I have been moving rather slowly this week as I have been recovering from a cold. I haven’t had a cold in about 3 years, and part of me thinks that I am just out of practice, as I was feeling pretty miserable … especially the flying to and from Toronto piece. It took a good day and a half for my ears to clear from the flight coming home, so it felt like I was in a tin can for most of those days. However, I seem to be slowly emerging from the fog.
Despite all that, I managed to mostly enjoy my 5 days in the big city … visiting with my BFF of many years, having a quick visit with Alana, watching baseball, and then on Sunday evening on to the “Lester Randall Preaching Fellowship” … an ecumenical annual conference for preachers that takes place at Yorkminster Baptist Church in Toronto. The event has been going for about 30 years and attracts big name preachers and teachers from Canada and the US. I attended once before in 2018.
I shared accommodation with Rev. Catherine MacDonald from St. James United Church in Dartmouth. One of the keynote speaders was Rev. Dr. Anna Carter Florence, who I have heard many times when I used to attend the annual Festival of Homiletics in the US. She is (from Wikipedia) “the Peter Marshall Professor of Preaching at Columbia Theological Seminary and an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA)”. She is known for her work on the historical, theological, aesthetic, and performative dimensions of preaching.”
I have been known to say that I would walk across Canada to see Anna Carter Florence. Also, I credit her for any preaching skills that I may have acquired over the years. She has an amazing ability to see the sacred in everyday events, to connect our own stories to the biblical story, and to insert a lot of humour into her sermons and workshops.
Anna Carter Florence did not disappoint. She offered a lecture and a workshop. Her workshop told stories of how she teaches her students to see “parables in everyday life” … and also introduced me to the work of Christi Belcourt’s Multisensory Moments: Wisdom of the Universe exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario. She uses images to get her students thinking … what do you see? Even that question elicited a multitude of responses from workshop participants.
You can see more of Christi’s work at Multisensory Moments: Christi Belcourt's Wisdom of the Universe | Art Gallery of Ontario
Her lecture on Tuesday morning was titled “Canaan, Jericho, Moab and Jerusalem: Preaching from the worst possible time and place.” She explored the stories of the women in Jesus’ genealogy in Matthew – Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba – and how we might read these stories today as examples of how to heal the wounds of the world todřay … indeed, again and again over time.
If you have the time … check out this 12 minute youtube sermon from Anna Carter Florence, which, although it is 3 years old, offers much hope for communities of faith, and individuals today. I find her one of the most engaging preachers I have ever experienced. This is from the introduction to the youtube video:
“At a youth conference that Anna Carter Florence attended a few years ago, the musician David Bailey played for one of the worship services. Florence, the Peter Marshall Professor of Preaching at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia, says, "He was a singer-songwriter who spent fourteen years in a fierce battle with cancer and wrote about it: what it was like to be a twentysomething person of faith, married with two children, and quite possibly dying...David told us...that when he was first diagnosed, he used to wake up in the morning thinking, 'Why me?' But then one day he woke up and said, 'Okay, God: what now?' And it changed his life." In today's passage from Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16, we are reminded that Abraham was a "What now?" kind of guy. Florence says of Abraham, "That’s real faith...Seeing God’s promises from a distance, and not breaking camp. Living like a stranger on this earth and dreaming from inside your tent." Listen as Florence explains how we can become "What now?" people too.”
(1261) "Tent Dreams," a Sermon by Anna Carter Florence from Hebrews 11:1-3 and 8-16 - YouTube
I also attended a workshop led by Rev. Susan Sparks, who I have also seen before, and who I found extremely engaging so wanted to see her again. Her workshop was called “Cross Training for Preachers: Leveraging Lessons from Unexpected Places”. I found that one pretty engaging as well. And, I attended a surprisingly (for me) informational and interesting panel discussion called “Facing the Future: Preaching in an AI World.” More on both of those next week.
This week … we hear the story of where the prophet Elijah finally heard the voice of God – in the “still small silence” … and perhaps I will also talk about some of the things that our Faith Study group has been learning about mystery, awe and the wonder that is all around us.
Have a great weekend … and Happy Hallowe’en (not my favourite time of year … but that’s a blog for another time …) but below are some pictures of my environment for the first two days. I remembered that when I lived there for 7 months from 2018/19, there was a box (or many) of decorations for every special day. It was lovely and festive.
And of course … here we go again … Let’s Go Blue Jays!
