Clergy Day, February 23, 2017 

For all active clergy of the Diocese of Bethlehem, Clergy Days are a time for collegiality and development. Retired clergy are welcome.

The Episcopal Preaching Foundation presents Micah Jackson. 

Preaching Face to Face: Preaching as Conversation 

It's become somewhat common to think of preaching as a kind of conversation. But what if that was more than a metaphor? We'll look at traditional homiletic topics and cutting-edge linguistics to find out what it might might mean for our preaching to take conversation seriously.

Session 1: God, Scripture, and the Congregation: Preparing a conversational sermon

 Sermons don't come fully formed out of our thoughts. They are born from the conversations that we are always having: in our prayer life, in our reading of Scripture, in pastoral interactions throughout the week. We'll look at how to benefit from these conversations as we prepare to preach.

Session 2: Proclamation, Sending, and Repair: Delivering the conversational sermons and preparing for the next week.

Even if our preaching is conversational, that doesn't mean we give up our authority and responsibility as teachers and leaders in our communities. Conversational preaching doesn't necessarily mean giving up our sermon time to others. However, it does mean there we should pay some attention to how we speak during the sermon and how we listen afterwards.

Micah Jackson is the Bishop John Hines Associate Professor of Preaching and serves as Director of Comprehensive Wellness. Professor Jackson joined the Seminary of the Southwest faculty in June 2008. His academic interests include the spiritual discipline of preaching, homiletic form, and postmodern construction of the relationship between preacher and congregation. His previous courses have ranged from "New Media in Worship and Preaching" to "Political Preaching" and "The Preacher's Self." Professor Jackson is a frequent instructor at the Episcopal Preaching Foundation's Preaching Excellence Program and other workshops, having served since 2008. He is also the Chair of EPF's Program Committee. He is a popular guest preacher and teacher at congregations and clergy gatherings throughout the diocese and country.

 MDiv, Meadville Lombard Theological School 

MTS, Seabury-Western Theological Seminary 

PhD, Graduate Theological Union

Agenda

  9:30  Check in & Hospitality
10:00  Session I
11:30  Break
11:45  Eucharist
12:30  Lunch
  1:15  Session II
  2:45  Announcements/Bishop’s remarks/Closing Prayer