Preaching, Sermons, Worship & Devotion, Ritual, Christianity 

The wind of the Spirit blew through St. Mary's Parish but it did not seem to touch the life of Maria Sanchez. Maria had been a faithful member of the parish all of her life. She was baptized there, confirmed there, married there. And yet, when the Spirit blew new life into the lives of so many in the parish, Maria felt excluded. From the Epiphany 2 story Richard A. Jensen writes that herein are contained stories you can ""stitch together"" with other stories to form a sermon. This is the approach to preaching that he has advocated in Thinking In Story. Readers will find 57 short stories based upon the Cycle C lectionary. Each is a contemporary adaptation of the biblical theme. This resource offers one story for each Sunday in the church year plus stories for Christmas Eve/Day and Ash Wednesday. Most stories are based on Gospel texts. Others are from First or Second Lesson or Psalms scripture. Jensen uses his story-telling techniques to weave tales with themes to strengthen believers' faith and to bring new meaning to scriptures. This is part of a three-book series on lectionary stories for preaching. Richard A. Jensen, Park Ridge, Illinois, a systematic theologian, is author of the CSS best-seller Thinking In Story. He is presently teaching homiletics at Wartburg Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa, and Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. - from Amzon