Stories That Live

 These are thirty-six sermons hammered out on the hard anvil of life lived with a local community of faith.

Sometimes a preaching minister is overwhelmed with the inspiration of having something to say. Sometimes a preaching minister is overwhelmed by the responsibility of having to say something. These sermons fall into the category of the later. They were forged from the constant experience of having to answer the bell to preach each Lord’s Day regardless of circumstance. They were fashioned from the background of 49 years in the pastorate and six years with this particular congregation, one that presents to the proclaimer the pressure of knowing good preaching whether they hear it from me or not.

There is no consistent style or form to these sermons. Each sermon draws its substance and form from the experience of its respective text, as did the worship services in which they were proclaimed. The nature of these sermons is more inductive than deductive as were, of course, the parables from which they came. A conscientious effort was made to prepare and present these sermons in a way as to preserve the oral nature of preaching as well as the nature of the parable itself. The congregation at worship was invited to “hear” the scriptural texts and the sermons were delivered without a manuscript.

One quickly will note that there often are several different sermons preached on the same parable. Hopefully, this will preserve the integrity of the arena of interpretation as well as applying its truth to different situations at different times.                                                              - From the Preface

 Gary L. Carver is the pastor of the First Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee..  Carver is a graduate of Samford University (B.A.) and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (M. Div. and D. Min.), and has done additional graduate study at the Candler School of Theology with Fred Craddock and Harvard Divinity School with Harvey Cox . He is also the author of Out From The Ordinary, Acting on the Absurd, Distinctively Different, Search for Serendipity and Living a Victorious Life with Tom Garrison.