Dearly Beloved,
What a gift to be steeped in the word, to spend a week immersed in worship and to listen to some of the greats preach. I am spending this week attending the Festival of Homiletics virtually. I'm doing some of this from home and today and tomorrow, I'm spending time away and allowing myself to delve fully into this time.
There is something about preaching. I'm sure you've noticed by now that it is a part of my vocation and calling that I love -- the art of story telling, of wrestling with a two-thousand year old text, finding ourselves in God's still-unfolding story. But that's not all a sermon is. At its best, I believe, a sermon and preaching is a stepping into the sacred conversation with God in a particular and intentional way. In the sermonic moment, the preacher has the task of bringing together the voice and call of God, the cry of our siblings, the longings and wrestlings of our own heart, our own community and their own sense of faithfulness and weaving each of those pieces together into words.
As I have preached more and more, I have tended towards asking more questions -- inviting you, my congregation and community into the questions, the wonderings and the wrestlings that the scripture elicits. But that is not everyone's practice or tradition. In some traditions, there is much more of a prophetic bent -- a proclamation of what it means to be faithful, of what is called for in this moment, of the temptations and sins that pull us away from God's love and the idols that we have put in God's place.
One of the things I love about this Festival of Homiletics is that I get to be on the receiving end of the word, of God's still-unfolding story that we each get to be a part of. I find myself challenged and invited and fed. What a gift.
I look forward to being back with you on the 21st for Graduation Sunday and our congregational meeting. A reminder that we will be voting on whether or not to sell the property at 832 N Lincoln Avenue. Please pray about that decision this week. Our decision, most fundamentally is not about money or property or even the future. Our decision is about how we can best live out God's call to us right now. Our decision is about how we can best use our resources to support and facilitate the work that God is calling us to do, the ministry God is calling us to do in this season. I'm grateful to be in prayerful discernment with each of you about this.
With love and gratitude,
Thandiwe
