Five Minute Homilies

Last updated on: October 26, 2016 at 2:17 pm by Hugh Hollowell

Five Minute Homilies 2016-10-26T14:17:49-04:00 Hugh Hollowell

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In our weekly services at Love Wins Ministries, we have short sermons. Like, super short. Like five minutes. Maybe eight.

Because no one ever said, “Man, I wish he had talked longer.”

But also because we don’t believe that the Spirit speaks only through the person behind the podium, but that the Spirit is available to all of us, and therefore what the Spirit says to Jack, or Marie, or Cowboy can be as valid – maybe more valid – than what the Spirit says to the “preacher” that day.

Our theology is saturated in the idea of community. We believe that God is best known in community, and that Scripture is best understood when examined in community. So we still have 20-30 minutes blocked out for the sermon, but the preacher only gets the first 5-8 minutes of it. After that, we open it up, and see what the Spirit says to the church.

And that is when the magic happens.

So the best way to experience the true magic of what happens in that room when folks who are black, brown and white, some of whom have PhD’s and some of whom are working on their GED, when some have five languages and some are struggling with English, when those folks get together to share their views on what the scriptures are saying to them.

But after some thought and prayer, I have decided to begin posting my five minute homilies here. Because while they are only meant to be a starting point for the conversation, maybe they can be the starting point for a conversation here, too.

So every Thursday (starting tomorrow) I will post a homily – usually the one I shared that week, since we worship on Wednesdays. We join much of the global church in following the Sunday readings for the Revised Common Lectionary, always being three days behind, since we don’t worship on Wednesday.

I hope you enjoy them, and I look forward to the discussions they bring up.

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