Author: Paul Scott Wilson Publisher: Abingdon Press ISBN: 1426796242 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages :
Book Description
It is tempting for preachers in this digital age of plurality and diversity to offer quick sound bites and PowerPoint-style presentations. These tend to invite a yes or no response, as in mathematical equations. But if we are to reach Christians across the theological spectrumandinvite non-Christians to seriously consider our faith, we must take a different approach. What is needed is greater attention to poetry and images meant to communicate the beauty of the faith and the wonder and mystery of God in everyday life. We must communicate the unity of our message of faith, the divine as truth, and justice and healing as expressions of God. Preaching as poetry (theopoetic preaching) allows for the bold imagery of scripture and the gentle invitation of art. Sermons can no longer always be neatly tied up, perfectly linear, with complete answers to every question. In Preaching as Poetry Paul Scott Wilson teaches why this new approach is necessary today, and demonstrates with multiple examples how it works in real sermons. He skillfully guides the reader to incorporate the classical values of beauty, goodness and truth in every sermon, and in ways that connect with congregants and listeners today.
Author: Thomas Troeger Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0199889686 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 224
Book Description
This book explores an issue at the nerve of the long term health of all churches: how godly wonder can be reborn through renewed attention to the place of beauty in preaching and worship. The book opens with an exploration of the theological and cultural difficulties of defining beauty. It traces the church's historical ambivalence about beauty and art and describes how, in our own day, the concept of beauty has been commercialized and degraded. Troeger develops a theologically informed aesthetic that provides a counter-cultural vision of beauty flowing from the love of God. The book demonstrates how preachers can reclaim the place of beauty in preaching and worship. Chapter two employs the concept of midrash to mine the history of congregational song as a resource for sermons. Chapter three introduces methods from musicology for creating sermons on instrumental and choral works and for integrating word and music more effectively. Chapter four explores how the close relationship between poetry and prayer can stir the homiletical imagination. Each of these chapters includes a selection of the author's sermons illustrating how preachers can use these varied art forms to open a congregation to the beauty of God. A final chapter recounts the responses of congregation members to whom the sermons were delivered. It uses the insights gained from those experiences to affirm how the human heart hungers for a vision of wonder and beauty that empowers people to live more faithfully in the world.
Author: Juanita Simmons Publisher: Xlibris Corporation ISBN: 1503524426 Category : Poetry Languages : en Pages : 266
Book Description
Our Father, help us grow in understanding of your great love for us. May our thoughts, our words, and our actions every day express this love, wherever it may be. God, be merciful to us and bless us, look on us with kindness, so that the whole world may know your will, so that all nations may know your salvation. May all the people praise you, O God. We pray in Jesus’s name. Amen.
Author: Elizabeth Michael Boyle Publisher: Liturgical Press ISBN: 9780814628911 Category : Poetry Languages : en Pages : 272
Book Description
Can an understanding of the poetics of the Gospels, together with a reading of poetry inspired by them, make the homily an art form as compelling as a poetry performance? In Preaching the Poetry of the Gospels, Elizabeth Michael Boyle, O.P., offers a preaching guide to the Sunday Lectionary using the insights of poets to enliven and elicit more powerful homilies. Preaching the Poetry of the Gospels demonstrates that not only the Fourth Gospel but also the Synoptics can be read with special understanding when they are interpreted as narrative poetry. For each Sunday, from the first Sunday in Advent through Trinity Sunday, the author offers a poet's reflection on the literary devices in the liturgical texts, and a gathering of poems about the gospel event. Chapters are "Incarnation: Advent to Epiphany, " "Redemption: Ash Wednesday through Holy Week, " "Resurrection: The Sundays of Easter, " "Transformation: Ascension to Trinity Sunday, " and "Reclaiming the Poetry of Ordinary Time."
