Preach with Conviction

I think it was Goethe who said, after hearing a young minister, "When I go to hear a preacher preach, I may not agree with what he says, but I want ...

When We Love, God Acts

Once I was giving a talk to all of my [Jesuit] order's houses in the Midwest. I was the third speaker on a panel of three. I'm never nervous before ...

Preaching to One

Here's an easy method for testing whether a sermon can deliver: ... Change the setting from a public situation to an individual one. Take away the ...

How Long Is Too Long?

I do not think we should use television as the measure of all attention spans. I have heard people of all ages listen for hours as a speaker or two gives ...

Offering-Plate IOUs

Head usher, to the pastor: "Your stewardship sermons are improving. Still no money, but a lot more IOUs."

False Humility

"My sermon today is on humility, and in my opinion, it's one of the finest pieces ever written."

Breakdown

One proud, surly, lordly word, one needless contention, one covetous action may cut the throat of many a sermon, and blast the fruit of all that you have ...

Learning to Hear God

Eugene Lowry gave this advice to young preachers:

I try to teach my students how to trick themselves into hearing. You have to be out of control. When ...

Nourishing Sermons

In a recent issue of GLASS Window, a contributor recalls that several years ago, The British Weekly published this provocative letter:

"Dear Sir: ...

Losing God

Even sermon making, incessant and taxing as an art, as a duty, as a work, or as a pleasure, will harden and estrange the heart by neglect of prayer from ...