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The Immediate Word

TIW Contributors

George Reed
Mary Austin
Dean Feldmeyer
Chris Keating
Tom Willadsen
Katy Stenta
Elena Delhagen
The Baptism of our Lord | Epiphany 1 | Ordinary Time 1 - C
Thomas Willadsen
Christopher Keating
Dean Feldmeyer
Mary Austin
Katy Stenta
George Reed

For January 12, 2025:


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.
UPCOMING WEEKS
In addition to the lectionary resources there are thousands of non-lectionary, scripture based resources...
Advent 3
31 – Sermons
180+ – Illustrations / Stories
34 – Children's Sermons / Resources
22 – Worship Resources
30 – Commentary / Exegesis
2 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Advent 4
36 – Sermons
180+ – Illustrations / Stories
32 – Children's Sermons / Resources
19 – Worship Resources
31 – Commentary / Exegesis
3 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Christmas!
27 – Sermons
100+ – Illustrations / Stories
31 – Children's Sermons / Resources
20 – Worship Resources
33 – Commentary / Exegesis
3 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Plus thousands of non-lectionary, scripture based resources...

Recent TIW Installments

The Baptism of our Lord | Epiphany 1 | Ordinary Time 1 - C
God Promises to Be With Us
Second Sunday after Christmas - C, Epiphany of the Lord - C
The Immediate Word for January 5-6, 2025
First Sunday after Christmas Day - C
Losing Jesus
Fourth Sunday of Advent - C, The Nativity of our Lord - C
What Kind Of Rejoicing?
Third Sunday of Advent - C
More Than Enough

New & Featured This Week

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John Jamison
Object: A garbage bag.

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The Immediate Word

Thomas Willadsen
Christopher Keating
Dean Feldmeyer
Mary Austin
Katy Stenta
George Reed
For January 12, 2025:

Emphasis Preaching Journal

David Kalas
In the logic of the church year, we have spent four weeks anticipating the coming of the Lord, followed by two that celebrate his arrival. Now, with the liturgical and seasonal remembrances of his birth and epiphany completed, we fast forward to his baptism. That is essentially what the gospels do, and we follow their lead.
Mark Ellingsen
Bill Thomas
Frank Ramirez
Bonnie Bates
Isaiah 43:1-7

StoryShare

Peter Andrew Smith
Ted looked out over the field behind his grandparent’s house and sighed. He tried to ignore the noise from the family gathering inside and concentrate on the trees next to the house. What was wrong with him? He had been so excited to be baptized, so enthusiastic about becoming a Christian and part of the church, and now that it was over all of that excitement seemed to evaporate. Had he made a mistake?

“What are you doing out here?” Sam asked from behind him.

Ted shrugged as his older brother joined him at the railing on the deck. “I just needed some air.”

The Village Shepherd

Janice B. Scott
I was very disturbed to read in the papers recently about those two teenage girls who both died, apparently in a suicide pact, just before Christmas.

I was even more disturbed to learn that one of the girls had developed a deep interest in things spiritual. The implication was that it was partly due to her unshakeable belief in the eternal nature of the soul and the continuation of life after death, that had encouraged her to take this terrible path.

SermonStudio

James Evans
The references in this psalm to God's appearance in the storm are strongly reminiscent of the creation narrative. The idea of the "Lord enthroned over the flood" (v. 10), connects with the image of God's presence "brooding over the waters."

Raising these images in connection with the baptism of Jesus, however, provides an opportunity to not only expand our thinking about baptism, but about creation as well.

Harold C. Warlick, Jr.
A certain physician started to practice medicine in a large city. His ambitions were strong and opportunities seemed plentiful there. Success was his right from the start. His practice became almost too large for him to handle. Fame and praise were heaped on him to overflowing. But he forgot that a doctor should do more than heal sick bodies. For this physician, a patient was only interesting if the sickness was interesting and then only as a stimulus to further his fame.
William G. Carter
One Saturday when I was seventeen or eighteen, I had an unusual religious experience. I was serving on my church's board of deacons, and one of the middle-aged members of the board was driving me around so we could drop in and visit some older members of our church.

This was during the late seventies, at a time when our congregation was going through some turmoil. A number of people had been caught up in the charismatic movement that was going through a numbexound that day was very involved in the movement.
Steven E. Albertin
I'm glad to see that so many of you are wearing your nametags this morning. We have been struggling for some time to get you to wear them and it seems as though our latest solution is working. Putting the nametag table right next to the greeters so that you can't miss them as you walk into the church seems to do the job. Having everyone wear nametags is important to us because at Christ Church we don't want people to feel anonymous, disconnected, alone. In this church relationships matter. Relationships are at the heart of what we are about.

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