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
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Extraversion
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Agreeableness
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Emotional Range
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Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
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!!!!!
The Kind of Fasting that Pleases God
!!!!! Isaiah 58:1-14: \\ 1 "Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
/ Raise your voice like a trumpet.
/
/ Declare to my people their rebellion /
/ and to the house of Jacob their sins.
/
/ 2 For day after day they seek me out; /
/ they seem eager to know my ways, /
/ as if they were a nation that does what is right /
/ and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
/
/ They ask me for just decisions /
/ and seem eager for God to come near them.
/
/ 3 'Why have we fasted,' they say, /
/ 'and you have not seen it?
/
/ Why have we humbled ourselves, /
/ and you have not noticed?' /
/"Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please /
/ and exploit all your workers.
/
/4// Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, /
/ and in striking each other with wicked fists.
/
/ You cannot fast as you do today /
/ and expect your voice to be heard on high.
/
/5// Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, /
/ only a day for a man to humble himself?
/
/ Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed /
/ and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?
/
/ Is that what you call a fast, /
/ a day acceptable to the LORD ?
/
/ 6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: /
/ to loose the chains of injustice /
/ and untie the cords of the yoke, /
/ to set the oppressed free /
/ and break every yoke?
/
/ 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry /
/ and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter- /
/ when you see the naked, to clothe him, /
/ and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
/
/8// Then your light will break forth like the dawn, /
/ and your healing will quickly appear; /
/ then your righteousness [a] will go before you, /
/ and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
/
/9// Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; /
/ you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. /
/"If you do away with the yoke of oppression, /
/ with the pointing finger and malicious talk, /
/10// and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry /
/ and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, /
/ then your light will rise in the darkness, /
/ and your night will become like the noonday.
/
/11// The LORD will guide you always; /
/ he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land /
/ and will strengthen your frame.
/
/ You will be like a well-watered garden, /
/ like a spring whose waters never fail.
/
/12// Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins /
/ and will raise up the age-old foundations; /
/ you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, /
/ Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
/
/13// "If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath /
/ and from doing as you please on my holy day, /
/ if you call the Sabbath a delight /
/ and the LORD's holy day honorable, /
/ and if you honor it by not going your own way /
/ and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, /
/14// then you will find your joy in the LORD , /
/ and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land /
/ and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob."
/
/ The mouth of the LORD has spoken.
/
Talking to a Mennonite fellowship about fasting
is like playing with fire…
It goes to the core of our culture…
ripping at the very fabric
that holds together so much of our church community.
We just love food!
Wereneckje & Farma-Wurscht,
Home-made Chicken noodle soup,
Borscht,
and those church pot-luck lunches…
You need a wheelbarrow
to drive your stomach home after one of those…
Just thinking about all that food makes me want to
quit my sermon and head for pizza hut right now.
Mennonites and Food…
we’re like a match made in heaven…
And many of us…
like a husband and wife
proudly wearing their wedding bands…
have that spare tire around the waist
to give testimony to that sacred covenant
we have with food!
By now you’re thinking…
“So, what does a good Mennonite preacher think he’s doing
talking about NOT eating?”
I ask you to bear with me…
Perhaps we can find a spiritual truth here
that can satisfy a hunger in our soul
that is a thousand times stronger
than our craving for a rich piece of Westgate Cheese Cake.
I invite you to take a closer look with me at today’s topic:
An Internet search on “Fasting” turns up
all kinds of interesting results, like:
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