Preaching the Word begins and ends as invitation. Here, you will find a hand extended for the journey through Karoline Lewis’s chapters that promise not tips or gimmicks, but rather a call to conversation with “new dialogue companions in our homiletical journey.”
In Protestant traditions, text and proclamation—spoken, sung, or silently read—are paramount to Christian formation. Broadening the phrase to include physical pronouncements involves the senses, thus why artistic processes help enlarge the incarnational dimensions of proclamation. This is one reason why I, a trained artist and theologian, decided to establish and facilitate a series of art-based, leadership-development workshops for pastors.
When preachers have read and proclaimed the same texts over and over, preaching the same lectionary for several cycles over the years, we reach a point in which we yearn to find new messages in the same ancient texts.
An integral part of our faith formation, musical discipleship takes many forms. Just as general literacy empowers Christians to navigate the Word, musical literacy strengthens our worship. Without notation, worship can only include improvised or memorized music.
Sacred texts are a foundation of most faith traditions. In them discernible wisdom can be found that instructs the tenets of belief, faith, and even hope itself. Communities pride themselves in learning from and reading these resources in corporate settings.
Blessed are you, Holy One, God, Creator of the universe. You bring forth bread from the earth, and create the fruit of the vine, to sustain our lives and gladden our hearts. They shall be for us today the Bread of Life and the Cup of Salvation, offered in grateful remembrance of Christ.
“Muslims are the famous gospel singers in Pakistan.” This statement always surprises those who talk with me about worship and music in a Muslim context.
“Translations are the devil’s way of confusing Christians so we don’t all read the same Bible.” Quite a theological treatise from my Lyft driver as he drove me to the airport. Many people share his suspicions, neatly summarized in the quip: “If the King James Version was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for me.”
A lectionary is a list of biblical passages to be read in Christian worship. Presumably, these passages serve as the basis for the sermon, homily, or meditation, although, having swallowed and survived a lifetime’s dose of Christian sermons, I am aware that this presumption is, well, sketchy.
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