When God Rocks Your World - Will Willimon

"The gospel in just two sentences. The good news of Jesus Christ: 1) God is going to get the world that God wants. 2) No matter how much God has got to rock your world to get it." - Will Willimon

So concludes Will Willimon's sermon from Mark 13 preached two weeks ago at Duke Chapel. That text has parallels to this week's gospel reading in Luke 21. Powerful stuff. Sermon starts at the 33:35 mark and runs for nineteen minutes.

Will Willimon's sermon, "Together..."

Together ... from St. Luke's UMC on Vimeo.

This sermon was preached at St. Luke's UMC Gethsemane Campus (Houston, TX) on January 8, 2012. Find more from St. Luke's at their vimeo site here.

William Willimon - "God on the Prowl" from 30goodminutes

William Willimon, "God on the Prowl" - PG5316 from 30goodminutes on Vimeo.

I like Willimon's sermons because 1) they're usually brief 2) he does an excellent job of keeping God as the subject of his preaching. This isn't as easy as it sounds. The subject of most of our sermons (mine included) tend to be ourselves. Willimon's sermons reinforce his statement that I quoted earlier in the week,"Preaching that is boring is preaching that talks first about us and then only tangentially about God. Preaching that is faithful is preaching that talks first about God and then only secondarily and derivatively talks about us. The God of Scripture is so much more interestingly than we are."

Preaching Quote of the Week

"Preaching that is boring is preaching that talks first about us and then only tangentially about God.  Preaching that is faithful is preaching that talks first about God and then only secondarily and derivatively talks about us.  The God of Scripture is so much more interestingly than we are."

Will Willimon from "My Advice for Preachers" in Best Advice: Wisdom on Ministry from 30 Leading Pastors and Preachers (edited by William J. Carl, III)

Can't attend a preaching conference this year? Watch one online.

I enjoy listening to other preachers talk about the craft, but I can't always take the time away from family or church to travel to one of the many conferences offered around the country. The good news is that, now, with the Internet, you can find more resources than you could ever work through. One that I have great affection for is the work being done at The Kyle Lake Center for Effective Preaching at George W. Truett Seminary. They've started hosting several events a year. When I can, I attend.  When I can't, I watch online. Currently they have the entire Will Willimon and Haddon Robinson Lectures available with more on the way.

To listen to the first Willimon lecture, click through the jump.

Willimon on the God Who Gathers In

"Gather Them In" from St. Luke's UMC on Vimeo.

Why you should take more risks this Sunday

I've been reading Will Willimon's, Calling and Character, a book on clergy ethics.  Far from being a dry read as the topic might imply, Willimon's words have deeply challenged me - especially his call for preachers to be bolder.  The resurrection of Jesus demands bold preaching.  He writes, "We ought to preach in such a way that, if Jesus has not been raised from the dead, then our sermons are utterly incomprehensible."  Later he broadens that challenge to include our entire ministries, "We ought to minister in such a reckless, utterly-dependent-upon-God sort of way that, if God has not vindicated the peculiar way of Jesus by raising him from the dead, then our ministry is ridiculous."

So, looking over your sermon for this Sunday, would your words make sense to your congregation without the reality of the resurrection?  Many sermons would - those, "here's a way to be a slightly better person than you were last week" kind of sermons.  The resurrection means more than that.  Maybe it's time for rewrite.  Maybe it's time to take some bigger risks.

A sermon from Will Willimon on the disciples' post Easter encounter with Jesus

Below is a sermon from Will Willimon preached last year on the third Sunday of Eastertide. The text is John 21:1-14. The sermon starts at 27:45 and ends at 46:44.