Engaging the texts--welcome to the new editor of Preaching Helps!

Lundblad, Barbara K.

Fifth Sunday in Lent--Seventh Sunday of Easter

This is my first issue as editor of Preaching Helps and I am honored to begin this work with all of you. I say "with all of you" because preaching is never a solitary task but one done in the company of colleagues and congregants. Also I will be looking for writers for future issues of Currents and I'm happy to receive your recommendations. We know there are many preaching resources available in print and online. What we try to do in Currents is offer brief comments that are accessible and easy to take along wherever you are working on a sermon. Long-time readers may notice that I have changed the name of the first section of Preaching Helps to "Engaging the Texts" rather than "First Reading." The former title seemed confusing since that is also the name of the first lectionary reading and whenever possible, writers will comment on all three readings and sometimes the Psalm as well.

I recently retired from Union Theological Seminary in New York City where I taught preaching for seventeen years. Before that I served as a parish pastor in northern Manhattan and as campus pastor at two New York City colleges. In spring 2015 I will teach preaching at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. I am grateful to Karyn Wiseman and Brad Froslee for accepting my invitation to write during a very busy time at the end of the semester and the beginning of Advent.

The Rev. Dr. Karyn L. Wiseman is Associate Professor of Homiletics at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. An Elder in the United Methodist Church, she pastored congregations in Kansas and New Jersey for fifteen years. She received a Ph.D. in Liturgical Studies from Drew University with a concentration in preaching. Her most recent book, I Refuse to Preach a Boring Sermon: Engaging 21st Century Listeners, was published in 2013 by Pilgrim Press.

The Rev. Brad Froslee serves as pastor with the people at Calvary Lutheran Church in south Minneapolis. Brad grew up on a farm near Vining, Minnesota, and studied at St. Olaf College and Harvard Divinity School. He has a passion for preaching and worship, community connection, and grace as a springboard to action.

God bless your preaching and your listening as we move into the holiest season of the church year.

Note: On behalf of the whole Currents editorial staff, lam delighted to welcome Barbara K. Lundblad as the new editor of Preaching Helps. We introduced her more formally in the last issue, in eager expectation of the first publication of Preaching Helps under her leadership. That time has now come! As she introduces herself and expresses gratitude to the authors who have written the commentaries for this issue, we express gratitude for her leadership and for her own lively commentaries on several lectionary texts in the pages below. We trust that you will find them deeply engaging and helpful as you encounter the texts in relationship to your own lives and contexts of ministry. Kathleen Billman

Barbara K. Lundblad

Editor, Preaching Helps