Preaching for the Rest of Us serves as a starter's guide to text-driven preaching. Driven by the conviction that pastors hold the weighty and honorable responsibility of explaining Scripture to their congregations, Gallaty and Smith present a clear step-by-step process for re-presenting Scripture in compelling text-driven sermons. This unique type of preaching is the interpretation and communication of a text of Scripture driven by the substance, structure, and spirit of the text. It's not the presentation of a sermon, but the re-presentation of a text of a Scripture. For those who don’t feel trained for text-driven preaching, whose preaching template is tired and predictable, or need a preaching restart, Preaching for the Rest of Us provides a compelling reason and method for preaching texts of Scripture.

As the complexity of our world increases exponentially, there is need for preachers to understand their identities and roles in this new reality and to navigate the landscape of the new challenges facing the contemporary church. Blayne Banting offers seasoned reflections on how contemporary preachers can build upon what cannot change in ways that frees them to practice their ministries creatively in ways which must change.

When Micha Boyett's son was born with Down syndrome and later diagnosed with autism, she was drawn into the ancient teachings of the Beatitudes. There she found wisdom she needed in a world that values performance, perfection, and strength. Jesus instead calls his followers to embrace meekness, mercy, and suffering. The Beatitudes became an invitation to discover her worth in God's love rather than in her own accomplishments. In Blessed Are the Rest of Us, Boyett shares her insights with readers--especially those who are burned out, tired of performing, living with grief, or feeling exhausted, powerless, or excluded. She invites them into an understanding of God and themselves centered on belovedness rather than accomplishment. Here is her message: in God's dream for the world, blessing has nothing to do with ease; it's about flourishing, and Jesus promises we find flourishing in our limits and in our longing to see the world made whole. Each chapter centers on the refreshing good news of one beatitude, poetically woven with stories of Boyett's life. Beautifully reassuring and liberating, this book calls readers to rest in God's rich and abundant love.

Preachers must understand the teaching techniques of parable and hyperbole, not to mention having a good background in systematic theology, in order to understand what the Bible's writers really meant.... But our responsibility is also to reduce the complexities of Bible study to such simplicities that our many listeners, ranging from busy young professional people to aging men and women of failing health to youngsters facing a variety of new temptations, can take away a saving word. (from the Preface) E. Carver McGriff provides the tools preachers need for their daunting task with some of the most timely and thought-provoking research on the lectionary texts ever made available. Included for each scriptural lesson in the lectionary are: - A listing of the applicable Revised Common, Roman Catholic, and Episcopal lectionary texts. - A description of the Psalm of the day. - A prayer for the day. - Commentary that is more than academic exegesis -- McGriff brings to the forefront those points in the lessons that relate most poignantly to our contemporary reality. - Suggested sermon titles for each of the three texts for each Sunday. - Themes and suggested directions for preaching on each text. - Several additional illustrations to enliven your preaching. Known in the Indianapolis community as a preacher with extraordinary gifts, it is no surprise at all that this work by Carver McGriff brings remarkable insights to those who look for integrity in their preaching. Carver looks at the texts with a freshness that is sure to stimulate the thought process.... Careful use of these suggestions will bring serendipities to preacher and congregation. George H. Tooze Senior Minister, First Baptist Church Indianapolis, Indiana One of America's premiere preachers, E. Carver McGriff returned home after earning two Purple Hearts during World War II to earn a degree in business administration from Butler University. Following a career as a salesman and business owner, McGriff entered Garrett Theological Seminary, where he was voted Best Preacher by the faculty and graduated with distinction. During his 26-year ministry at St. Luke's Methodist Church in Indianapolis, McGriff spearheaded his congregation's remarkable growth in membership from 900 to 4,400, with average Sunday attendance increasing from 300 to over 1,850. McGriff received an honorary degree from the University of Indianapolis and the Outstanding Alumnus award from Butler University and was voted the Distinguished Alumnus of the year by Christian Theological Seminary. McGriff was also honored in 1993 by the Governor of Indiana with the "Sagamore of the Wabash." His sermons have been distributed nationwide by the United Methodist Publishing House.

Luke wrote this Gospel so "that you [Theophilus] may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught [i.e., catechesis]" (1:4). It proceeds with a barrage of questions. The first comes from Zechariah: "How shall I know?" (1:18). This is a question of knowledge. The angel Gabriel answers that we shall know by the word of God (1:19). The second comes from Mary: "How will this be?" (1:34). This is a question of agency, of how the Son of God can become human. Gabriel answers that it will be by the power of God (1:35). The third comes from Elizabeth: "Why me?" (1:43). Why should the gospel of Jesus Christ come to her? Mary answers that it has to do with God's choice, election, mercy, and salvation (1:47-55). The fourth has to do with John: "What then will this child be?" (1:66). Zechariah answers that he will be a prophet (1:76-79). John is not the Christ, but he will go before the Christ. Thus begins the catechism according to Luke, a series of questions in order that we may have certainty concerning the things we have been taught.

