To the reader,
In my 30+ years of preaching, originality has never been a quality that I have strived for. If I have heard it, read it, or sung it, and the Gospel was made clear, I have preached it. The emphasis of my preaching is, of course, a function of the way in which I received the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. So the omission of words of judgment and those of exclusion and an emphasis on God's unrestrained mercy and inclusion shape all that I have preached. I cannot credit all the originators of my words and phrases. I am the beneficiary of my father's sermon files created over his 30 years of preaching, of ten years of attending the College of Preachers at Mt. St. Alban in Washington, D. C., a fifteen-year subscription to the homiletic resource Synthesis, the websites of numerous preachers in this country, Canada (Sermon & Lectionary Resources; primarily the work of The Rev. Richard J. Fairchild), and Australia (A Spark of the Spirit; the work of The Rev. Christopher John Heath).
Quoting Chris Heath, my sermons "may be freely quoted (or argued against) without acknowledgement."
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.
