Preaching Through the Year of Luke is the ninth in a series of books devoted to presenting examples of preaching excellence.

These sermons, collected from the 1999 Preaching Excellence Program and from clergy nationwide, use biblical passages for the liturgical year C, which focuses on the Gospel of Luke. Sermons for the major holy days as well as a selection of Sundays throughout the year will be helpful to pastors preparing to preach, as well as laypeople who seek a better understanding of the year C lectionary passages.

Preaching Through Holy Days and Holidays is the eleventh in a series of books devoted to presenting examples of preaching excellence from parishes in the Episcopal Church. These sermons, collected from clergy around the country, focus on preaching the Holy Days and Holidays of the church and secular calendar.

Contents include sermons for:
-- the High Holy Days (Christmas Eve, Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Easter Evening, and Pentecost)
-- major festivals (The Presentation of Our Lord, Ascension Day, The Transfiguration of Our Lord, All Saints' Day)
-- Feasts...

Preaching as Prophetic Calling is the twelfth in a series of books devoted to presenting examples of preaching excellence from parishes throughout the Episcopal Church.

This volume addresses the difficult and essential area of preaching a prophetic word. What does a prophetic sermon look like without being shrill, and without being filled with "musts," "oughts," and "shoulds"? This collection of sermons includes examples of prophetic preaching that are visionary and that speak in ways that offer radical comfort as well as radical challenge.

Preaching as Pastoral Caring is the thirteenth in a series of books devoted to presenting examples of preaching excellence from parishes throughout the Episcopal Church.

This volume addresses the difficult and essential area of pastoral preaching as a kind of spiritual leadership in which compassionate healing and courageous confrontation are experienced not as polar opposites, but as inseparable.

Schlafer's book is an adventure in homiletical spirituality and imagination. It leads us through reflection and practical exercises to deepen our self-awareness as preachers. These exercises allow us to discern whether we are poets, storytellers, or essayists; discover our preaching "parents" and mentors, and develop a preaching style that avoids rigidity and self-preoccupation. Developed in workshops and conferences around the country, Your Way with God's Word can also be used in diverse settings and groups, including homiletical workshops, sermon reflection groups in the parish, and...

Schlafer looks at the preacher's task at the "high times" of the church and the secular year, those occasions on which expectations run high and emotions can be intense. He explores the temptations and pitfalls of preaching at weddings and funerals; baptisms and ordinations; civic holidays like Memorial Day and Thanksgiving; and the high holy days of Christmas and Easter. He also discusses preaching at times of tension and conflict in the church, the responsibilities of a guest preacher, and how to handle preaching missions and retreats. Included in each chapter are helpful summaries of what...

David J. Schlafer, acclaimed preacher, teacher, and writer, weaves words and ideas like a Celtic braid. He places us in the company of some of the people who appear in the Gospel of John Nicodemus, the woman at the well, the woman taken in adultery, Martha and Mary, the man born blind, the bride and groom at Cana and examines them in two unusual sources of light: .The classic line from C. S. Lewis: Every idea we form of God, God must, in mercy, shatter. .John Newton's hymn Amazing Grace . Schlafer offers refreshment: He helps us refresh our ideas of God. He refreshes the meaning of the...

Offering a fresh approach to homiletics, David J. Schlafer provides an invitation to preaching by way of metaphor. Starting with the fire of Scripture, and engaging in the work of preaching as play, Schlafer offers new ways of approaching the preaching moment. Taking into account the preacher's call, the stages of preparation, the role of the congregation, and the presence of the Holy Spirit in the midst of it all, we discover that playing with fire is a sacred act indeed. Two metaphors dance together across the pages of this book: fire and play. Two metaphors, plus a hunch: that texts of the...