How to Preach Holy Resilience Under Stress
Resilience is the ability to endure pressure or hardship and retain (or regain) your original form. As Christians, this means the ability to endure stress and continue exhibiting the fruits of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control—no matter the circumstances.
How do we create fertile soil for the Spirit’s mysterious work? The Scripture offers a wealth of resources for preaching into our present struggles to foster holy resilience.
Effects of the Pandemic on Preaching and Worship: Questions to Consider (A Guest Post)
Our guest blogger and Collective+ speaker, the Rev. Andrew Stoebig, suggests the events and traumas of our most recent cycle of memory calls for a deeper kind of reflection on the way we operate individually and within our community systems. Namely, now what? Whether your worship patterns since the pandemic are new or old or in between, does what you say match what you do? That is, does your pattern of and movement during worship support or challenge, confirm or deny, further or suppress your homiletical proclamation?
For the Love of Preaching: Scripture is More than a Tool (1st in a 4-Week Series)
Now that 2020 is actually over, are you feeling full of renewed energy, ready to preach in 2021? No? Me neither. To counteract our preaching “blues,” I’ve created a four-week series to help us all rediscover and relish the craft of preaching again. Each week will offer a reflection and experiences, exercises, or tools for you to engage and apply. I hope you’ll join us this week in rediscovering scripture as the font and source of our being rather than just a means to an end (a sermon).
Saved by the bell: the power of monastic practices to rescue us from burnout (a guest post)
Willpower is far less effective when we’re tired and worn out. And right now, we’re emotionally and mentally exhausted. We literally don’t have the mental energy to make more decisions—even when they’re in our best interest. This is the role of practices: to take the activities that will nurture, strengthen, and renew us, and make them routine rather than a decision to make.
Panel Discussion: "Preaching in a Time of Pandemic" with Cressman, Gunn, Jefferson, and Wells
Wondering how to keep preaching into this strange new world? Hosted by Bexley-Seabury Seminary, The Consortium of Endowed Episcopal Parishes, and the Anglican Theological Review, and moderated by Micah Jackson, a panel of theologian-preachers discuss what it means to preach into a pandemic. Panelists include Scott Gunn, Mark Jefferson, Sam Wells, and Lisa Cressman.
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I participated in the Lectio study today with a complicated and double-speak Gospel (John 17:6-19) and WOW! I received so much great insight and am headed in a direction I feel really good about. Thank you to all my colleagues! If you are wondering if this is worth it, wonder no more. It is.
—Donna G.
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The Gospel People Don't Want to Hear: Preaching Challenging Messages was written to aid preacher’s in understanding what’s at stake for their listeners so they can craft sermons their audience can receive, even if they challenge cherished beliefs.
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