|
Since 1977, the Journal
for Preachers provides a unique
resource for the high calling of
proclaiming the gospel.
Published quarterly in
time for Advent, Lent, Easter and
Pentecost, this valuable periodical is
available by subscription — $18 a year
in the U.S.
To
Subscribe (online)
PO Box 520
Decatur, GA 30031-0520
Online access to the
full content of current and past
issues also is available through an
ATLA library with ATLASerials.
|
Advent 2012 Foreword
Advent preaching in the
U.S. is never easy with our mad rush
toward Christmas, with a growing frenzy
of shopping and partying, or with a
deepening gloom because we can't shop or
party like we think we ought. Of course
Advent preaching has never been easy
anywhere or anytime--think of John as he
came out of the wilderness growling and
warning. But 2012 is the year of our
Advent preaching in the U.S. and it
brings with it its own historical
character and its own distinct
challenges that cannot be ignored or
simply subsumed into a kind of
generalized, non-historical Advent
preaching. And
among the distinctions of Advent 2012
for U. S. Christians are the hopes and
fears being generated by a Presidential
election. Whatever the outcome, polls
and public commentators suggest there
will be many who will be deeply fearful
about the future and perhaps some who
will be wildly confident about the
possibilities of political power. This
will be a large part of the world you
will be addressing in your Advent
preaching and we are all called to take
this particular world, this particular
historical moment with all of its
distinctiveness, seriously.
In this issue MaryAnn McKibben
Dana takes us through the Advent texts
and Guy Sayles and Will Willimon insist
in their insistent articles that our
Advent preaching is a
means that God uses to deconstruct
the idolatrous claims of both the
state and religion. Jane Vann
and Dave VanderMeer reflect on Advent
worship and Gary Charles provides a
sermon that grows out of a Presbyterian
church's staff working together in
Atlanta on Advent texts. Brian Blount
and Cam Murchison help the preacher with
stewardship preaching and Martin
Copenhaver and Frank Honeycutt each
provide a sermon. Liz Goodman recommends
one new book for the preacher and in the
Protagonist Corner a worship committee
tells how they knit together Advent
worship for a congregation in Clive,
Iowa.
And remember you will be
preaching during Advent 2012.
Erskine
Clarke
|
