Rejoice!?

ask our new church secretary to find out why we’re short this time—we might not know until next week though since it’s Roberta’s very first day today!

Nov 28, 2008 at 6:48 AM

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Society of Biblical Literature

Walter Brueggeman whose work in Old Testament I greatly admire, or like New Testament scholar and bishop N.T. Wright who seems to be turning into the CS Lewis of this generation, biblical scholarship certainly undergirds the work I do as a pastor. It shapes my own reading and study of Scripture, is a resource for sermon preparation, and helps me think theologically about the rest of my ministry as well.
 

For me, highlights of this year’s SBL include:

(1) since the Academy of Homiletics (i.e., Preaching) was meeting at the same time this year, there were a number of sessions on preaching—too many to take in them all—but I was able to take part in several excellent sessions on collaborative forms of sermon preparation, preaching in the context of the congregation, biblical studies and preaching;

(2) an afternoon of papers focused on the Bible, ethics, and the environment—this session was standing room only, partly because of the topic and partly because of Terence Fretheim who is apparently well-known and well-respected although I had never heard his name before….his paper was excellent though, and I look forward to sharing his work sometime in an adult Sunday school class;

(3) many many other excellent sessions that will either directly find their way into my preaching and teaching in the coming year or will indirectly help shape my ministry;

(4) the chance to network with other scholars and pastors, including some of the professors from Canadian Mennonite University; Eastern Mennonite Seminary; Tabor College (a Mennonite Brethren school in Kansas); a Methodist pastor friend who has been working on a sermon-writing project with me over the last year;

(5) book displays of recent books and standards, all at 40%-50% off, so this was a great place to invest my book allowance—I’ve already started reading Prayers for a Privileged People by Walter Brueggeman and am looking forward to reading Marva Dawn’s new book How to be Well when You’re Ill. Both of these are written by scholars, but definitely not in the stereotype of the dry academic—they are also lively works of faith, very concrete and useful.

(6) as you can tell, I've returned with a lot of new ideas and energized for ministry--if you're interested in hearing more, please ask me!

Nov 28, 2008 at 6:42 AM

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Brain Surgery?

To find out, check out T & T Clark's publisher's blog at http://tandtclark.typepad.com/ttc/

Nov 20, 2008 at 3:22 PM

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More on "Encouraging One Another"

hugs, smiles, prayer (although I did actually mention that one!), greeting one another instead of walking by without saying anything, saying thank you, asking a question of interest, simply being present (which reminds me—I was told there were 70 people in the balcony on Sunday!). I hope we can think of many more ways to encourage one another!

Nov 17, 2008 at 5:06 AM

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