Creative Preaching on the Sacraments

Creative preaching can help you move the sacraments to the center of your congregation's spirituality by making Scripture, personal experience, and the sacraments intersect in such a way that a wealth of meanings surfaces. Satterlee and Ruth seek to expand the range of meanings and associations people bring to the sacraments. They examine indepth how theology, scripture, context, and timing relate to effective sacramental preaching. Six sample sermons are included:
1. In Whom Do You Place Your Trust? (baptismal sermon by Stephen Castleberry)
2. The Water of Life (baptismal sermon by Heichler)
3. The Kiss of Peace (exchange of peace sermon by Craig A. Satterlee)
4. The Ultimate Business Luncheon (Communion sermon by Lester Ruth)
5. Crumbs Under the Table (Communion sermon by Cathy Felber)
6. A Short, Multisensory Baptismal Sermon (adapted from Ambrose) Recommended for pastors as a practical guide for preparing sermons that will make the great truths of God visible and tangible in the sacraments. Especially designed for clergy, chaplains, and catechists.

A member of the North American Academy of Liturgy and an elder in the Texas Annual Conference, Lester Ruth has published articles in several professional journals in addition to the books, Accompanying the Journey (Discipleship Resources, 1997) and A Little Heaven Below: Worship at Early Methodist Quarterly Meetings (Kingswood Books, 2000). Formerly pastor of First United Methodist Church, Overton, TX, and (1998-2000) assistant professor of Liturgical Studies at Yale University Divinity School and the Institute of Sacred Music, New Haven, CT, he is currently Assistant Professor of Worship and Liturgy at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky.
Craig A. Satterlee holds the Axel Jacob and Gerda Maria (Swanson) Carlson chair of homiletics at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (Illinois). Ordained in 1987 in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Satterlee served parishes in Fairport and Endicott, New York, before receiving a fellowship to study theological education at the University of Notre Dame in 1995. Concurrent with his graduate studies, Satterlee was interim pastor of St. Timothy Lutheran Church, Sturgis, Michigan, and chaplain of the candidacy committee for the Upstate New York Synod of the ELCA. An author and conference presenter on worship and preaching, he wrote ""Worship Matters: Lent and Easter"" in Sundays and Seasons 2000 and ""Worship Matters: Summer"" in Sundays and Seasons 2001 (both Augsburg Fortress Press).