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Home›Traditions›Progressive/Social Justice

Progressive/Social Justice Illustrations

Reading scripture through liberation, equality, and advocacy for the marginalized.

Key question: “How does this text speak to issues of justice, equality, and the liberation of the oppressed?”

25,724 sermon illustrations through the Progressive/Social Justice lens

Sermon Illustration

The Weight That Disappeared

In 2014, a structural engineer named David Chen noticed a hairline crack in a pedestrian bridge he had approved in downtown Portland. It was small...

Psalm 32Universal

265 words

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Sermon Illustration

The Father Who Came to the Front Porch

In 2019, a teenager named Marcus in Birmingham, Alabama, wrecked his father's car after sneaking out past curfew. He didn't go home. For three days...

Genesis 3:9-15, 20Universal

245 words

Sermon Illustration

The Orphan Who Was Claimed Before He Could Walk

In 1864, Confederate raiders kidnapped an enslaved woman named Mary from a small Missouri farm, taking her infant son with her. Moses Carver, the farmer,...

Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12Universal

244 words

Sermon Illustration

The Olympic Champion Who Found Joy Behind Barbed Wire

Eric Liddell won Olympic gold in the 400 meters at the 1924 Paris Games. The world celebrated him as the Flying Scotsman. But twenty years...

Psalm 16Universal

236 words

Sermon Illustration

The Lighthouse That Never Moved

In 1698, the first Eddystone Lighthouse was built on a jagged reef fourteen miles off Plymouth, England. A wooden tower, it lasted five years before...

Malachi 3:6Universal

234 words

Sermon Illustration

The Standing Ovation No One Planned

On June 2, 2022, crowds gathered along the Mall in London for Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee concert. As the final notes of the national anthem...

Psalm 98Universal

234 words

Vivid Retelling

The Dragon and the Woman: Revelation 12:1-17

Cinematic retelling of the woman, child, and dragon

Universal

893 words

Movie Analogy

Jesus Revolution: Trusting the Spirit Over Programs - Charismatic (Proverbs 3:5-6)

In the heart of the 1960s, a time of turbulence and change, there was a small church in Southern California that seemed worlds apart from the chaos outside. Pastors Chuck Smith and Lonnie Frisbee found themselves on the precipice of...

Proverbs 3:5-6Universal

292 words

Sermon Illustration

When the Mountain Shook and the Tourists Knelt

On May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted with the force of five hundred atomic bombs. The north face of the mountain simply collapsed. In...

Psalm 97:1-2, 5-6, 9Universal

236 words

Movie Analogy

Chariots of Fire: Running the Way Set Before Us - Anglican (John 14:1-6)

Imagine the cold, damp morning air of a Scottish track, where the sound of shoes pounding against the earth creates a rhythm of determination. Eric Liddell stands at the starting line, his heart racing not from fear but from an...

John 14:1-6Universal

293 words

Sermon Illustration

A Clerical Error and the Gate of Life

On December 28, 1944, Corrie ten Boom stood in line at Ravensbrück concentration camp, a place synonymous with death. Her sister Betsie had died in...

Matthew 28:1-10Universal

225 words

Sermon Illustration

What Three Hundred Sessions Could Never Do

For eleven years, Maria Gonzalez drove to the DaVita Kidney Care clinic in San Antonio three times a week. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, she...

Hebrews 10:4-10Universal

233 words

Sermon Illustration

Science Illustration: Wonder at the Cosmos

On a clear night, away from the city’s glow, I once stood under a vast, star-studded sky. Each twinkling star seemed to tell a story, whispering tales of creation that stretched back billions of years. As I gazed upward, I...

Revelation 21:1-5Universal

249 words

Sermon Illustration

The Night the Oaks Bowed Down

On the evening of October 15, 2018, Hurricane Michael's eyewall tore through Marianna, Florida, with sustained winds of 155 miles per hour. Pastor Demetrius Harlan...

Psalm 29Universal

223 words

Sermon Illustration

Science Illustration: Medicine, Healing, and Compassion

A few years ago, I visited a small clinic in a rural area where a compassionate doctor was treating those in need without the means to pay. One particular patient, an elderly woman named Maria, came in with a long...

Matthew 6:25-34Universal

259 words

Sermon Illustration

Father Damien's Pronoun

In 1873, a Belgian priest named Damien De Veuster stepped off a boat onto the shores of Molokai, Hawaii, and into a colony of eight...

Isaiah 58:1-12Universal

238 words

Sermon Illustration

The Song That Swept Through the Welsh Valleys

In the autumn of 1904, a young coal miner named Evan Roberts stood before a small prayer meeting in Loughor, Wales, and spoke with such...

Psalm 98Universal

236 words

Sermon Illustration

The Woman Who Walked Thirty Miles for Water

In 2019, a severe drought gripped the Turkana region of northern Kenya. Wells dried up. Rivers turned to cracked mud. Journalist Abdi Latif Dahir documented...

Psalm 63:1-8Universal

253 words

Movie Analogy

Harriet: Liberation Courage Because God Goes With - Black Church (Deuteronomy 31:6)

In the heart of the American South, amidst the whispers of the cotton fields and the weight of countless shackles, Harriet Tubman emerged as a beacon of hope. Imagine her standing at the edge of a vast, dark swamp, the...

Deuteronomy 31:6Universal

299 words

Sermon Illustration

The One Who Holds the Whole Story

In 1977, NASA launched Voyager 1 carrying a golden record etched with greetings in 55 languages, the sound of a mother's heartbeat, and music from...

Revelation 1:4-8Universal

216 words

Sermon Illustration

The Blueprint That Never Gets Filed Away

Every human body contains roughly 37 trillion cells. Each one carries the complete instructions for making you — your eye color, the curve of your...

Psalm 139:14Universal

268 words

Movie Analogy

The Shawshank Redemption: Choosing Hope in a Fallen World - Wesleyan (Genesis 3)

In the depths of Shawshank State Penitentiary, the character Ellis “Red” Redding sits on a cold, metal bench, his weary eyes reflecting years of confinement. He describes the haunting transformation that takes place within those walls—a life marked by routine...

Genesis 3Universal

315 words

Sermon Illustration

The Ground Beneath Hatay

On February 6, 2023, at 4:17 a.m., the ground beneath southern Turkey buckled. A 7.8-magnitude earthquake toppled thousands of buildings across Hatay province in seconds....

Psalm 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9Universal

220 words

Sermon Illustration

Nature Illustration: Biodiversity and the Wisdom of God

As I stood in a lush forest recently, I was struck by the incredible diversity of life surrounding me. Each plant, each creature seemed to have its own unique role, interwoven in a meticulous tapestry of creation. The towering trees...

Colossians 1:15-20Universal

261 words