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
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Disgust
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Fear
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Joy
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Sadness
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Language Tone
Analytical
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Confident
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Tentative
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Social Tone
Openness
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Conscientiousness
0.65LIKELY
Extraversion
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Agreeableness
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Emotional Range
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Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
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Social Tendencies
Anger
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The Silent War
Angela had fallen in love with me.
What could I do?
Russell’s heart was broken.
I had stolen his girl!
He pursued Angela trying to win her back.
He chased after his lost girl, but she kept running away, insisting she was mine.
Her girlfriends came around her to protect her from what they saw as Russel’s unwanted attention.
Russel’s friends joined in to help.
And my friends joined in to protect me from Angela’s unwanted attention.
There was a war on in the 3rd grade playground.
Funny.
Here’s the really funny thing.
Nobody told me.
Angela didn’t tell me she was in love with me.
Russell didn’t tell me I was now his worst enemy.
My friends didn’t tell me they were protecting me.
It was a war waged in silence.
Now once they told me, I was a horrible person and broke Angela’s heart.
I was all like “I’m eight!
I don’t want to get married!”
But the story has a happy ending, she and Russell got married.
There was a service and all in the sandbox under the monkey bars… I wish them well.
A Silent War.
It is cute when it happens on the school playground.
It is so heartbreaking when it happens in a church.
A Culture of Silence
We don’t gossip: that’s good.
I almost never hear you talking trash about your brothers and sisters in Christ.
That is a precious thing, a rare thing in churches, and something we must preserve.
We don’t often talk to one another.
That’s not so good.
We are nice people, generally.
Super nice.
Everyone’s so nice that they don’t want to hurt, don’t want to offend, don’t want to cause trouble and don’t want to tremble the waters.
What is underneath the surface?
A WHOLE lot of hurt and hurting!
Next Step is in a season of change.
We have all felt the desire for change.
We have been praying for it.
And change is coming…
But we have some hard work to do, church.
Before we are ready for the next next thing God is doing… we have some healing to do.
And I am just starting to hear and understand how much hurt there is among us.
There are wounds that have sat and simmered for months, for years.
There are roots of bitterness and anger, resentment and frustration and disappointment.
And for any and all the reasons, we have slipped into a Culture of Silence in a truly unhealthy way.
So here comes a whole bunch of Bible stuff that I bet you already know.
And then comes what we are going to do about it.
The Blamer
You have been wronged.
You have been hurt.
Purposefully or accidentally or for no reason you can fathom, he said that thing to do, did that thing to you, she said what to you???
You have been hurt… and that feeling of anger, of hurt, of righteous indignation, any and all of those… what do you do with that?
You forgive.
You just forgive.
This is a daily, an hourly part of your prayer life.
Forgive and forgive again… until that unforgiveness simply isn’t there anymore.
That may take five minutes or until resurrection.
How important is it?
It is on this measure that your Father “may” forgive you.
But simply forgiving the person before God is NOT enough, if they have “sinned against you”.
I HIGHLY recommend you bring the forgiveness before the confrontation.
That helps.
This is not a formula to be followed in lockstep but a vision of what life should be like in the Kingdom of God.
This is the Ministry of Reconciliation.
A process of healing.
Forgiveness is the process of releasing them from blame, not holding that poison against them, it is a work in your heart, in your soul, before God.
Is this permission (or even a command) to air all your petty grievances?
No.
But you know well the difference between “that was annoying” and “you hurt me.”
You sinned against me.
And now there is this unforgiveness I am wrestling in my prayers before God.
When that thing comes up again and again in your prayer life.
When that hurt affects and shapes the way you engage with that person.
You have sinned against me, and I need to tell you so that we can heal… and maybe even so that you can stop doing that hurtful thing!
You are giving your brotherhood, your relationship, a chance for healing and also them a chance for growth.
Bringing it to your brother, or sister?
That is about reconciliation, restoring the relationship.
Even in this process, there is the acknowledgment that it is not always possible… but seeking reconciliation is not optional.
Resentment or unforgiveness is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die.
There is no place in the church for secret anger, resentment, bitterness and hurt.
There is no place in the church for secret anger, resentment, bitterness and hurt.
“Bitterness and Love can’t live together in the same heart.
Each day, we must decide which one gets to stay.” -Dave Willis
The Blamed
What about the other side of this?
Abby blames me for pushing her down… but I didn’t do it!
I am wholly innocent.
I can’t help it if Abby is mad at me for something I didn’t even do.
She can sit in her anger as long as she wants: I didn’t do it.
Someone blames me for something?
No problem, it isn’t hurting me.
Except...
Here’s what I don’t like.
It doesn’t say “you remember you did something against your brother” does it?
It isn’t about the facts of the case.
your brother has something against you.
Regardless, irrespective, irregardless even of what you think you did or didn’t do… your brother has something against you.
What are you supposed to do?
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