Transformative Church

17 May 2015
Seventh Sunday of Easter
The Sunday after the Ascension
Easter 7B (RCL)
Acts 1:15-17, 21-26
Psalm 1
1 John 5:9-13
John 17:6-19

When clergy read scripture, particularly in lectionary study groups, they often read first for “preachable themes.” This is understandable, given the weekly task of coming up with something to say. But to my mind, the impulse is based on a misunderstanding of the purpose of the sermon; and also a misunderstanding of the “word” of God. The need to have “something to say” conceives the sermon as a passive reception of the “word” by the congregation gathered. The preacher may indeed aim at eliciting a response, a conversion either of individual lives or the life of the community. But that conversion is received from the preaching. Continue reading “Transformative Church”