Yesterday I had the privilege of attending some of the Grad Project presentations at the Atlantic School of Theology. Laurie and I left here in the wee hours of the morning and made our way to Halifax. We sat in on three presentations. The first was about Gossip in the church – malicious Gossip and good gossip. It was wonderfully done, although I am not convinced that there is such a thing as good gossip. On the other hand, Rachael, the presenter touched on the damage that is often caused by gossip and that this is present in the church just like all other places in society. We were reminded that this certainly is not in keeping with the gospel and we need to be aware of the damage that such conversations can cause.
The second presenter was a chap from the Salvation Army and his topic was Hot preaching. In it he explored the place of preaching in the Salvation Army however his words , I believe, are important for all of us. I really loved this one perhaps because preaching is such an integral part of my ministry and I like to believe that it is not a dying art! He talked of a variety of understandings about what happens in preaching but the one I resonated with was that of incarnational preaching. As the words are spoken and the Word shared the Christ becomes present in our midst and through the words of the preacher the word of God can be heard. Every Sunday, as I stand to preach, I commend my words to God and I pray that what I speak might touch the soul of some person and enable one to be changed, empowered, comforted and/or inspired to action in some way.
The third presenter was Anne Hoganson, a familiar face to many in this congregation. Anne talked about spontaneous prayer. She named the reality that for many praying does not come easily especially when one is asked to pray in the public arena. She explored some of the reasons for this and the importance and power of prayer in the lives of the community of faith. Prayer is that connection between us and the source of our being.
It was a privilege to be able to hear these presentations and to be the recipient of their wisdom and insight. While I came away with some new tibits of knowledge and things to think about what I received beyond that was a sense of WOW! All three presenters were filled with such a passion and grace, a presence of the spirit and a joy for the gospel that I could not help but think how blessed we are as a Christian Community to have such leaders in our midst!
Blessings
Valerie