And now, a word from your sponsor....
First, thanks for following this sermon blog and keeping up with my weekly homiletical musings at First Pres. I know you have all kinds of other things you could be doing with your time, and I'm grateful for your reading and listening.
Second, I wanted to let you know (if you haven't heard already) that this coming Sunday I'll be starting a fall sermon series based on the book The Year Of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs. This book was a New York Times bestseller back in 2007. Essentially the author – a self-described “reverent agnostic” who was raised as a Jew but says he’s Jewish as much as the Olive Garden is Italian – commits to a full year of following the Bible literally: all the laws, customs, and spirit of the writings of the Old and New Testaments. His book is insightful, thought-provoking, and humorous without making fun of the faith.
Throughout his book, he addresses some questions that are key to people of faith (and certainly preachers writing weekly sermons): if we are people “grounded in the Word,” as some like to say, what exactly does that look like? What parts should be followed literally; and what parts are more symbolism and metaphor? What does it mean to live out our faith when that faith is rooted in the Bible?
This is nothing more than a "heads-up" of what I'll be doing this fall. I'd encourage you (as I'm encouraging my church folk) to read the book this fall with me. In fact, everyone - church members and others - are welcome to join me for an informal "coffee talk" every Sunday morning from 10-10:30am where we'll discuss a chapter out of the book. We'll start that on Sept. 2. And after that, of course, you can just stick around for worship!
Thanks again for going on this journey with me!
Steve
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