The author is a minister member of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), serving, since 2008, Pulaski Heights Presbyterian Church, Little Rock, Arkansas. A borderline Luddite, he is ill at ease in the world of video worship services, though that is the world he himself stepped out into in the course of these sermons, when, due to the outbreak of COVID-19, his congregation moved from in-person to online-only worship. The sermons, however, are not about the world of video worship services, nor are they about COVID-19. They are about striving to proclaim God's word in human words that will invite understanding and renewal in the church.The author's congregation is small, elderly, and largely appreciative of serious sermonic wrestling with theological truth. In their visitor brochure, they describe themselves thusly: We are followers of Jesus Christ, striving together to serve the future ruled by the truth and grace of God. In the power of the Holy Spirit, we seek not to be conformed to the world as it is, but to let our lives and world be transformed by the gospel Christ came bringing.Here in Little Rock's Hillcrest Community, we seek to be a center of worship, theological learning, generosity, and courage, where hearts are lifted, minds stretched, and wills moved by the guidance and grace that God has spoken and speaks into the world through the life and mission of Jesus.We see inclusiveness, the loving embrace of one another in and amidst our differences, as a visible sign of the new humanity that God is calling into being.
