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Sermon
Leonard H. Budd
Jairus' little daughter was the sweetest child in the whole village. Everyone said so. She was slight in build and shy in behavior. And she was kind, more kind than any of the other children. Everyone said that, too. So when she fell ill and could not even venture beyond the framing of the front door of her house everyone in the town was greatly concerned. Her parents were well-respected, for her ...
Sermon
James Weekley
The greatest of all human mysteries is death. Its sphinx-like profile casts a mysterious shadow upon the light of our progress. It becomes a riddle even to us today because, we, too, are unable to comprehend it. There is very little we can document about death. We do know that death is the unwelcome stranger who comes without invitation. This dark angel is no respector of age and social status. Th...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
God is Creator (Father) and Redeemer (Son), but God is also Sustainer (Holy Spirit). God's sustaining nature always seeks to heal, to restore each creature and the entire creation to its original state of wholeness. Take time this week to explore with your congregation the diverse ways God has brought healing into your life together - either through other people, relationships, or the created...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
Jesus calls each one of us to be whole. But what does "whole" mean? How are "whole" and "soul" related? No matter that the much touted "health-care reform" package of a few years ago never made it out of Congress. We are still living in the middle of a tremendous health-care revolution. Health insurance might still be a quagmire, Medicaid still inadequate, but the way we think about our heal...
Sermon
George Reed
This Gospel Reading from Mark is two stories entwined together. Separately, they are powerful stories but when they are combined their force is greatly increased. Here, in one episode, we have Jesus, the healer, raising a little girl from the dead and curing a woman who has suffered for twelve years from her affliction. While these two healings are wondrous in their power it is the status of the o...
Sermon
James Merritt
The fifth chapter of the gospel of Mark is a menu of miracles. There are three miracles in this chapter, each of which illustrate the authority and the sovereignty of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the first miracle, a man comes to Jesus bound in chains, bleeding from cuts, controlled by demonic forces. Jesus cast out these demons. He frees this man from the hounds of hell that have hunted him and hau...
Sermon
King Duncan
It seems that we receive good news on the medical front almost every day. Did you know that fewer men are dying of heart attacks today, particularly young men? It appears that our concerns about exercise, diet, and cigarette smoking are beginning to pay off. I know that there are some of us will never give up our bad habits. We identify with Robert Maynard Hutchins who wrote: "I never run when I ...
Sermon
James W. Moore
Some years ago, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote these powerful words. Listen… “How do you measure success? To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty; To find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a rede...
Sermon
Brett Blair
As Mark's story begins this morning, Jesus, the great physician, is on his way to make an emergency house call. There was a little girl who was in a grave state and her father implored Jesus to come. We are told that a large crowd of the curious followed Jesus. Some were hoping he would succeed, others that he would fail; most probably got caught up in the excitement of the parade. In this throng...
Sermon
King Duncan
An intriguing story appeared sometime back in USA Today. It seems that a Miss Candy Postlethwaite received a sizeable check from the Veteran’s Administration. That’s not the strange part. The strange part is that the check was not made out to her, nor did she know the person to whom the check was made out, nor had she ever been in the military. She put an envelope containing the check back outsid...
Sermon
Ron Lavin
There are four stories going on in this text: 1) the story of a humble leader, 2) the story of a sick woman, 3) the story of a dead little girl, and 4) your story and mine. We want to be sure to get at the truth of the Bible stories, but we also need to look at the personal connection, the application of the text to our lives. That's your story and mine. In other words, preaching Bible stories mu...
Sermon
David E. Leininger
Happy ending. Two wonderful healing stories, one sandwiched in the middle of the other. First, we hear about the little girl, Jairus' daughter. Word had spread that this itinerant rabbi from Nazareth who reportedly had incredible healing powers had arrived in town. Enter Jairus, one of the high muckety-mucks in the local synagogue who happens to be the father of a very sick child. He wants his swe...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
No one would accuse me of being a baseball fan. I am a World Series fan. My time investment in the game is compressed into about eight or ten days when the national championship is determined by seven games. I’m always happy when it’s played out to the most dramatic possible end - one team winning four, the other, three. But there are other baseball times when my attention is caught by the drama ...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
Every morning all humans do the same thing. We get up, take a shower, brush our teeth, and then decide what we are going to wear. Generally in western culture it remains true that “Clothes make the man,” or in the name of a popular website, “Clothes make the girl.” Got a teenager? Then you know what I’m talking about. Then you know oh-so-purse-painfully how important it is to have the “right look...
