Your Way with God's Word [Paperback]

Schlafer's book is an adventure in homiletical spirituality and imagination. It leads us through reflection and practical exercises to deepen our self-awareness as preachers. These exercises allow us to discern whether we are poets, storytellers, or essayists; discover our preaching parents and mentors, and develop a preaching style that avoids rigidity and self-preoccupation.

Developed in workshops and conferences around the country,Your Way with God's Wordcan also be used in diverse settings and groups, including homiletical workshops, sermon reflection groups in the parish, and preaching colleagues groups. The introduction to the book gives numerous practical suggestions for its use. As a personal preaching resource, this book is also a powerful aid to prayer and spirituality.

DAVID J. SCHLAFERis an Episcopal priest who has taught preaching at Nashotah House, Seabury-Western, the University of the South, Virginia Theological Seminary, and the College of Preachers. His previous books areSurviving the Sermon, Your Way with God's Word, andWhat Makes This Day Different?Schlafer conducts seminars and workshops on homiletics in the United States, Canada, and England.

As each person's signature is unique, so each preacher, says David Schlafer, has a distinctive preaching voice. This book is about that voice, but voice understood in a broad sense. Voice means more than tone, rate, style, and manner of presentation. It includes one's 'preaching parents' (models), special gifts, the context, and the voices to which the preacher has listened. The sermon, according to Schlafer, is a 'sacred conversation' in which the preacher orchestrates all the voices that he hears in the Scriptures and the culture. This book intends to guide the reader, through reflection and practical exercises (done either alone or in a group), to a deeper self-awareness of that distinctive preaching voice. Erwin J. Kolb,Concordia Pulpit Resources