The Gospel as Improv

Mary Gene Boteler

Trustee, Louisville Seminary

October 27, 2017
Mark 10:17-30

Life is not measured by the past, but what we do next.  This is true for nations as well as for individuals.  What will our children and grandchildren say about the worth of our lives?
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Preaching in the Post-Modern World

Otis Moss III
Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago

Greenhoe Lecture
March 3, 2008

How are we to speak to the members of a generation of great potential who are exiled from the church? They live in an environment of tragic contradictions. Destiny and despair fused together change the concept of preaching. This generation no longer knows the stories that traditional preachers love to tell. The text of this lecture is not available.
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The Testimony Edit: Writing Ourselves Back into the Story

Anna Carter Florence
Associate Professor of Preaching, Columbia Theological Seminary

Caldwell Lecture
March 4, 2008

A preacher speaks the truth that she sees and believes –a witness at a precise moment in history. We need to be willing to hear the testimony of the preacher, and the preacher needs to be the witness to the story, not the center of the story. Listen to the lecture. The lecture begins five minutes into the recording following the introductory remarks and introduction of the speaker. The text of this lecture is not available.

Counter-Cultural Preaching

Debra J. Mumford
Frank H. Caldwell Assistant Professor of Homiletics

Caldwell Lecture
March 3, 2008

Counter-cultural preaching is Dr. Mumford’s term for a type of prophetic preaching that critiques various aspects of American capitalism. It explores the devastating consequences of consumer culture on personhood and relationships when consumerism overrides all else. Listen to the lecture. Please note that the lecture begins 7 minutes and 30 seconds into the recording following the introductory remarks and introduction of the speaker. Read the lecture in PDF.

Preaching from the Borders: The Impossibility of Hospitality

Cláudio Carvalhaes
Assistant Professor of Worship and Preaching

Greenhoe Lecture
March 4, 2008

Sermons have a strange force. They can change the history of people’s lives and entire communities. What we preach feeds the thread of the cultural values in our society. Preachers have changed and keep on changing the lives of many people around the world. Preachers can and do make history happen. And yet, in spite of this powerful force, to preach is as fragile as a candle in the wind. In order to become a good preacher one has to be, first, a good worshiper. One has to learn to pray and talk to God first, before one is able to talk about God to others. Listen to the lecture. Read the lecture in PDF.