Where do you get your ideas for sermons? Such a hard question to answer. Some arise out of the yearly turning of a season and others out of a particular time and place; some present themselves when the world compels and others you’ve been thinking about for years. This handful is a small fraction of the minister’s task of offering “life passed through the fire of thought” (Ralph Waldo Emerson) - for week in, week out, you speak to a certain moment and a particular congregation and hope for the best.
One of the reasons I have for a long time resisted publishing sermons is that I don’t really believe that written sermons convey what happens when a worshipping community gathers to sing and play, to speak and be silent, to comfort and challenge one another. They are meant to be heard in the sacred midst of that gathering. Where they land depends on each person listening with heart and mind; what has come to life in you, what you need to remember and how you are stirred to action. So I offer them in hope that they touch your life in a way that speaks to you even now.
