a prophetic voice-

This morning, during my quiet time, my time of reading and reflecting, of thinking and writing, I found myself suddenly thinking about how a congregation- my congregation or yours- views the sermon...and about how I, as the one preaching, view what it is I am doing- and why. Perhaps I am unique in the fact that this is not something to which I have given a great deal of thought and consideration. I don't mean that I don't give thought to what I'm preaching or to how it will be received. But I'm not sure if I have ever put into words what a sermon really is for me- and what I hope it is for the congregation. But this morning, words came flooding unbidden, and so I share them with you, from the bottom of my heart: For me, the sermon is not to point the finger. I t is rather an invitation to the members of the congregation to enter into dialogue, to walk along with, to uplift and encourage the pastor even as s/he lifts up and encourages them. It is a f...

I  spent last evening listening to the remarkable Nadia Bolz-Weber read from and talk about her book- plus field questions from the audience in a way that was open, genuine, self-effacing, and thoroughly, totally Lutheran. We are of the same "tribe", she and I...though we came to it in completely antithetical ways. But I so resonated with her statement that Lutheran theology resonated with her own experience ...that its hallmark of grace, of its balance between law and gospel, of its insistence (coming directly from Martin Luther) that we are each and all both saint and sinner ring true for her- as they so for me. And I loved her emphasis on "doing theology in the first person"...speaking of God and speaking of your life together, with honesty, being just who you are. I had read her book, Pastrix, had been following her blog, had even seen several of her talks via YouTube, and I must confess that I had some reservations about this admittedly-unusua...