Published on
February 18, 2013
Video length
118 mins

Kenneth E. Bailey and Christine Pohl will help participants to understand themes from the Sermon and to consider their power and beauty for preaching, teaching, and life in Christian community. Hosted by Cornelius Plantinga, Jr.

Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount contains some of the most famous verses in Scripture. Even people without a Bible have heard of the golden rule, the Lord’s Prayer, and, possibly, the Beatitudes. Even libertines quote one verse from the Sermon: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” But the Sermon on the Mount yields its greatest riches when good scholars and teachers dig them up for us and help us estimate their value. Kenneth E. Bailey and Christine Pohl are excellent diggers and their seminar will help participants to understand themes from the Sermon and to consider their power and beauty for preaching, teaching, and life in Christian community.

Presented at the 2013 Calvin Symposium on Worship

The Sermon on the Mount: Preaching, Teaching, and Living in Righteousness Part 1 

The Sermon on the Mount: Preaching, Teaching, and Living in Righteousness Part 2

Recent Media Resources

Deeper Church: Preaching and Worship to Shape Us as Communities of Tenderness (A Jazz Homily)

An evening of music and spoken word with Mark Glanville, accompanied by a jazz trio, reflecting on how preaching and worship can form deeper churches in a post-Christian context.

July 8, 2026 | 78 min video
Seeing Christ in the Face of the Other: Singing the Psalms for Reconciliation with Karen Campbell

In 2020, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland published the book Considering Grace, which narrates the stories of 120 people and their proximity to the troubles in Northern Ireland. Though clergy were applauded for often acting as first responders to the victims, wider questions regarding the denomination were raised. Could they have spoken up more and been a prophetic voice? In response, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland commissioned Karen Campbell to convene groups to produce a suite of songs, prayers, and liturgies from the psalms of lament to be used in congregational settings to voice lament, confess complicity, and raise deeper questions surrounding justice. This workshop will discuss the process involved and the questions raised and will include some of the songs, liturgies, and prayers that were produced.In 2020, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland published the book Considering Grace, which narrates the stories of 120 people and their proximity to the troubles in Northern Ireland. Though clergy were applauded for often acting as first responders to the victims, wider questions regarding the denomination were raised. Could they have spoken up more and been a prophetic voice? 

June 29, 2026 | 87 min video
How to Preach and Hear the Psalms

A workshop which shows participants how to preach genre-conscious sermons from the book of Psalms. Attention will be given to historical, literary, and theological issues with the aim of improving hermeneutical, generical, and homiletical practice. Participants, including hearers of sermons, will expand their knowledge of the psalms as a genre, develop genre-conscious forms and structures, and cultivate new strategies for homiletical practice.

June 23, 2026 | 82 min video