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James H. Bailey

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It's Hard For God to Get Through to Us -- Jeremiah 33:14-16 -- James H. Bailey -- First Sunday of Advent - C -- 1985
Advent requires us to experience a vision from God in whatever circumstances we find ourselves, and
Burned Out -- Isaiah 62:1-5 -- James H. Bailey -- Epiphany 2 | Ordinary Time 2 - C -- 1985
A man said to me recently, "I'm just plain 'burned-out' after Christmas.
The Happy Find -- Nehemiah 8:1-4a, 5-6, 8-10 -- James H. Bailey -- Epiphany 3 | Ordinary Time 3 - C -- 1985
For four nights half of America suffered through four and one-half hours of commercials just to view
I'll Be Listening For My Name -- Jeremiah 1:4-10 -- James H. Bailey -- Epiphany 4 | Ordinary Time 4 - C -- 1985
Does God speak to you today just as he spoke to Abraham, Moses, Samuel, Isaiah, John, Jesus, and Pau
The Moment of Decision -- Isaiah 6:1-8 (9-13) -- James H. Bailey -- Epiphany 5 | Ordinary Time 5 - C -- 1985
Dr.
The Coming of Jesus Illuminates Humanity -- Jeremiah 17:5-10 -- James H. Bailey -- Epiphany 6 | Ordinary Time 6 - C -- 1985
During the Advent and Christmas season we have emphasized a good deal the incarnation, that God beca
Recognizing God in Our Midst -- Genesis 45:3-11, 15 -- James H. Bailey -- Epiphany 7 | Ordinary Time 7 - C -- 1985
H. G.
Prayer: How to be Sure of Results -- Isaiah 55:10-13 -- James H. Bailey -- Epiphany 8 | Ordinary Time 8 - C -- 1985
Recently a newspaper ran a list of thirteen possible sermon topics and asked the readers to select t
How to Get a Glow on Your Face -- Exodus 34:29-35 -- James H. Bailey -- Transfiguration Sunday - C -- 1985
Last week I read a book on tne religious life of William James, the author of The Varieties of Relig
Can We Pass Inspection? -- Malachi 3:1-4 -- James H. Bailey -- Second Sunday of Advent - C -- 1985
Morris Wood's latest novel, The Clowns of God, has one specific plot.
His Coming is to be Welcomed, Not Feared -- Zephaniah 3:14-20 -- James H. Bailey -- Third Sunday of Advent - C -- 1985
One of the main objectives of the Moody Institute of Religion and Science is to relate science and t
The Happy Hour -- Micah 5:2-5a -- James H. Bailey -- Fourth Sunday of Advent - C -- 1985
There is nothing lonelier than standing on the railroad track in a small town waiting for a train to
Is There Any Word From God? -- Isaiah 52:7-10 -- James H. Bailey -- The Nativity of our Lord - C -- 1985
A young boy stationed in Vietnam wrote home, several years ago, these words:
Spiritual Growth -- 1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26 -- James H. Bailey -- First Sunday after Christmas Day - C -- 1985
The giant steel doors swung shut and the doctor put his big key in the lock.
The Shepherd Guards His Sheep -- Jeremiah 31:7-14 -- James H. Bailey -- Second Sunday after Christmas - C -- 1985
At Christmas time, the newspapers are filled with articles by psychiatrists addressing the problem o
The Narrow Way Broadens Us -- Isaiah 60:1-6 -- James H. Bailey -- Epiphany of the Lord - C -- 1985
I grew up with the "anti-Epiphany heresy" that says being a Christian and being narrow are synonymou
The Effect of Christ's Coming -- Isaiah 61:1-4 -- James H. Bailey -- The Baptism of our Lord | Epiphany 1 | Ordinary Time 1 - C -- 1985
After every Christmas some disappointed or cynical person will say, "Christmas came and went; nothin
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John Jamison
Object: A sheep or lamb stuffed animal.