15. Out of Control
Mark 5:21-43
Sermon
Kristin Borsgard Wee
There is a marvelous miracle described in Willa Cather's book, Death Comes for the Archbishop. In the story, Father Junipero and his friend, Father Andrea, set out on a journey through a Mexican desert with bread and water for one day. On the second day, they are beginning to lose heart when, near sunset, they see in the distance three very tall cottonwood trees. They rush toward the trees and see...
Sermon
King Duncan
Our lesson for today is about two people who came to Jesus for help with a medical problem. Nothing surprising about that. Even today, we are dependent on doctors for help with our medical problems. Maybe that’s why it’s so much fun to tell jokes at the expense of the medical profession. Says one comedian: “My doctor told me he’d have me on my feet within two weeks. He was right. I had to sell my...
Sermon
William G. Carter
The woman had been sick for a very long time. So long, in fact, she didn't know what to do. She didn't know where to turn. Everybody suggested a different remedy, but none of them would work. She visited many physicians, but none of them could help. She stayed sick. As time passed, she grew worse. All those medical bills were bleeding her dry. So when she heard Jesus was coming to town, she pushed...
Sermon
Charles R. Leary
The idea for this sermon, “There is Healing in the Touch,” comes from two sources. In the Gospel Jesus makes a house call at the home of Jairus, President of the Synagogue Council. We would call him Senior Warden. “My little girl is dying,” he said. “Will you come and put your hands on her?” When Jesus entered the room, he took the little girl’s hand and said to her in his own native language, “Wa...
Sermon
King Duncan
A father was talking with his rather rebellious son one day and said, "Every person who lives in the United States is a privileged person." The boy answered, "I disagree." And the father replied, "That’s the privilege." Tuesday we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It is a day we celebrate our freedom. But there is a different kind of freedom that we need to talk about to...
Sermon
James W. Moore
A business executive became depressed. Things were not going well at work, and he was bringing his problems home with him every night. Every evening he would eat his dinner in silence, shutting out his wife and five-year-old daughter. Then he would go into the den and read the paper using the newspaper to wall his family out of his life. After several nights of this, one evening his daughter took...
Sermon
David E. Leininger
Happy ending. Two wonderful healing stories, one sandwiched in the middle of the other. First, we hear about the little girl, Jairus' daughter. Word had spread that this itinerant rabbi from Nazareth who reportedly had incredible healing powers had arrived in town. Enter Jairus, one of the high muckety-mucks in the local synagogue who happens to be the father of a VERY sick child. Ordinarily, we ...
Sermon
Ron Lavin
Dr. Granger Westberg, the founder of Wholistic Medicine, Inc., Chicago, Illinois, asks this question when he talks to nurses, doctors, and pastors: "What is the healthiest hour of the week?" How would you answer that question? Dr. Westberg surprises many people by answering, "The hour of worship on Sunday morning."  Why is that true? In order to answer that question we need to consider two other q...
Sermon
Brett Blair
Mark makes it clear that Jairus was no ordinary individual. Indeed, he was a very important person. He was one of the rulers of a local synagogue, probably Capernaum. He was charged with correct administration and the due conduct of worship. His decision to go to Jesus could not have been an easy one. This scene was early in Jesus’ ministry, but already the opposition is beginning to crystallize a...
Sermon
David E. Leininger
She must have been desperate. Year after year it had gone on. Not only were the hemorrhages dangerous to her health, they made her a social outcast. She was not even welcome in the Temple. UNCLEAN, they said. She had tried everything. Doctors, of course, but all they had affected were her finances. She tried the recommendations of the Talmud which offered no fewer than eleven remedies - some of th...
Sermon
King Duncan
Newspaper Columnist Mike Royko tells about a practical joke that was played on a man in Madison, Wisconsin. This man and three friends were enjoying a fishing trip at a secluded lake. They fished all day, had a few beers and played some poker. Every night they went to bed at about 10:00 and got up before dawn for more fishing. One of them, who we'll call Joe, was the first to his bunk one night. H...
Showing 1 to 25 of 38 results