For Every Matter under Heaven: Preaching on Special Occasions

"For everything there is a season," as the writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us, and that includes preaching. Beyond ordinary Sunday morning worship, many other "seasons"--special occasions--arise for preaching in the life of the church, whether by virtue of the secular calendar or celebrations or circumstances in the congregation or community. For Every Matter under Heaven: Preaching on Special Occasions offers preachers a process for creating sermons that are biblically grounded and relevant to the occasion.

Two obvious occasions of this sort are weddings and funerals; however, church anniversaries, dedications of new buildings or furnishings, commitment of pledges in stewardship season, and ordination and installation services also call for preaching on a special theme or topic. In addition, some congregations acknowledge secular holidays, such as the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving Day, in worship. Pastors are often called on to preach at events outside the church. And all congregations face local or national tragedies and crises that call for a word from the Lord.

These occasions require a different kind of sermon--or at least a different process of preparation. Most preachers have been taught that sermons begin with a biblical text, usually a text prescribed by a standard lectionary. Beverly Zink-Sawyer and Donna Giver-Johnston offer preachers a process for finding appropriate sermon texts for special occasions by considering the occasion itself, the listeners who might be gathered, and the ways God is at work in that time and place. Through this process, preachers can offer a word for every matter under heaven.

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For Every Matter under Heaven: Preaching on Special Occasions

"For everything there is a season," as the writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us, and that includes preaching. Beyond ordinary Sunday morning worship, many other "seasons"--special occasions--arise for preaching in the life of the church, whether by virtue of the secular calendar or celebrations or circumstances in the congregation or community. For Every Matter under Heaven: Preaching on Special Occasions offers preachers a process for creating sermons that are biblically grounded and relevant to the occasion.

Two obvious occasions of this sort are weddings and funerals; however, church anniversaries, dedications of new buildings or furnishings, commitment of pledges in stewardship season, and ordination and installation services also call for preaching on a special theme or topic. In addition, some congregations acknowledge secular holidays, such as the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving Day, in worship. Pastors are often called on to preach at events outside the church. And all congregations face local or national tragedies and crises that call for a word from the Lord.

These occasions require a different kind of sermon--or at least a different process of preparation. Most preachers have been taught that sermons begin with a biblical text, usually a text prescribed by a standard lectionary. Beverly Zink-Sawyer and Donna Giver-Johnston offer preachers a process for finding appropriate sermon texts for special occasions by considering the occasion itself, the listeners who might be gathered, and the ways God is at work in that time and place. Through this process, preachers can offer a word for every matter under heaven.

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For Every Matter under Heaven: Preaching on Special Occasions

For Every Matter under Heaven: Preaching on Special Occasions

For Every Matter under Heaven: Preaching on Special Occasions

For Every Matter under Heaven: Preaching on Special Occasions

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Overview

"For everything there is a season," as the writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us, and that includes preaching. Beyond ordinary Sunday morning worship, many other "seasons"--special occasions--arise for preaching in the life of the church, whether by virtue of the secular calendar or celebrations or circumstances in the congregation or community. For Every Matter under Heaven: Preaching on Special Occasions offers preachers a process for creating sermons that are biblically grounded and relevant to the occasion.

Two obvious occasions of this sort are weddings and funerals; however, church anniversaries, dedications of new buildings or furnishings, commitment of pledges in stewardship season, and ordination and installation services also call for preaching on a special theme or topic. In addition, some congregations acknowledge secular holidays, such as the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving Day, in worship. Pastors are often called on to preach at events outside the church. And all congregations face local or national tragedies and crises that call for a word from the Lord.

These occasions require a different kind of sermon--or at least a different process of preparation. Most preachers have been taught that sermons begin with a biblical text, usually a text prescribed by a standard lectionary. Beverly Zink-Sawyer and Donna Giver-Johnston offer preachers a process for finding appropriate sermon texts for special occasions by considering the occasion itself, the listeners who might be gathered, and the ways God is at work in that time and place. Through this process, preachers can offer a word for every matter under heaven.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781506465807
Publisher: Augsburg Fortress, Publishers
Publication date: 12/18/2022
Series: Working Preachers , #12
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 228
File size: 3 MB

About the Author

Beverly Zink-Sawyer is professor emerita of preaching and worship at Union Presbyterian Seminary and an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). She is the editor of the Abingdon Women's Preaching Annual Series 3, the author of From Preachers to Suffragists: Woman's Rights and Religious Conviction in the Lives of Three Nineteenth-Century American Clergywomen, and one of the authors of the 2008 New Proclamation commentary.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

"For everything there is a season" Beverly Zink-Sawyer Donna Giver-Johnston

1 From Context to Text 1

"A time for every matter under heaven" Beverly Zink-Sawyer

2 Baptisms 17

"A time to be born" Donna Giver-Johnston

3 Funerals 33

"A time to die" Donna Giver-Johnston

4 Calls, Commissionings, and Commitments 53

"A time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted" Beverly Zink-Sawyer

5 Congregational Conflicts, Closures, and Changes 73

"A time to break down, and a time to build up" Donna Giver-Johnston

6 Older Adult Communities 95

"A time to weep, and a time to laugh" Beverly Zink-Sawyer

7 Holy Days and Holidays 115

"A time to mourn, and a time to dance" Beverly Zink-Sawyer

8 Occasions Beyond the Walls of the Church 141

"A time to keep silence, and a time to speak" Beverly Zink-Sawyer

9 Weddings and Divorces 161

"A time to love, and a time to hate" Donna Giver-Johnston

10 Crises and Tragedies 185

"A time to kill, and a time to heal" "A time for war, and a time for peace" Donna Giver-Johnston

A Benediction 213

"[God] has made everything suitable for its time" Donna Giver-Johnston Beverly Zink-Sawyer

Notes 217

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