Undone by Easter: Keeping Preaching Fresh

by William H. Willimon

Preachers dread the arrival of Easter, because these holy days bring the daunting task of finding new ways to tell the old stories everyone's heard so many times before. But what if it were only we preachers who are bored with these stories? asks Will Willimon. What if people keep showing up at Easter because the story of God's victory over death continues to hold power for them? What if the point were not to capitulate to the culture's insatiable appetite for novelty, but to tell the old stories faithfully, trusting in the power of the Spirit to make the text, the congregation, and yes, even the preacher come alive again in the preaching event?

With Willimon's Undone by Easter pastors can face the prospect of preaching their next Easter sermon with joy and confidence rather than worry about finding something to say.

116 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2009

About the author

The Reverend Dr. William H. Willimon is Professor of the Practice of Christian Ministry at the Divinity School, Duke University. He served eight years as Bishop of the North Alabama Conference of The United Methodist Church, where he led the 157,000 Methodists and 792 pastors in North Alabama. For twenty years prior to the episcopacy, he was Dean of the Chapel and Professor of Christian Ministry at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.

Reviews

[Will Waller · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bishop Willimon is a religious masturbator. Every time he thinks, he ejaculates onto a page. His writing flits around like a stream-of-consciousness text, moving from atonement theology to eschatology to a history of Easter. This book gets two stars because it does make wild points like "we rarely walk away from conversations with the Trinity without a limp." What the hell does this mean anyway?

Willimon is the anti-Harper Lee. Everything he thinks, he writes. A man who believes that his thoughts are valid is the highest form of prideful. Next time, think before you leap, Bishop Willimon.

[Mortimus Clay · Rating 4 out of 5]

About a third of the way. Excellent read, as usual with Willimon. @ 90% I agree with.