by Guy Sayles | Jun 23, 2010 |
One of the finest examples of what I mean by “eschatological preaching” is the address Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963. That address concerned, of course, very real problems which confronted the nation...
by Guy Sayles | Jun 17, 2010 |
Whenever I have stopped to ponder my practice of preaching, as I have lately been prompted to do, I have returned, almost always, and again just now, to a late-19th century classic, Phillips Brooks’ Lectures on Preaching, in particular to his well-known description of...
by Guy Sayles | Jun 3, 2010 |
The environmental crisis gushing up from the Gulf of Mexico, threatening marine life and the delicate, vital, and beautiful ecosystems of marshlands and shorelines is, among many other things, a cause for grief, a call to prayer, and a summons for thoughtful...
by Guy Sayles | May 25, 2010 |
This past Sunday, First Baptist Church of Asheville had a service of dedication for our new hymnals, a significant event for us, because it reaffirmed the centrality of God-focused, joyful and reverent worship for our community of faith. Our music ministry led us to...
by Guy Sayles | May 17, 2010 |
Montezuma, GA, the little town where I once lived and worked, is only a few miles from Andersonville, site of the dreadful Confederate prison-camp where Union soldiers were kept in horrific conditions. The air is thick with the ghosts of suffering and hostility, but...
by Guy Sayles | May 10, 2010 |
From years and years now of conversation and counseling and from my own experience as a son and a parent, I am convinced that very few of us live with any active regret about material things our parents could not or would not provide for us. Hardly anyone grieves the...
by Guy Sayles | May 3, 2010 |
One of the fine pleasures of a few days off (which I had last week) was, at last, having the time and space to savor Marilynne Robinson’s novel Home. Robinson’s two earlier novels, Housekeeping and Gilead (to which Home is intricately related), are among...
by Guy Sayles | Apr 21, 2010 |
At the heart of all genuine faith and all authentic change and conversion, whether sudden or gradual, dramatic or quiet, is humility. Spiritual growth and maturity require us to acknowledge that there are limits to our own strength, goodness, and knowledge. We need to...
by Guy Sayles | Apr 14, 2010 |
In his novella “Remembering,” Wendell Berry includes this moving poem/prayer that I often have in mind as I move to the pulpit or lectern to speak or pick up a pen or press my fingers to a keyboard to write: Heavenly Muse, Spirit who brooded on The world...
by Guy Sayles | Apr 5, 2010 |
Alice Walker’s novel The Color Purple tells the story of Celie, a poor black woman whose husband, Albert, is violent and abusive. Albert isolated Celie from her family, censoring the mail so that she never heard from them. Celie’s sister, Nettie, a missionary in...
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