God is Gathering, All are Welcome

Amy Plantinga Pauw

Henry P. Mobley Jr. Professor of Doctrinal Theology

December 1, 2017
World AIDS Day
Isaiah 56:1-8

The pain and burden of stigma is an old and enduring problem.  Like Isaish we can rejoice in a God who welcomes the outcast.  God's house can be a place of healing and freedom for all people.  Listen to the sermon.

Voices of Advent

Amy Plantinga Pauw
Henry P. Mobley Jr. Professor of Doctrinal Theology

December 2, 2016
Isaiah 24:1-6, 2:1-5

Listen to the Advent sermon.

Whose Mind is Changed?

Susan R. Garrett
Dean of the Seminary
Professor of New Testament Studies

Exploratory Weekend
March 4, 2016
Isaiah 55:7-9
Mark 7:26 - 30

What would happen if we decided that there is more than one way of being a good Christian? What would happen if we chose to believe that there is enough grace to go around? What would happen if we stopped automatically judging our own way to be the best? Listen to the sermon.  Read the sermon in PDF.

Here I am, Lord! Now What?

Michael Jinkins
President and Professor of Theology

March 6, 2015
Exploratory Weekend
Isaiah 6:1-13
2 Timothy 4:1-5

Isaiah also reminds us that it is possible to be both prophet and priest at the same time. But we must never forget who is king. We can bear the people in our hearts, only if we bear also God’s full and redemptive purposes for them in our hearts as well.  Listen to the sermon.  Read the sermon in PDF.

A Little Child Shall Lead Them

J. Bradley Wigger

Second Presbyterian Church Professor of Christian Education

Spring Convocation Address
February 6, 2014
Isaiah 11:6-9
Mark 10:13-16

Maybe the church can stretch a little by welcoming children, maybe we can practice a little more often advocating for the least of these in society, perhaps we can cultivate richer imaginations for love’s sake. Perhaps we can trust a child to lead us in the ways of peace. Listen to the convocation sermon.  Read the sermon in PDF.

Babel’s Disasters and Sharing Another Vision

Christopher Elwood
Professor of Historical Theology

March 15, 2013
Genesis 11:1-9
Isaiah 43:14-21

Reading the story of the Tower of Babel in the age of climate crisis calls us to ask new questions about an old story. What is God’s concern in this text, where do we see God’s concern today, and what does that concern call us to do about such matters as the extraction of petroleum from the Alberta tar sands and the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline across the United States? Listen to the sermon.

Welcomed as a Child

Cynthia Campbell
Former President, McCormick Theological Seminary
Interim Pastor, Highland Presbyterian Church

A sermon in honor of Theological Libraries Month
October 5, 2012
Isaiah 49:13-15
Mark 10:13-16

We should bless the vulnerable and welcome them into the life of the church and the Kingdom of God just as Jesus welcomed children into his presence.  Listen to the sermon.

We Have a Strong City

Heather Thiessen

Part-time Director of the Women’s Center at LPTS

Feb 18, 2011

Isaiah 26:1-13

In a week of worship focused on the theme of violence against women, the text of Isaiah 26:1-13 challenges the people of God to remember that faithful response takes the shape of trusting, and working for, the transformation of suffering in the direction of joy, responding to God's promised redemption by longing and laboring to make it more concretely imaginable. Listen to the sermon. Read the sermon in PDF.

A Rich Feast for All Peoples

Amy Plantinga Pauw

Henry P. Mobley Professor of Doctrinal Theology

October 8, 2010—World Communion Service
Isaiah 25:1-10

Isaiah’s vision of a rich feast for all peoples reminds us that World Communion is never just about ourselves as Christians. Listen to the sermon. Read the sermon in PDF.

New Ways of Seeing, New Things Seen

Susan R. Garrett

Professor of New Testament

September 24, 2010
Isaiah 55:7-9
Mark 7:26-30

What would happen if we took our lead from the story of Jesus and the Gentile woman, and found new ways of looking at Christians outside the circles that we ourselves privilege? What would happen if we decided that there is more than one way of being a good Christian? What would happen if we chose to believe that there is enough grace to go around? Listen to the sermon. Read the sermon in PDF.

Tearing Down the Walls

Johnny B. Hill

Associate Professor of Theology

March 12, 2010

Isaiah 55:1-9

Listen to the sermon.

Taking the Measure of Things

Dianne Reistroffer
Professor of Ministry, Director of Methodist Studies, and Officer of Institutional Research and Effectiveness

April 3, 2009
Amos 7:8
Isaiah 28:17
Isaiah 34:11-12

Let us ponder the plumb line of the cross, the towel and the basin and the washing of feet, the personal acts of betrayal and faithful companionship, and the God of Love who, despite the multiple ways we fail to measure up, walks with us and never lets us go. Read the sermon in PDF.

Render unto God the things that belong to God

Clifton Kirkpatrick
Visiting Professor of Ecumenical Studies and Global Missions

December 3, 2008
Isaiah 2: 1-4
Luke 20: 19-26

A sermon offered on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Louiville Seminary celebrates Human Rights day through worship and through the commissioning of students and faculty who will be traveling to two parts of the world where human rights are fragile, South Africa and Israel/Palestine. Two of the lectionary texts for Dec. 3 call for turning swords into ploughshares and rendering unto God the things that are God’s. These texts inspired Christians sixty years ago to call for a universal declaration of human rights – and should do so for us as well in the 21st century. Listen to the sermon.

Wolves, Lions, and Lambs at the Table

Cláudio Carvalhaes
Assistant Professor of Worship and Preaching

Isaiah 65: 17-25
Luke 21:5-19
November, 16, 2007

The scripture texts for this week pull together two different visions of the future: one from Isaiah filled with life and joy, and one from Luke about Jesus predicting a disastrous future. How do we make sense out of that? What do these visions have to do with our agency in the world? The sermon initiates the conversation and then asks people to get together around the Eucharistic table to figure it out. Listen to the sermon. Read the sermon in PDF.

Behold I am Doing a New Thing

David Sawyer
Director of Lifelong Learning and Advanced Degrees
Associate Professor of Ministry

1 Corinthians 15: 20-26
Isaiah 43:19
Originally preached on April 28, 2006

The text for today from 1 Corinthians is the foundation of an old theological argument—the struggle between life and death in the resurrection of Jesus. The speaker once believed that if it can’t be measured, it can’t be real. He confesses here that was siding with death instead of life. The trouble with the epistemology he had adopted was that it left no room for God to do anything new. Listen to the sermon. Read the sermon in PDF.

Gathering the Outcasts of Israel

Amy Plantinga Pauw, Henry P. Mobley Professor of Doctrinal Theology

Isaiah 56:1-8

December 1, 2006

This sermon was preached in Caldwell Chapel on World AIDS Day, Dec. 1, 2006. The service was a collaborative effort among members of the Theologies of the Global South class. Isaiah 56:1-8 proclaims that God gathers the outcasts of Israel, and declares them to be the guardians of God's covenant, the loyal servants of the Holy One, the lovers of God's name, and heirs of God's promised future. Likewise, the outcasts of our day, especially those suffering the shame and stigma of HIV/AIDS, are at the head of God's banquet table, and the rest of us are invited to join them. Listen to the homily. Read the homily in PDF format.

Is God a Man of War?

Johanna W.H. van Wijk-Bos

Dora Pierce Professor of Bible
Professor of Old Testament Emerita

Isaiah 42:10-17
September 15, 2006

With righteous anger, on can ask if God is truly a man of war?  With her own translation of Isaiah 42 Bos answers this question. Listen to the sermon.