Published on
April 15, 2016
Video length
109 mins
Preachers know that Sundays are relentless—there seems to be one every week. Mary Hulst and Peter Jonker are every-week preachers, too; each of whom has recently written a book to help preachers tackle their daunting task successfully week after week.

Peter Jonker will consider particularly how finding a controlling image is a powerful tool for propelling a sermon forward and for speaking to the listener’s imagination. Mary Hulst will help preachers recover basic tools that will keep sermons from going off the rails (and how to put them back on the rails in case things start going bad on any given week!). This seminar will be practical and focused on the wonderful, if challenging, task of proclaiming God’s Word to God’s people.

Participants: Mary Hulst and Peter Jonker, moderated by Scott Hoezee

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