‘Balcony time’ offers a fresh perspective
After metaphorically moving from the “dance floor” to the “balcony,” a pastor refocuses on personal connections with parishioners and priorities for the church.
Recently published
Leah Schade: Prophetic preaching requires awareness of each pastor’s context
In a new book, a professor of preaching offers a method of assessing a preacher’s context in order to faithfully address social issues without unnecessarily causing conflict.
Mariann Edgar Budde’s national prayer service homily falls within the prophetic tradition
The bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington preached to a nation at a crossroads with a call to faithful witness, writes a director of programs and grants for Leadership Education at Duke Divinity.
Link to author Mycal X. Brickhouse
By
Mycal X. Brickhouse
Director of programs and grants, Leadership Education at Duke Divinity
Luke A. Powery: A preacher must humanize suffering
A preacher’s main task is not to make a political stand but to preach the gospel by showing how God lives in the midst of human suffering, says the dean of Duke Chapel.
Will Willimon: Preachers are a pain
The preaching and leadership necessary for the church to fulfill its mission inevitably produces discomfort in the people and in their leader, writes the theologian and retired UMC bishop.
Link to author Will Willimon
By
Will Willimon
Professor of the practice of Christian ministry
Erin S. Lane: What kind of family is the family of God?
We’ve celebrated church as “family” without ever clarifying what kind of family we’re called to be, says an adoptive mother in this sermon. What kind of family is the church if not an adopted one?
Link to author Erin S. Lane
By
Erin S. Lane
Writer
Samuel Chuin Ming Oo: What does it mean to be baptized in the name of God?
This baptism that Jesus called us to is fundamentally a call for allegiance -- a “pickling” in the ways of Christ, the English pastor of the Chinese Christian Mission Church in Durham, North Carolina, says in this sermon.
By
Samuel Chuin Ming Oo
English pastor, Chinese Christian Mission Church, Durham, North Carolina.
G. Lee Ramsey Jr.: Las Vegas and the violence in God's vineyard
In the aftermath of the mass shooting in Las Vegas, a homiletics professor and UMC pastor finds an important message in the parable of the vineyard owner’s son: Enough is enough. God did not mean for us to live this way.
Link to author G. Lee Ramsey Jr.
By
G. Lee Ramsey Jr.
Professor of Pastoral Theology and Homiletics, Memphis Theological Seminary
Phil Woodson: Who is Jesus?
Hundreds of people, like Peter, left the safety of the ship and threw themselves into the jaws of death to counter a rally of neo-Nazis and white supremacists, writes a pastor at First United Methodist Church Charlottesville.
Link to author Phil Woodson
By
Phil Woodson
Associate pastor, First UMC Charlottesville
Lisa L. Thompson: Preaching and teaching about gun violence
Guns and gun violence may not be addressed in Scripture, but human dignity, the sanctity of life and other matters that speak to the issue and resonate with Christians’ core beliefs are, says the Union Theological Seminary homiletics professor.
William B. Kincaid: 'Your anger does not produce God's righteousness'
In a heated political season, a seminary professor was eager to use a verse from James as an indictment of others. But what if he was the intended audience all along?
Link to author William B. Kincaid
By
William B. Kincaid
Associate professor, Christian Theological Seminary
