I am grateful for this opportunity to share some of the work that I have prayed and labored over for more than forty years. Try as I might, I have never completed a sermon manuscript and thought to myself: “There, it’s done.” Sermons, I believe, are, by the power of the Holy Spirit, more than completed manuscripts or extemporaneous words—eloquent or simple—proclaimed  by the preacher, but a means by which God speaks a word that sometimes challenges, frequently comforts, and always communicates the good news of what God has done and is doing through Jesus Christ in our lives and the life of the world.

I would be remiss if I did not thank David Russell Tullock for the invitation to submit these sermons for publication, my friend Will Deming for his kind words in the Foreword to this book, and my wife Mary Schutt Weaver, who edited the manuscript and who for almost fifty years has encouraged me, listened to me Sunday after Sunday, and gently offered constructive criticism along the way. Being a preacher’s spouse is no easy task, and she has fulfilled her role with grace, humor, and steadfastness. I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to the late Elizabeth Achtemeier, who taught me and others homiletics at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia. Her voice has echoed in my mind many times as I crafted Sunday sermons.

Preaching is always a two-way street: one proclaims while others listen. I am grateful to the members and friends of Hodges Presbyterian Church, Hodges, SC; Westminster Presbyterian Church, Columbia, SC; First Presbyterian Church, Savannah, Georgia; Westminster Presbyterian Church, Charleston, SC; First Presbyterian Church, Portland Oregon; and Memorial Presbyterian Church, St. Augustine, Florida, for their attentiveness, encouragement, honesty, and, when needed, forgiveness. I have been deeply blessed.

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J. Dudley Weaver, Jr., is a graduate of King College, Bristol, Tennessee. He received his D. Min. from Union Theological Seminary in Virginia and has served congregations in South Carolina, Georgia, Oregon and Florida. Aside from preaching and pastoral care, his greatest joy in parish ministry has been the preparation and leading of the Service for the Lord's Day.

Dr. Weaver is the author of “Presbyterian Worship: A Guide for Clergy” (Geneva Press, 2002), as well as several other publications, and maintains and active website, www.dudleyweaver.com.