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- Title
Necessary Difference: A Sermon.
- Authors
Carlin, Nathan
- Abstract
The following is a sermon preached by Nathan Carlin at St. John's Church (United Church of Christ) in Houston, Texas, on January 27, 2013. In line with the conference theme-body/soul, spirit/flesh, self/other-the sermon focuses on several verses in Paul's first letter to the church in Corinth in which Paul discusses the Church as the Body of Christ. The sermon text (1 Cor. 12:12-27) was not chosen because the author was still thinking about the conference theme (the conference, as noted, took place on October 17-19, 2012); this text simply happened to be the lectionary passage assigned to the date. In the sermon, the biblical text, the psychological concept of 'the narcissism of minor differences,' and a story from the author's childhood (a story about Bible quiz competitions) are interwoven. The author felt that such a topic was appropriate for St. John's Church because the church, on the day that the sermon was delivered, was scheduled to meet about the topic of confirmation classes for youth. All of this is to say that sermons are often expressions of pastoral theology because sermons, while inherently theological, are also pastoral in that they are addressed to specific audiences and focus on matters that the preacher discerns to be of existential concern, both collectively and individually, for those whom the preacher is addressing. In terms of method and style, this sermon was written following the technique of Robert Dykstra as articulated in his Discovering a Sermon: Personal Pastoral Preaching.
- Subjects
SERMON (Literary form); CARLIN, Nathan; UNITED Church of Christ; PAUL, the Apostle, Saint; JESUS Christ; CLERGY; PASTORAL theology
- Publication
Pastoral Psychology, 2013, Vol 62, Issue 5, p775
- ISSN
0031-2789
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s11089-013-0532-x