Note: For the best experience, when you ask the questions, take the time to draw the children out a bit and help them come up with answers. Make it more of a conversation if you can.

* * *

Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Excellent! Let’s get started! (Hold the sheep in your lap as you continue.)

The Immediate Word

Dean Feldmeyer
Katy Stenta
Thomas Willadsen
Christopher Keating
George Reed
Mary Austin
For May 4, 2025:

StoryShare

John E. Sumwalt
Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels surrounding the throne and the living creatures and the elders; they numbered myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, singing with full voice… (vv. 11-12a)

Phillip Hasheider is a retired Wisconsin beef farmer and an award-winning author who was dead for six minutes and came back to tell about it. If you have ever thought about dying and wondered what it would be like, then Hasheider’s Six Minutes in Eternity is a book you will want to read.

Emphasis Preaching Journal

David Coffin
A medical worker is working long, hard, stress filled hours in an urban hospital setting. One day he or she is called into the administrator’s office to be terminated due to angering professionals in the upper echelon. The worker protests that it is, “My word against their word, why am I to be the scapegoat?” The administrator pulls rank! The worker is asked to turn in their badge and do not come into the premises again unless as a patient. The now unemployed medical worker still feels the calling to be a healer. So, they get a job at an alternative/natural health medicine store.
Mark Ellingsen
Bill Thomas
Frank Ramirez
Bonnie Bates
Acts 9:1-6 (7-20)
Martin Luther believed that the story of Paul’s conversion demonstrates that there is no need for special revelation. The reformer commented:

Our Lord God does not purpose some special thing for each individual person, but gives to the whole world — one person like the next — his baptism and gospel. (Complete Sermons, Vol.7, p.271)

The Village Shepherd

Janice B. Scott
I've recently spent several hours by the lakeside, for I've been in retreat this past week in the little village of Hemingford Grey, in Huntingdonshire. A great delight for me was to walk to the flooded gravel pits, sit on a bench in glorious sunshine, and watch the water birds. For me, that's a wonderful way to become very aware of the presence of God through the beauty of his created world. And sitting like that for several hours, doing nothing but watching and waiting, I can't help but absorb the peace which passes all understanding.

SermonStudio

Constance Berg
When Beth was a teenager, she lived on the streets. She smoked cigarettes and drank beer and her parents had said that she had to choose: her friends or her family. Beth chose her friends and lived from house to house and eventually in homeless shelters. She barely avoided being raped at one point. About six months of shelter-hopping was all she could take, and she found a shelter that sponsored her until she took the GED. They told her she was brilliant: she was just bored and dissatisfied with the status quo. The shelter supervisors suggested she look into community college.
James Evans
(For alternative approaches, see Epiphany 6/Ordinary Time 6, Cycle B; and Proper 9/Pentecost 7/Ordinary Time 14, Cycle C.)

The main theme of this psalm is captured profoundly in the movement within a single verse: "Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with morning" (v. 5). Casting life experiences between light and dark is not unique or novel, of course, but the poet's treatment of these themes offers some fertile ground for reflection.

Elizabeth Achtemeier
We have three different accounts of the conversion of Saul in the Gospel according to Luke (9:1-20; 22:6-16; 26:12-18). They differ in a few minor details, but essentially they are the same. In addition, Paul writes of his conversion in Galatians 1:11-16, and in 1 Corinthians 9:1 and 15:8-9, stating that at the time of his conversion on the road to Damascus, he saw the Lord. For Paul, that made him an apostle, equal to the twelve. An apostle, in Paul's thought, was one who had seen the risen Christ and had been sent to announce that good news.
Richard E. Gribble, CSC
Once in a far-off land, there was a great king whose dominion extended far and wide. His power and authority were absolute. One day, as events would happen, a young man, a commoner, committed a grave offense against the king. In response, the king and his counselors gathered together to determine what should be done. They decided that since the offense was so grave and had been committed by a commoner against someone so august as the king, the only punishment that would satisfy justice was death.

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