Sermons Without Church
Christian Century columnist Alejandra Oliva shares her experience of listening to recorded sermons even though she is hesitant to call herself Christian and says she isn’t looking for a church. “Every time,” she writes, “it is a 15- or 20-minute reminder of the sacredness of my work and the holiness of my belief.” (The article is behind a subscription paywall but non-subscribers can access a few free articles.)
Reader Recommendation: Sermons Without Church
Recommended by: Lee Hull Moses
Christian Century columnist Alejandra Oliva shares her experience of listening to recorded sermons even though she is hesitant to call herself Christian and says she isn’t looking for a church. “Every time,” she writes, “it is a 15- or 20-minute reminder of the sacredness of my work and the holiness of my belief.” (The article is behind a subscription paywall but non-subscribers can access a few free articles.)
Oliva works in immigration rights advocacy — a field she describes as spiritually and morally exhausting. It was in that worn-thin-ness that she began listening to sermons, and she found something she didn’t expect: sustenance. Her reflection reminds us that we never know who might be listening. It also challenges preachers to do the extra work of getting sermons out into the world, where people beyond our congregations can find them. As she puts it: when she listens through headphones, she knows it is not the same thing as sitting at the table — but the sermons are “sustenance, napkin-wrapped, generously passed along by those able to sit, those still holding a chair open for me.”
Why it might be helpful: Oliva’s reflection signals the importance of preaching and reminds us that we never know who might be listening. It also challenges us to do the extra work to get our sermons out into the world where people beyond our congregations can find them.
Reader Recommendations are suggestions submitted by Disciples preachers and are not created or fully reviewed by the Proclamation Project.
You might also find helpful:
- Engaging the Gadfly: Reflective Online, Hybrid, and In-Person Preaching in a Digital Age — A guide to preaching across digital, hybrid, and in-person formats in a changing landscape.
- The Preaching Life, by Barbara Brown Taylor — Barbara Brown Taylor’s classic reflection on preaching as a way of life and spiritual vocation.
- This Was *That* Sermon — A resource for preachers thinking about what makes a sermon linger with listeners.
