Lifting the Veil on Big-Time Sports

Marcia Mount ShoopPastor/Head of Staff, Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church

Festival of Theology and Reunion
Caldwell Lecture
March 28, 2017

Caldwell Lecturer Marcia Mount Shoop will discuss some of the impacts that our culture's obsession with sports and sports entertainment has on our spirituality.  Listen to the lecture.

Wrestling with God

Christine J. Hong

Assistant Professor of Worship and Evangelism
Chapel Worship Coordinator

October 2, 2015
Mark 5:21 - 42

Listen to the sermon.

When God Talks Back

Tanya Luhrmann
Watkins University Professor of Anthropology
Stanford University

April 14, 2014
Grawemeyer Award in Religion Lecture

How can rational people living in the 21st century believe that God speaks to them, and why should the rest of us take those people seriously?  Listen to the lecture.

Contending with the Beast

Lewis O. Brogdon

Assistant Professor of New Testament and Black Church Studies
Director of the Black Church Studies Program

November 8, 2013
Revelation 13:1-10

Apocalyptic images are not just helpful for the ancients as they sought to make sense of their suffering and poverty. These images are helpful in my attempt to describe what has proceeded out of the waters of the Middle Passage, centuries of colonialism, slavery, and racism. I believe the beast re-emerged and stands before us today. This sermon explores the importance of this image for the church today in the struggle against systemic evils like racism. In the end, this text calls for three things: a realistic faith, a relevant faith, and a resistant faith.  Listen to the sermon.

The First Temptation: A Sermon on Luke 4:1-13

Scott C. Williamson
Robert H. Walkup Professor of Theological Ethics

February 22, 2013
Luke 4:1-13

The devil tempts Jesus to prove his authority as the Son of God by commanding a stone to become a loaf of bread.  Even though he is famished after forty days of fasting, Jesus trusts that God will provide. This story parallels the experience of Civil Rights figures, like Sister Pollard, who echoed Jesus’ trust in God. During the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955, Sister Pollard, in her seventies, walked to work and refused the offer of a ride by saying “My feets is tired, but my soul is rested.” She shows a faith that endures hardships while trusting in God’s providence.  The good news is that God has given us the bread of life, the bread that satisfies our hunger for justice and thirst for righteousness.  Listen to the sermon.

God Can Go Where?

Tyler Mayfield
Assistant Professor of Hebrew Bible and Old Testament

September 21, 2012
Ezekiel 10:18-22

During a time of national crisis, Ezekiel dares to imagine a God who can move outside the Temple to be with God’s people. Listen to the sermon.

Hearts on Fire

Michael Jinkins

President and Professor of Theology

Luke 24:13-35

I John 1:7-9 and 4:7-17

Reflect for a moment on what it means for us that Jesus Christ calls us to follow him. We are born-again and again and again throughout our lives. We rise daily to new life in Jesus Christ. We keep on rising daily to new life throughout our lives.  Listen to the sermon.  Read the sermon in PDF.

The Next Frontier

Michael Jinkins
President and Professor of Theology

Stated Meeting of the Mid-Kentucky Presbytery
November 14, 2011
Luke 4:14-20; 10:1-2
1 Corinthians 1:18-31

President Michael Jinkins addresses the question of clergy shortage and invites us to reflect on our “loss of confidence in the church regarding the gospel of Jesus Christ and to identify our loss of confidence in the church for what it is. …Do we still have confidence in the power of God to seek and to save, to liberate, and to raise from death to new life?” Listen to the sermon. Read the sermon in PDF.

The Faith of Thomas

Christopher Elwood

Professor of Historical Theology

April 29, 2011
John 20:19-31

Christ is risen! But, even after Easter, there’s still bad news and the world may not feel redeemed. How do we respond, genuinely and faithfully, to tragic events that shake us to the core? Perhaps we can learn something from the exemplary faith of Thomas ….Listen to the sermon.

God's Longing

Frances S. Adeney
William A. Benfield, Jr. Professor of Evangelism and Global Mission

December 3, 2010
Psalm 50

Do we believe God wants to deliver us?  That God will deliver us?  Can we bring our troubles to God in doubt as well as in faith?  Listen to the sermon.  Read the sermon in PDF.

The Life of the Mind in the Service of God: Why a Thinking Faith Still Matters

Michael Jinkins

President and Professor of Theology

September 9, 2010

Convocation

Today, perhaps more than at any time since the Protestant Reformation, we need to recover a commitment to an intellectually rigorous faith, a courageous and imaginative faith, a thinking faith so memorably expressed in John Calvin’s phrase, ‘the life of the mind in the service of God. One of the great challenges of theological education and of the life of faith in our time is to make a case for that quality of thinking faith which does not shrink either from scholarship or from acts of compassion, from the adventure of critical thought or from the call to justice. Listen to the address. Read the address in PDF.

The Promise - Unfulfilled, Alive, Undying

Allan Boesak

April 27, 2010
Hebrews 11: 8-13

The heroes of our faith are not exceptional, superhuman beings; they are simply faithful believers who trust in God’s promise and expect to see it on earth. The key to faith is to believe in God's promise and work toward seeing it fulfilled on Earth. Listen to the sermon.

A Different World is Possible-The Accra Confession: A Call for Economic and Ecological Justice in the Heart of the Empire

Clifton Kirkpatrick
Visiting Professor of Ecumenical Studies and Global Ministries

April 26, 2010
Festival of Theology Lecture

The Accra Confession states that working to create a more just economy is essential to the integrity of Christian faith, and calls upon Reformed Christians to engage injustices in the world as an integral part of their churches’ witness and mission. Listen to the lecture. Read the lecture in PDF.

Acts of Faith: Interfaith Leadership in a Time of Global Religious Crisis

Eboo Patel's speech in acceptance of the Grawemeyer Award in Religion. The speech was given April 14, 2010 in Caldwell Chapel at the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Listen to the speech.

What to Do with Your Calendar

Susan R. Garrett
Professor of New Testament

February 12, 2010
Psalm 90:1-12
James 4:13-17

James is worried about those people who claim to follow the way and wisdom of God but in actuality are attracted to that illusory power and control that the world regards as success. Such people he calls “double-minded,” because they try to please God and live worldly lives at the same time. They say that they are friends of God but they live like friends of the world. Listen to the sermon. Read the sermon in PDF.

Considering God’s Call

Christine Coy-Fohr
Student Body President

October 5, 2009
Matthew 17:14-20

What does it mean for us to be fully human in the way that Jesus was fully human? Can we perform miracles in our human realm? Listen to the sermon.

Dusting Off the Magic 8 Ball: A Sermon on John 8:21-32

Burnetta Barton, Presbyterian, preached this sermon in Caldwell Chapel on March 18, 2009.

John 8:21-32

If the Magic 8 Ball cannot give us truth, if the theologians only point to the truth, then what is truth? Read the sermon in PDF.

Adrift with God

Today we begin a series by graduated seniors who volunteered their senior chapel sermons for this blog. The first entry is from David Jewel, Presbyterian.

Originally preached on September 10, 2008

Matthew 14:22-33
Romans 10:8-13

What must have it been like to have been grabbed by Jesus? Read the sermon in PDF.

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.

Focus. Relinquish. Love

Susan R. Garrett
Professor of New Testament

September 12, 2008
Proverbs 8:22-36
Philippians 2:5-11

Paul’s letter reminds us to put aside discord and work together to focus on the mission of the church. Read the sermon in PDF. (We are sorry to not have the audio version available for this sermon. There was an equipment malfunction that prevented the recording.)