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The Immediate Word

▶TIW Contributors

George Reed
Mary Austin
Dean Feldmeyer
Chris Keating
Tom Willadsen
Katy Stenta
Elena Delhagen
Proper 22 | Ordinary Time 27 - A
Dean Feldmeyer
Christopher Keating
Katy Stenta
Mary Austin
George Reed
Thomas Willadsen
Nazish Naseem

For October 4, 2026:


Note: This installment is still being edited and assembled. For purposes of immediacy we are posting this for your use now with the understanding that any errors or omissions will be corrected between now and Tuesday afternoon.

What is The Immediate Word?

The Immediate Word gives a theological perspective on today's headlines and popular culture for your sermon, children’s sermon, and worship service. The Immediate Word gives a theological perspective on today's headlines and popular culture.

Cutting Edge: THE IMMEDIATE WORD gives you the tools to be cutting edge ... to put you in touch with today's most critical issues and to aid you in crafting messages and presentations that will truly help your congregants understand the Gospel in the context of what is current and most important to them.

Collaborative: THE IMMEDIATE WORD is a unique collaboration of some of the sharpest, most contemporary clergy of our day in an Internet-based service that gives you weekly information, inspiration, and presentation materials for your sermon, children’s sermon, and worship service.

Enabling: THE IMMEDIATE WORD will enable you to create high-impact sermons, children’s sermons, sermon outlines, worship services and compose pastoral prayers that help people pray with you, write compelling pastoral columns for your newsletter, arm your Sunday school teachers with meaningful, up-to-the-minute discussion sermon material, speak more constructively during the "Concerns of the Church" portion of your sermon, children's sermon and worship service about matters that worry your parishioners, advertise timely discussion topics to draw people into your church, and more.

Interactive: THE IMMEDIATE WORD is a dynamic, interactive process. First, among the team of clergy that creates it every week. Secondly, with you: you can personally participate in the creation process by providing your input and reactions to the input of others on new sermons, children’s sermons, sermon outlines and worship resources.

Timely: THE IMMEDIATE WORD sends participants the topic of the week on Friday and the final product on Tuesday afternoon, giving you time to digest the sermon and worship service materials and then incorporate them into your preparations for the coming Sunday service to deliver high-impact sermons and worship services.

Satisfaction Guaranteed: THE IMMEDIATE WORD is not only guaranteed to satisfy you, we believe it will actually energize your ministry. We are so confident that you will find THE IMMEDIATE WORD to be such a great value that if you are not completely satisfied with the service we will refund the balance of your subscription payment, no questions asked.

Recent TIW Installments

Proper 22 | Ordinary Time 27 - A
Kingdom, Power, Glory
Proper 21 | Ordinary Time 26 - A
In The End, Every Knee Shall Bow
Proper 20 | Ordinary Time 25 - A
Heard It On The Grape Vine
Proper 19 | Ordinary Time 24 - A
When Grace Becomes a Practice
Proper 18 | Ordinary Time 23 - A
WTH, God?

New & Featured This Week

The Immediate Word

Dean Feldmeyer
Christopher Keating
Katy Stenta
Mary Austin
George Reed
Thomas Willadsen
Nazish Naseem
For October 4, 2026:
  • Kingdom, Power, Glory by Dean Feldmeyer. White Christian nationalism (WCN) is a dangerous perversion of the Christian gospel, and it is growing in popularity in the US.

StoryShare

C. David Mckirachan
Frank Ramirez
Contents
“Confronting Injustice” by C. David McKirachan
“Get Back!” by Frank Ramirez

Confronting Injustice
by C. David McKirachan
Matthew 21:33-46
Frank Ramirez
John Fitzgerald
Contents
"Spilled Milk" by Frank Ramirez
"God's Silent Witness" by John Fitzgerald


* * * * * * *


Spilled Milk
by Frank Ramirez
Philippians 3:4b-14

Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ…
-- Philippians 3:8, KJV

The Village Shepherd

Janice B. Scott
Praxis the colourful pixie was up to mischief. Praxis was a very rare pixie whose skin changed colour according to his mood, and just now he was bright purple with excitement. Mr Grump the goblin teacher had been called away by an urgent message, leaving the pixies to get on with learning their spellings.