Author: Ocell Donaldson II Publisher: Xlibris Corporation ISBN: 1524585475 Category : Self-Help Languages : en Pages : 99
Book Description
This book of spiritual poetry consists of poems with scriptures, and theres a message in every poem to lift a souls spirit. The understanding of my past life in not being a good example to my neighbor in Jesus Christ caught me by the heart, and I was reborn on how to love my neighbor, trust in God, and establish a life with Christ. I am overwhelmingly blessed with this gift from heaven. As I acknowledge him to lead us in the battle, which comes our way, he stands before us in the war that is already won, and he strengthens the circle in which we stand. I pray within these poems that, at least, oneif not alltouches our heart and soul to prepare us for the kingdom of heaven with our Lord Jesus Christ.
Author: J. Barrie Shepherd Publisher: Presbyterian Publishing Corp ISBN: 0664227813 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 169
Book Description
Preaching is an art, J. Barrie Shepherd argues, and the sermon is an art form, an exercise in creativity and imagination. But all too often preaching suffers from a lack of imagination and a loss of the joy and wonder that attracted the crowds to Jesus' words two thousand years ago. In this book, based on his 2003 Beecher Lectures at Yale Divinity School, Shepherd hopes to encourage the preacher toward a more creative vision for the sermon. His approach is spontaneous, eclectic, intuitive, and daring. Shepherd's purpose is to encourage the preacher to think of life as filled with God's presence, to search for the presence, and to use images and words to unveil that presence. The end result is a sermon that is full of astonishment and delight.
Author: Rose Junior Publisher: Xlibris Corporation ISBN: 1543459366 Category : Poetry Languages : en Pages : 106
Book Description
God gave me the gift to write poetry a long time ago. In fact, when He gives me a poem, He is talking to me first and then He wants me to share what I have learned. These poems are about real-life struggles. Although some may seem harsh, they are the truth. Jesus is a doctor and people cant get well until after they have chosen Him as their permanent physician. The enemy has more patience than we do, and he will wait 10-20 years to take you, if the keeper does not keep you. Also, many people think that what they are doing is right and they simply dont know its wrong, until someone tells them. Through poetry, God has given me the ability to show His people His truth about themselves as well as the God that can deliver. DONT FOOL YOURSELF, YOU CAN ONLY CAP SIN WITH A KEEPING GOD.
Author: Cornelius Plantinga, Jr. Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing ISBN: 0802870775 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 147
Book Description
In Reading for Preaching Cornelius Plantinga makes a striking claim: preachers who read widely will most likely become better preachers. Plantinga -- himself a master preacher -- shows how a wide reading program can benefit preachers. First, he says, good reading generates delight, and the preacher who enters the world of delight goes with God. Good reading can also help tune the preacher's ear for language -- his or her primary tool. General reading can enlarge the preacher's sympathies for people and situations that she or he had previously known nothing about. And, above all, the preacher who reads widely has the chance to become wise. This beautifully written book will benefit not just preachers but anyone interested in the wisdom to be derived from reading. Works that Plantinga interacts with in the book include The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini Enrique's Journey, by Sonia Nazario Silence, by Shusaku Endo "How Much Land Does a Man Need?" by Leo Tolstoy "Narcissus Leaves the Pool" by Joseph Epstein Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo . . . and many more!
Author: M. Craig Barnes Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing ISBN: 0802829627 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 147
Book Description
Today s pastors often expected to be multitasking marvels who can make their churches "successful" are understandably confused about their role. Craig Barnes contends that the true calling of a pastor is to assist others in becoming fully alive in Christ to be a "minor poet." The pastor absorbs the wisdom of major poets the biblical poets as well as the church s theological poets and distills its essence for parishioners. / The Pastor as Minor Poet calls pastors to continually search for a deeper, truer understanding of what they see both in the text of Scripture and in the text of their parishioners' lives. Discerning the subtexts beneath these texts reveals the core truths that allow pastors to preach the heart of the Word and to understand the hearts of the people to whom they minister. Written with a seasoned pastor s depth of understanding and a poet's sensibility and sensitivity, this book will minister to and inspire pastors everywhere.
Author: Paul Scott Wilson
Author: 
Author: Thomas Troeger
Author: Juanita Simmons
Author: Elizabeth Michael Boyle
Author: Ocell Donaldson II
Author: J. Barrie Shepherd
Author: Rose Junior
Author: Cornelius Plantinga, Jr.
Author: M. Craig Barnes