Will Willimon observes, in Accidental Preacher, that the promises of marriage are future intent, not present activity. They presuppose challenges to faithfulness will come, and that promise will be needed to undergird service when circumstances would otherwise deter us. There’s no such thing as instant friends, which is why the Service of Marriage is in …
We clean out our church store-room constantly. The main reason is so that folk can’t give in to the temptation to put materials that have passed their use-by date back into service. In Accidental Preacher Will Willimon writes of an early pastoral appointment in a church that had a Congregation of four hundred accommodated in …
The temptation to adjust preaching from offering Christ to offering helpful advice about how to live you best life now has an old pedigree. The temptation should be resisted at all costs. We live by the word of God alone. From Accidental Preacher by Will Willimon. I’m old enough to remember when preachers were expected …
I hope if you hear a sermon tomorrow it does not offer counsel about therapeutic change, but an invitation to spiritual reanimation. From Accidental Preacher by Will Willimon. We mainline, non evangelical, noninvasive preachers pat a congregation on the head as we murmur, “There, there, God loves you as you are. Promise me you won’t …
Will Willimon relates a lesson about Scripture that he attributes to learning from Karl Barth in his memoir, Accidental Preacher. Sometimes preachers are tempted to figure out how to make texts relevant to the lives of hearers. Scripture calls us to realise that our lives need transformation, not fine-tuning. (You might think I’m cherry-picking all …
If you think that becoming a disciple of Jesus will lead to a settled, monotonous, status-quo, life that you’re in control of, think again. From Will Willimon’s memoir, Accidental Preacher. It’s odd that some characterize God’s creative work as the making of order and stability. I’ve found the opposite to be true; you’ll know it’s …
Will Willimon tells the story of his first Christmas in a new appointment serving a very small church, having received the news that his estranged black-sheep father has died in his memoir Accidental Preacher. His stories resonate with experiences of pastoral life, not in a self-serving or manipulative way that presents the pastoral role as …
