How Odd of God: Chosen for the Curious Vocation of Preaching

· Westminster John Knox Press
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160
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About this ebook

Election is a strange word when used in theology. It brings to mind old debates about what God might or might not have done before the foundation of the world. But viewed apart from that historical baggage, the word election is about a central gospel idea: that in Jesus not only does God choose to be God for us but chooses us to be for God. The calling of the disciples in the gospels is a story of election, of how God chooses to transform the world by choosing us to be messengers and agents of that transformation.

So it is, says William Willimon, that election becomes not just the content of our preaching but the means as well. God chooses preachers. How unlikelyhow oddis it that God should entrust the proclamation of the gospel to, well, us? This unpredictable, electing God reaches out to save the world and then leaves it in the hands of preachers to get the word out? Through us, through our stammering tongues and faltering hearts, the preached word becomes the Word of God. If you wonder why you drag yourself into the pulpit every Sunday, if you worry that your sermons aren't reaching past the front pew, then read this book and be encouraged. God chooses; God chooses preachers; God chooses you.

Election is a strange word when used in theology. It brings to mind old debates about what God might or might not have done before the foundation of the world. But viewed apart from that historical baggage, the word election is about a central gospel idea: that in Jesus not only does God choose t...

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About the author

William H. Willimon is Professor of the Practice of Ministry at Duke University Divinity School. A retired bishop of The United Methodist Church, he served previously as Dean of Duke Chapel. Recognized as one of the most effective preachers in the English-speaking world, he is the author of several books, including A Guide to Preaching and Leading Worship and The Collected Sermons of William H. Willimon, published by Westminster John Knox Press.
William H. Willimon is Professor of the Practice of Ministry at Duke University Divinity School. A retired bishop of The United Methodist Church, he served previously as Dean of Duke Chapel. Recognized as one of the most effective preachers in the English-speaking world, he is the author of sever...

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