Welcome to the new Pulpit Resource. For over three decades Pulpit
Resource helps preachers prepare to preach. Now, in partnership with
Abingdon Press and MinistryMatters.com, I’m expecting that this
homiletical weekly will be available with fresh and timely accessibility
to a new generation of preachers.
Pulpit Resource doesn’t claim to be the sole resource needed for
engaging, faithful, biblical preaching, but it does give you, the pastor
who preaches, accessible, easy-to-use help on your way to a sermon.
No sermon is a solo production. Every preacher relies on inherited
models, mentors in the preacher’s past, commentaries on biblical texts
by people who have given their lives to such study, comments received
from members of the congregation, last week’s news headlines, and all
the other ways that a sermon is communal.
No Christian does anything on their own. We live through the witness of
the Saints; preachers of the past inspire us and judge us. Scripture
itself is a product of the community of faith. A host of now forgotten
teachers taught us how to speak. Nobody is born a preacher. In the
Christian faith, when someone has a genuinely new, individual thought
about God, it is often called heresy.
Pulpit Resource is equivalent to sitting down with a trusted clergy
friend over a cup of coffee and asking, “What will you preach next
Sunday?” Whenever I’ve been asked by new preachers, “How can I develop
as a preacher?” My usual response is: get in a group of preachers. Meet
regularly. Learn how to give and how to receive help. Sort through the
advice of others and utilize helpful insights.” That’s Pulpit Resource.
I try to give you just what you need to begin the journey toward a
sermon. I hope that Pulpit Resource stokes, funds, and fuels your
imagination. Rarely do I give you, in the Proclamation section, a full
sermon that can be preached verbatim. That leaves plenty of room to
insert your own illustrations, to make connections that work within your
congregational context, and to speak the word in your distinctive
voice.
Sermons are occasional: God’s word spoken in a particular time and
place, to a particular people. Only you can do that. All I try to do in
Pulpit Resource is to give you my insights and ideas related to a
specific biblical text, and then leave you free to allow the Holy Spirit
to work within you and your particular congregational context.
I’m honored that you have invited me to be a partner in your preaching. I
welcome your comments about Pulpit Resource, when my insights have been
helpful and even when they were not. Occasionally shoot me some of your
sermons, so I can enjoy learning about the ways you have adapted my
material to your pastoral context (will@duke.edu).
Onward in the great adventure of preaching!
Will Willimon
