Congregations and Sermons: A Biblical Scholar's Vision for Imaginative, Communal Sermon Listening

Though we express this in different ways across the spectrum of Christian traditions, we receive the Bible as a sacred text, "useful for teaching, reproof, correction, training in righteousness." In many traditions, sermons emerge, ideally, out of deep engagement with scripture. What difference does this make for those who listen to sermons? How do we train our ears, hearts, and minds to listen to God's voice in sermons? This session explores this by reflecting on different ways that Christians engage the Bible, and by commending engagement that is critical, imaginative, and personally and communally transformative.