Like a Phoenix

The season after Pentecost has had several different names over the years. It has been called “Ordinary Time,” which meant that the Sundays were numbered, not that they were common or mundane. It has been called “Kingdomtide” as the celebration of the imminent nature of God’s Kingdom breaking forth in the world as both present and future reality. And it has sometimes just been called “The Time after Pentecost.” Whatever we choose to call it, it is often felt as a slow-down, or a sag in the enthusiasm and energy of the church. Rarely does anything new begin in the summer. It’s a time of waiting for vacations to end and school to begin again so we can get back to the business of doing ministry. The sermons in Like A Phoenix offer the goal of bringing new vigor and vitality into the life of the church even in the hot months of the year when everything and everyone is calling us to slow down and take it easy. Since the season after Pentecost is drawn out it may be more difficult to come up with sermon ideas. This book will help ease the burden. A busy pastor will have more time to focus things other than sermon preparation, especially during the summer, with vacation time in full-swing. This book may be used for: Sermon preparation Independent or group study Inspirational reading       Some Sermon Titles Include: Together in One Place (Acts 2:1-21) Meeting Jesus (John 3:1-17) Meet the Rose Family (Mark 3:20-35) Little Start, Big Finish (Mark 4:26-34) A Non-anxious Presence (Mark 4:35-41)     Dean Feldmeyer is the author of five novels, four non-fiction books, three plays, and over two hundred published articles, short stories, essays, songs, and poems. He is also one of the contributing writers for The Immediate Word, a component of CSS's SermonSuite. A graduate of the University of Cincinnati with a Bachelor of Arts in Speech and Theater, Dean also holds a Master of Divinity degree from the Methodist Theological School of Ohio and has studied classical philosophy at the post graduate level at The University of Cincinnati and The Ohio State University. Dean served as an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church before retiring in July 2017. He currently lives with his wife, Jean, a retired registered nurse in Cincinnati where he enjoys writing, playing folk music, playing golf, and hanging out with his grandchildren.