Crafting Sermons in the Year of Luke with Rev’d Dr. Lisa Cressman

Crafting Sermons on Schedule in the Year of Luke: Life Giving Sermon Preparation in Year C
Rev’d Dr. Lisa Cressman, Founding Steward, Backstory Preaching
with the Very Rev’d Andrew McGowan, Ph.D., Dean Berkeley Divinity School at Yale
November 18-22, 2024 11 AM-12:30 PM EST

Too busy to even imagine having enough time and bandwidth for sermon prep?

• Do you feel pulled in a dozen directions?
• Does sermon prep get crammed into the margins of your time?
• Do you wish you had more time for what drew you to preaching in the first place—but find your week is spent tending to the tyranny of the urgent instead?

During one week, you will take part in five, 90” online Zoom sessions, where you will:

• explore key themes in Luke’s Gospel in Year C
• identify your current commitments and responsibilities
• evaluate which align with your values and your parish’s values, and which responsibilities simply have to be done
• make the difficult decisions necessary to grow and thrive as a preacher
• be fed by and enjoy sermon prep as a perpetual source of spiritual respite

So that by the end of the week, you will:

• understand the essential dimensions of Luke’s version of the Good News
• discern an ideal and dependable sermon prep schedule that will shift and support you as your ministry and personal life shift
• know when and how to deviate from the ideal
• plan for and know how to protect the time you need for sermon prep
• and enjoy the breathing room—spiritually, mentally, and physically—to sustain your entire ministry

Host or Publisher Berkeley Divinity School at Yale