movie the Passion directed by Mel Gibson, he uses this quote.
It is in a very different circumstance, but it is meant to point to this moment.
As Jesus is carrying the cross through Jerusalem, bloodied and stumbling, he looks to his mother Mary who has been following him through the streets, and says..in the midst of all this pain that he is feeling, that she is feeling; in the midst of the shame, and fear that his friends are feeling… “he says, “See, mother, I make all thing new”.
In the years since the movie, it appears Mel Gibson has got alot of things wrong, but he seemed to understand that Jesus statement in , seated on his thrown, is meant to be a hope, a handle, a promise....in the midst of our existence.
So we are going to start with worship meant to focus on the sovereignty and power and promises of God.
And then we are going to invite Jesus to make things new.
SONG
SONG
In the first section we thank God for what he has done for us in the past.
In the second section we ask God to forgive us as we enter into a New Year, and in the third section we are reminded to start out the New Year with a solid foundation.
Each section consists of songs, Scripture
readings, a short reflection on the topic and the Scripture reading, and prayer.
The times of prayer, begun by the pastor, are followed by a time of silent prayer accompanied by a prayer station activity.
For the first prayer station, worshipers are invited to come forward and light candles in memory of something God has done for them over the past year.
For the second prayer station, the congregation has the opportunity to write their names on slips of paper and bury them in a bowl of sand, signifying
God’s forgiveness of our sins.
For the third prayer station, the congregation is invited to come to the front and choose a rock from a large number of rocks that have been spread out over the floor.
This rock is a reminder to build the new year on God, the solid rock.
The prayer sections end with a short corporate prayer led by the pastor.
Prelude
Welcome and explanation of the service’s flow.
THANKING GOD FOR THE PAST YEAR
“O God, Our Help in Ages Past” CH 686, PsH 170, WR 84
“Great Is Thy Faithfulness” CH 139, PsH 556, SWM 194, TH 32, WR 72
Scripture
Scripture makes it clear that we are meant to live a life of reflection.
That we are to.......
But if we are not careful we will come to the conclusion that, all God wants to hear is what a great job we think we are doing.
Scripture makes it clear that we are welcome to let God know our pains and hurts.
But scripture does tend to combine or aim lament toward praise?
Difficulty with an outlook of hope is the pattern of many of the psalms.
Pain with.... “behold you make all things new”
I Thes 5:
The prophet Isa, points us to worship and meditate on a God who..
Is
;
So as we take time to reflect on this past year, we want to give you space this morning to think back to this past year of 2017; where you have seen God at work and where you want to thank him for walking with you.
Some of you have had children
moved into new jobs
bought homes
seen God at work in relationship
But it is true that some of us have
lost loved ones
Lost jobs
had brokenness seep into our relationships
and we want to take this time to thank God for walking with us even in those episodes.
So I am going to pray and after I pray and Jon leads us in song, we want to give you opportunity to respond, so during the song at some point if you’d like, we invite you to step to the first table here where we have unlit candles, and what we will call a Christ candle.
You invited to come forward and for a specific thanksgiving, answer to prayer, or even lament that you are thankful God has walked with you through, come and light a candle.
PRAYER
Jesus we all arrive here with a different take on this past year.
For some of us we find it easy to echo the psalmist who proclaims you as shepherd; close and concerned.
For others here this morning, we may find ourselves more at home in the psalms of David calling out for a god who is near, and accusing you of being absent.
Our hearts have been drawn more to lamentation in 2017 than praise.
So may the Gospel speak into both hearts.
As we think back on this previous year- we give you praise and thanks for blessing.
For health.
for safety and the unseen ways you have guided us.
We remember your sovereignty and your love and are reminded that whether we walk through sunlight or darkness you walk with us and that there is nowhere we go that we go alone.
And as we have walked through a season of light, I pray that the light that we have spoken of sung of remembered would take up residence in us and guide and comfort us.
Bring to mind now the ways you have walked with us we pray.
Amen
SONG: The Lord is My Shepherd
And
;
Meditation: “So Much to Be Thankful For”
Prayer and Reflection
During this time the congregation is invited to come to the front and light a candle in memory of how God has blessed them over the past year.
ASKING GOD TO FORGIVE OUR SINS
Often times, moving forward means cutting off attachments and weights that would keep us where we are.
For those who have seen the movie the Mission there is a powerful image when Rodrigo Mendoza,
He find himself climbing the side of a cliff, water pounding down on him making every step dangerous and difficult and on top of that he is carrying a net full of his past; armour and weapons, symbols of the life he wants to leave behind,
burdened by his past but wanting to move forward into God’s grace, finds himself living in penance with no intent of actually accepting the grace he desires and needs.
It is not until one of those he has sinned against cuts the rope leashing him to the burden of his past that it drops into the waters below.
Whether it is forgiving others.
Or asking forgiveness of God or others
Philip 3:
Paul looks to the future with hope, not because of what he can pull off, but because of what?; the power of the resurrection; that makes all things new.
One day all the promises of the resurrection will be seen and experienced, but until that time, he will cling to Christ.
Forgetting what lies behind and straining (literally looking/peering) forward.
As we continue in prayer and worship, and move toward a time of turning to look forward, we want to be sure we do not carry any unneeded baggage.
To let the grace and forgiveness of God, cut us loose from whatever might hold us to the spot.
And we can do that because we know that God is eager to do so.
During this next time of reflection, as Jon leads us in worship, I want to invite you after reflection to approach our second table where you will find pieces of paper and a large bowl of sand.
Want to invite you to take those things that you need to leave behind, be cut loose from
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9