A Healthy Ministry

James Blankenbeker

MDiv '13

October 5, 2017
Theological Libraries Month
2 Timothy 4:1-5

Listen to a sermon honoring libraries and librarians as bringers of truth.  Given as part of a celebration of Theological Libraries Month.

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.

A Letter to My Son about Beginning Seminary

Michael Jinkins

President and Professor of Theology

March 3, 2011

Exploratory Weekend

Job 28:28

Micah 6:6-8

1 Corinthians 13:12-13

James 2:24-26

Leviticus 19:1,17-18

President Jinkin’s sermon is a letter he wrote his son, Jeremy, not long after Jeremy discerned a call to ordained ministry. The letter explores what it means to begin seminary. This sermon addresses us wherever we are as we seek to follow Christ in trust and obedience, in the name of the Creator, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Listen to the sermon. Read the sermon in PDF.

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.

Psalm 130

Patricia K. Tull

A. B. Rhodes Professor Emerita of Old Testament

November 12, 2010
Psalm 130

Lament psalms help us to tell the truth about this world of wounds. Psalm 130 expresses expectancy, trust that God sees the chasm between what is and what ought to be, and is at work to transform this world of wounds into a garden of redemption. Listen to the sermon. Read the sermon in PDF.

Good News for a Troubled Church: The Legacy and Hope of the Black Church

The Rev. Lewis Brogdon

Director of Black Church Studies Program

February 26, 2010
Revelation 2:8-11
Black Church Studies Consultation

The message to the church at Smyrna speaks to the traditions of the Black Church in a unique and challenging way. John tells a church that is already troubled and poor that more trouble is on the way. John also instructs the church not to be afraid of what they will face. This message intersects with the legacy and hope of the Black Church in ways that challenge us to face the “tribulation” with hope and realism. Listen to the sermon. Read the sermon in PDF

Hannah's Drunken Desire

Johanna W. H. Bos
Dora Pierce Professor of Bible and Professor of Old Testament

March 13, 2009
1 Samuel 1-18 (Dr. Bos reads her own translation of this passage. The link here is given for reference.)

Hannah’s story is that of a woman coming into her full humanity. She represents the hard stories of many modern women. 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.

Sticking Close to Woman Wisdom

Amy Plantinga Pauw
Henry P. Mobley Professor of Doctrinal Theology

May 1, 2009
1 Cor. 1:18-25
Proverbs 8:32-9:6

God’s wisdom is alive in the world, and it is inseparable from justice and righteousness. Trust God beyond what you can see, beyond what you can understand. Listen to the sermon. Read the sermon in PDF.

Psalm 125

Patricia Kathleen Tull, A. B. Rhodes Professor of Old Testament

Psalm 125

Sept. 8, 2006

Psalm 125 proclaims that those who trust in God are are "like Mount Zion, which can never be moved, but abides forever." Ironically, Mount Zion has historically been located in three separate places in the course of Jerusalem's history. This sermon explores the ways that even this fact helps us better understand the nature of trust in God, which is always on the move, yet is rooted in the bedrock of divine faithfulness. Listen to the sermon. Read the sermon in PDF format.