Preaching the Hebrew Texts

and Old Testament

Tuesday, October 1

and

Wednesday, October 2, 2019

LPreaching on the lections from the Hebrew and Old Testament texts is something that not everyone does or feels comfortable doing. 

This two day clergy day will provide both teaching and practicum in preaching from these texts.  Participants are asked to bring a sermon using Hebrew/Old Testament text and to be prepared to deliver it to a break-out group of 6-7 participants.

The registration fee is $100.00.

Each day of the conference begins at 8:30 am with coffee and snacks for a 9 am Conference start and continues through Compline which begins at 8 pm.

*Lunch and  Dinner will be provided on both days.*

The faculty for the seminar is provided through the sponsorship of the Episcopal Preaching Foundation. (preachingfoundation.org)

Registration Deadline is Monday, September 23.

To register, please click on the "Register Now" button below.  Payment must be made via Pay Pal using a credit card, so have you credit card info ready.  (A Pay Pal account is not required to register.)

Conference Leaders

The Revd Canon Charles A. Cesaretti

Father Cesaretti is a native of New Jersey and a Rutgers University Graduate.  He attended the Episcopal Church's seminary in Philadelphia and completed post-graduate studies at Princeton Theological Seminary earning a master's degree in theology.  As assistant to the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, his posting included being the envoy to oversee the international church and governmental relations of the Episcopal Church in Central America, East and South Africa, the Middle East, and Northern Ireland.  In 1990, Father Cesaretti became the assistant to the Rector of Trinity Church, Wall Street, where he was engaged in the reserach and development of parish outreach and mission.

The Revd Dr Brent Norris

Dr Norris, Rector at St Mary's, Asheville, NC, teaches preaching in the Diocese of Western North Carolina Deacon's Training Programme and is the Diocesan Ecumenical Officer.  He holds a BA in drama from Furman University, an MDiv from Sewanee, and a DMin from Columbia Theological Seminary.  Brent has served on the faculty of the Episcopal Preaching Foundation's annual Preaching Excellence Programme since 2005.  For most of those years he has done double duty as a preaching group leader and the conference liturgist/musician.

Dr Julian Andres Gonzalez Holguin

Dr Andres, Assistant Professor of Old Testament at Church Divinity School of the Pacific, is a Columbian scholar who considers education as fostering the principles of freedom of thought, conscience, and expression.  Dr Andres seeks to expose students to a wide variety of approaches to the biblical text, to challenge traditions of reading that are considered dominant and the official and legitimate hermeneutical methodologies and to design collaborative learning experience where students become responsible readers of the Bible.

Faculty

The Very Revd Will Mebane

Will is the rector at St Barnabas Episcopal Church in Falmouth, MA.  He interned at Christ Episcopal Church in Greenwich, CT where he began as a seminarian and was ordained to Holy Orders in The Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut and obtained his Master of Divinity with an award for preaching from Yale Divinity School at Yale University.  Will is currently active in the Episcopal Church serving as a member of the National Executive Council for the Episcopal Peace Fellowship (EPF) and on the leadership committee for its Palestine/Israel Network (PIN).  His involvement also includes membership on the Economic Justice Loan Committee and the Congo Network.  Will has also been active in the formation of next generation church leadership having recently served on the Board of Trustees for Berkeley Divinity School at Yale University from which he recieved his Diploma in Anglican Studies.  He has been Episcopal Chaplain of the Week at Chautauqua Institution.

Christine Parton Purkett

Christine has worked with preachers at Duke Divinity School since 1991.  She holds degrees in theatre and speech-language pathology and describes herself as a "professional pew sitter".  An experienced preaching coach, she is skilled at assessing the sermon and the preacher to encourage strengths and identify potential growth.  She lectures and facilitates retreats, workshops and conferences for clergy across denominations.  Christine is particularly interested in the preacher's voice and public proclamation of scripture as the seminal act of preaching.  She arranges scripture as reader's theatre, choric readings, and biblical story-telling.  Areas of particular study include the embodied sermon, cutting the "chaff" that clouds the message, and using fresh language that connects with our common experience.

The Very Revd Dr Sylvia Sweeney

Dr Sweeney is Dean and President of the Bloy House, the Episcopal Theological School at Claremont in the Diocese of Los Angeles, where she also teaches Liturgics and Homiletics.  Her doctorate is in Liturgical Studies from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley and she is a graduate of Seabury-Western Theological Seminary.  Before coming to Bloy House, she was a parish priest in congregations in Montana, Idaho, and California, and was the Ministry Development Officer for The Episcopal Diocese of California.  She is the author of Ecofeminist Perspectives on Ash Wednesday and Lent (Peter Lang Publishing, 2009) and has written and collaborated on numerous publications and discussion guides published and used within The Episcopal Church focusing on the sacramental rites, history and meaning.  These include several articles on marriage for the 2015 General Convention Task Force on Marriage and "Claiming the Vision: Baptismal Identity in The Episcopal Church", a video series on the development of the baptism rite in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer.  A central theme of her teaching and writing is the development of a twenty-first century baptismal ecclesiology as an essential common ground for conversation and cooperation between scholars and (lay and ordained) ministers.  Her current writing projects centre around developing a contemporary historical and theological perspective on the purpose and nature of Lenten liturgical and devotional practices.