Preaching to the Hungers of the Heart is about words, most particularly, it is a book about the Word, the living Word of God, found in the Scriptures, and embodied once and for all in the person of Jesus, the Word made flesh. In Preaching to the Hungers of the Heart Fr. James Wallace offers a nuanced consideration of the homily as nourishment. He focuses on three common liturgical contexts: feasts of the Lord, feasts of Mary and the saints, and the sacramental rites. He relates the preaching that occurs within each area to one of the heart's basic hungers: for wholeness (the great feasts of the Lord), for guidance (feasts of Mary and the saints), and for meaning (various rites). He also addresses the spirituality of the preacher as it is worked out in the process of preparation. For preachers and students in schools of ministry who are preparing to preachPreaching to the Hungers of the Heart will serve as a useful tool to help satisfy the hunger to preach the Gospel. It includes homilies that provide excellent starting points for preachers looking for ideas. Chapter one considers the image of feeding God's people with the Word of God. Chapter two, considering the innermost hunger of the human person, looks to the preaching that takes place on the great feasts of the Lord and how such preaching can nourish the hunger for wholeness. Chapter three returns to the hunger for meaning already mentioned and extends to the other sacramental celebrations the homily's capacity to meet this hunger, including those addressed by the various sacramental celebrations of the Church such as baptisms, weddings, funerals, rites of reconciliation, and anointing of the sick. Chapters four and five present the homily as responding to the hunger to belong. The final chapter considers one other hunger of the heart, unique to the preacher, referred to by John Paul II as a hunger to preach the gospel (Pastores Dabo Vobis, no. 28). Chapters are "Preaching's Task in a New Millennium: Feeding God's People," "Preaching the Feasts of the Lord and the Hunger for Wholeness," "Preaching Within the Sacramental Rites and the Hunger for Meaning, "Preaching Through the Saints and the Hunger for Belonging: I - The Saints," "Preaching Through the Saints and the Hunger for Belonging: II - Mary," and "Cultivating the Preacher's Hunger: 'To Make the Gospel Known and Loved.'" James A. Wallace, CSsR, PhD, is professor of homiletics at Washington Theological Union. His previous works include Preaching Through the Saints and The Ministry of Lectors published by The Liturgical Press. He has also authored numerous articles and has given preaching conferences and workshops in the U.S. and abroad. "

Daniel Harris--a Vincentian of the Congregation of the Mission Western Province--taught preaching for the forty-two years of his priestly ministry at seminaries in Illinois, Missouri, Colorado, and California. Nearly every Sunday, Dan also preached in nearby parishes--and he preached amazingly. With a transparent love for the Eucharist and a keen sense of the biblical texts for each liturgical season, Dan nourished fortunate congregations with wit and insight into the Christian life as we live it today in our families and neighborhoods. Dan inspired seminary students and congregational listeners to understand, celebrate, and live their Christian lives with apostolic devotion. A Year of Vincentian Preaching collects thirty-nine homilies preached by Dan in St. Louis according to the seasons of the liturgical year. These homilies are beautifully crafted and worthy of reflective reading and prayer by listeners and preachers. A Year of Vincentian Preaching remembers a remarkable preacher and teacher of preachers to his listeners, students, confreres, and colleagues. It also offers a corpus of high-quality homilies for study by new and seasoned preachers seeking to hone their craft in biblical preaching and preaching the just word.

The Rochester College Sermon Seminar and the series of books it has inspired have been built on the conviction that Christian preaching today needs revision. Such reforming begins with a close and faithful reading of Scripture, an engagement so serious that the world of Scripture ultimately sets agendas and invents expectations for meaningful life...In this present volume, too, we wish to grant the book of Hebrews the opportunity to pull all of us into the world it envisions, allowing it the power to judge, convict, and form us into a community God desires. This is not an easy task for several reasons, most notably the fact that the world of Hebrews is quite alien from our own...Like previous volumes in the Rochester Lectures on Preaching, the current work is divided into two parts. The first is a collection of four related essays meant to orient the reader to the world clearly conceived in Hebrews. The second half appropriates this orientation with sermons for particular Christian congregations. - Excerpts from David Fleer's Introduction

Careful biblical interpretation; insights into contemporary life; polished delivery; humorous anecdotes; these are the building blocks of preaching that genuinely reach people. Right? Wrong, says Ellsworth Kalas. We have all encountered preachers who seem to know all the fine points of exegesis and inflection, yet whose sermons leave us surprisingly unmoved, aware that we were in the presence of good speaking, but not great preaching. The difference, Kalas reminds us, lies in that hard-to-describe, yet essential quality known as soul. Soul is the collection of those perspectives and convictions that matter most to the preacher. Soul preaching means offering one's particular ideas, attitudes, and convictions fully to the congregation. When one preaches with soul, one engages the biblical text with the core of one's values and beliefs. Soul preaching is, in other words, simply giving the whole self to the task of proclamation. While the concept may sound simple, the reality is anything but. In the clear, insightful style for which he is known, Kalas takes readers on a path of discovery, introducing them to the unique gifts that they can bring to preaching, and the best way to engage those gifts in preparing and delivering the sermon.