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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 Hymn Written in Five Minutes of Heartbreak

On the evening of June 6, 1882, Scottish minister George Matheson sat alone while his sister's wedding celebration carried on around him. Matheson was nearly...

Universallove

251 words

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Historical

Healing as Restoration from the Pit of Destruction

The Hebrew verb *rapah* encompasses the complete restoration of a person's circumstances—the removal of distress, the return of health, and the establishment of safety and prosperity.

Psalms 30:2UniversalGod's sovereignty in rescueredemption from death

Charles H. Spurgeon

213 words

Contemporary

Feet Made for the Heights

On September 10, 1960, Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia lined up for the Olympic marathon in Rome with no shoes on his feet. The other runners...

Psalm 18:33Universalhumilitynatural gifts

284 words

Sermon Illustration

The Signal That Bridges Every Distance

In 1994, engineers at Ericsson faced a stubborn problem. Devices from different manufacturers, running different software, speaking different digital languages, could not talk to each...

Universallove

250 words

Contemporary

Known Before the First Base Pair

On April 14, 2003, scientists announced the completion of the Human Genome Project — a thirteen-year international effort to map the entire human genetic code....

Jeremiah 1:5Universalwondercreation

219 words

Historical

Shamgar's Ploughshare: Courage in the Ordinary

Yet this humble labouring man, armed only with an ox-goad, slew them all.

Ruth 4:31Universalfaithfulness in obscuritycharacter over circumstance

Joseph S. Exell

213 words

Historical

God's Farm: One Purpose Through All Seasons

They reasoned: God built us up; therefore He cannot tear us down.

Isaiah 28:23-29UniversalGod's sovereign purposeDivine patience and method

Alexander Maclaren

237 words

Sermon Illustration

The Stockbroker Who Chose 669 Children

In the winter of 1938, a twenty-nine-year-old London stockbroker named Nicholas Winton canceled his skiing holiday and traveled instead to Prague. What he found in...

Deuteronomy 7:6-11Universal

238 words

Historical

The Wise King Separates Evil Through Righteous Judgment

The "wheel" is not primarily an instrument of torture, but a threshing tool.

Proverbs 20:26Universalmoral discernmentrighteous governance

Joseph S. Exell

209 words

Sermon Illustration

The Forest That Speaks Underground

In 1997, forest ecologist Suzanne Simard at the University of British Columbia made a remarkable discovery. Trees in a forest are not competing loners. They...

Universalcommunity

233 words

Sermon Illustration

The Olympian Who Ran Toward Forgiveness

In the 1936 Berlin Olympics, nineteen-year-old Louis Zamperini of Torrance, California raced the 5,000 meters with such a blazing final lap that Adolf Hitler reportedly...

Universalforgiveness

236 words

Sermon Illustration

Going Over Backwards

At the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, a lanky twenty-one-year-old engineering student named Dick Fosbury did something no one had ever seen in elite competition. While...

Universalfaith

226 words

Show Don't Tell

Show Don't Tell: Psalm 51

Vivid sensory description for preaching Psalm 51

Universalhomileticspreaching technique

adults

284 words

Sermon Illustration

The Surgeon Who Had No Choice But to Cut

In 1961, Dr. Leonid Rogozov was the only physician stationed at a Soviet research base in Antarctica when he developed acute appendicitis. The nearest hospital...

Universalcourage

244 words

Sermon Illustration

The Sound Heard Round the World

On August 27, 1883, the island volcano Krakatoa erupted with a force that stunned the entire planet. The explosion was heard nearly three thousand miles...

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

239 words

Show Don't Tell

Show Don't Tell: Genesis 3:20-24

As the sun dipped below the horizon, the vibrant colors of the garden faded into twilight, marking the end of an era for Adam and Eve. Instead of simply recounting how God sent them away, let’s linger in that moment...

Universal

282 words

Sermon Illustration

The Open Door We've Stopped Seeing

In 1967, psychologist Martin Seligman made a troubling discovery at the University of Pennsylvania. In a series of experiments, dogs that had experienced repeated, inescapable...

Universalfreedom

236 words

Show Don't Tell

Show Don't Tell: Genesis 47:1-12

In the heart of Egypt, the air thick with the scent of spices and the murmur of bustling life, five brothers approach the throne of Pharaoh, the most powerful ruler in all the land. Their hands are calloused, their clothes...

Universal

334 words

Show Don't Tell

Show Don't Tell: Psalm 67

Vivid sensory description for preaching Psalm 67

Universalhomileticspreaching technique

adults

168 words

Sermon Illustration

Why Trees Need the Wind

In the early 1990s, scientists sealed themselves inside Biosphere 2, a massive glass enclosure in the Arizona desert designed to replicate Earth's ecosystems. They controlled...

Universalcourage

246 words

Historical

The Sacred Purpose of Speech: Why Lying Offends Yahweh

Man alone among creatures possesses articulate speech—the power to transmit thought from mind to mind.

Proverbs 11:22Universalthe corruption of God's giftstruth and falsehood

Joseph S. Exell

215 words

Sermon Illustration

The Patience of Treebeard

In J.R.R. Tolkien's *The Two Towers*, the hobbits Merry and Pippin encounter Treebeard, the ancient shepherd of Fangorn Forest. The Ents do nothing quickly. "Don't...

Universalpatience

223 words

Historical

When an Old Man Spoke for Those Who Had No Voice

On March 9, 1841, seventy-three-year-old John Quincy Adams rose before the United States Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. The former president, long retired from the...

Psalm 146:7Universalfreedomjustice

240 words

Sermon Illustration

The Father Who Came Down From the Stands

In the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, British sprinter Derek Redmond lined up for the 400-meter semifinal carrying years of injury and setback. He had already missed...

Universalredemption

243 words