Words on Being

The invitation to compile a book of sermons came as a surprise. I have served churches and seminaries now in five states, in five different regions, over the course of sixteen years since my ordination to the ministry of word and sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA) in 2002. In every pastoral call I have accepted, I have preached nearly every week, excluding the blessed six Sundays a year gifted for vacation and study leave. Thus, I have quite a well of sermons to which to return for reflection.
When I draw sermons out of the well, I catch glimpses of the people for whom they were written and to whom they were once delivered. I catch glimpses of the moments in time in which they were written. And I catch glimpses of the God who is the source, salvation, and sustenance of all that is.
I also note the variety of preaching styles I have deployed over the years-from more pedagogical and didactic (reflecting my foundational call as a teacher in and for Christ's church) to more dramatic. The diversity in my preaching styles is a mere shadow of the profound diversity that is biblical literature. Preaching always emerges for me out of meditation on and study of specific biblical passages. Different passages yield different sermons, not only different messages, but different ways of carrying the message. Every time I preach, I am seeking to open scripture in such a way that the people I have been called to serve can hear it today. Surely sometimes more successfully than others.