SermonStudio

Richard E. Gribble, CSC
"Use it or lose it." We have all heard this expression, said it ourselves, and applied it more than once. The words tell us that it is necessary to use rightly and completely the gifts given us by God. We are challenged to use God's gifts for the betterment of all and for our own growth in the Spirit. If we fail to use properly and completely or if we abuse the gifts of God, they will be taken away.
William A. Jones
No other God, no graven images, no taking of the name of the Lord in vain, no work on the Sabbath, no dishonoring of father and mother, no killing, no adultery, no stealing, no bearing false witness, no coveting. That's a rather lengthy string of nays from the eternal God.
Marilyn Saure Breckenridge
Introduction
Arley K. Fadness
"One day last spring, something memorable happened at Carleton University (in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, not to be confused with Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota). Thirty--one students in the same class turned in identical research papers. It was determined that the students had all accessed the same Internet website. If only one student had done it, the ruse might not have caught the professor's attention. But here's what else opened the instructor's eyes: the research paper's topic was 'ethics.' The unethical ethics 'research' caper suggests an opportunity.
Stan Purdum
There have been many who have sought to write a history of the world. Cavemen painted the story of their civilization on the walls of their home. Around 70 A.D., a Hebrew soldier named Josephus surrendered to the Roman army rather than die. Dead men tell no tales, and he said he wanted to live to tell the story of the fall of Jerusalem. Today, his history of the Jewish wars is an invaluable tool to historians.
Jeff Wedge
A mouse was once riding on the back of an elephant, and the pair went across a rickety bridge. As might be expected, the bridge shook and rattled. When the duo had successfully navigated the bridge, the mouse exclaimed, "My, oh my, we certainly made that bridge shake, didn't we?"

Emphasis Preaching Journal

Wayne Brouwer
On Beyond Zebra! Remember the book by Dr. Seuss? Some people learn the alphabet, starting out at "A is for apple," and when they get all the way through to "Z is for zebra," they think they are done. But not Dr. Seuss! Twenty-six letters might be good enough for most people, but it's only the beginning for Dr. Seuss. One of his great "little people" takes us on a tour of life On Beyond Zebra! -- a whole new world of creatures most of us have never seen before.
David Kalas
From time to time we come across things that are meant to sound or look like something they are not. Perhaps the most positive version is the generic or store brand medications that boast the same active ingredients as better-known products, but for considerably less money. At the other end of the spectrum, meanwhile, we find counterfeit currency or art - - worthless fakes that pose as articles of real value.

CSSPlus

Teachers: Paul writes about "pressing on toward the goal." He presses on so that he may win the prize, which God has for him. The prize is the "heavenly call of God in Jesus."

Explain that Paul says that none of us is perfect. None of us have learned all that we should. However, as Christians, we work at living a "Christ-like" life.
Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you like to eat grapes? (Let them answer.) Do any of you have grape vines growing at your home? (Let them answer.) If you have grape vines at home, have you gone to them and picked grapes right off the vine and eaten them? (Let them answer.) This morning's Bible story is a story about a vineyard. That is a farm with many grape vines. It is a story that Jesus told. Jesus and God are characters in this story. As I tell it, see if you can decide which character is Jesus and which is God.
Materials
Fun foam
Pinking shears (decorative-edge scissors)
Craft paint
Small paintbrushes
Plastic bottle caps from soda bottles
Markers
Safety pins
Glue
Hot glue gun, for instructor to use

Instructions
1. Jesus likes it when we choose to be disciples for him; it makes him happy. Wear this pin to remind you to be a good disciple for Jesus.

2. Cut circles out of fun foam using decorative-edge scissors.

3. Paint plastic tops from soda bottles the color you desire.

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