Pastor's Blog: A Passion Fulfilled
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Preaching is my passion in ministry. While I acknowledge the other legs of the pastoral stool (administration and pastoral care), preaching is the part of ministry that gets my heart racing. The privilege of proclaiming sacred texts in ways that relate ancient wisdom to contemporary settings is what I find most invigorating about ministry.
As a preacher, I understand the importance of finding resources that jog my work with a given text, or, better I should say, its work with me. The demands of pastoral ministry too often drain preachers of the energy required to impart Bible truth for congregations anxious to know if there is “any word from the LORD” (Jeremiah 37:17). To that end I have written a homiletical/devotional commentary, A Time to Every Purpose, as a source of encouragement and inspiration to those, both lay and clergy, who yearn to hear God speak holy truth into their anxious and uncertain hearts.
The format of the book follows Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary. Our congregation has become more familiar with the lectionary in recent years, and this commentary draws upon sermons, studies, and devotionals on texts that coincide with each season of the Christian Year (Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost); hence the title, which is taken from Ecclesiastes 3:1. My hope is that readers will find assurance in knowing that wherever they are in their faith journeys, God is at work and there is divine purpose for us to know.
I am indebted to Dave Carder, who first approached me with the idea of doing such a book, along members of the Mountain Brook Baptist Church/James D. Moebes Foundation who joined with several other members to provide the funding for its publication. The book was finished in the spring and published this summer, but I have waited until the completion of our 75th Anniversary emphasis before making it available.
If you are interested in securing a copy, you can contact Barbara Morgan. The cost of the book is $25. I am not receiving any money from the sales of the book. Proceeds will go back into the MBBC/Moebes Foundation to be used for future projects. So, this solicitation is not a personal one.
Know how grateful I am to our church for your prayers and support, and what they have meant to my preaching ministry. My only hope is that this book will give you some measure of joy in knowing that your devotion in this regard has resulted in something that might in some small way contribute to the advancement of God’s Kingdom as folk both in our church and outside of our church find benefit in knowing more the purpose God has for them to fulfill.
“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).