Doing ecclesial theology in Kentucky

Next week I have a succession of speaking engagements in Kentucky that in various ways will be exercises in "ecclesial theology" as explored in this blog: "doing theology in, with, and for the church--in the midst of its divisions, and toward its visible unity in one eucharistic fellowship."

On Sunday, January 22, I will be the guest preacher for the 10:45 AM worship service at Lyndon Baptist Church in Louisville. In connection with the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (January 18-25), my sermon "Let the Bible Be the Bible" (Jeremiah 31:27-34; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5; Luke 18:1-8) will challenge my fellow Baptists to embrace and embody one of the gifts our tradition has to offer the rest of the church--a radical biblicism that at its best draws us into participation in the Triune God of the biblical story--even while acknowledging that we have received the gift of the Scriptures from the church that has preceded us and share in common with the rest of the church today this normative source of authority for Christian faith and practice.

Sunday afternoon from 2:30 until 5:30 PM I will lead a workshop for Eastern Area Community Ministries in Louisville based on my book Ecumenism Means You, Too: Ordinary Christians and the Quest for Christian Unity (workshop meets at Lyndon Baptist Church).

Sunday evening at 7:00 PM I will preach the homily for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity service sponsored by Eastern Area Community Ministries (also held at Lyndon Baptist Church). My homily "Christianity Unity--Christ's Victory, Our Task" (1 Corinthians 15:50-58; John 17:11-23) will develop the theme of the 2012 observance of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: "We Will All Be Changed By the Victory of Our Lord Jesus Christ."

Monday and Tuesday (January 23-24) I will participate on the program of a conference on "Christian Life and Witness: From the Academy to the Church" sponsored by the Center for Christian Discernment and Academic Leadership at Georgetown College in Georgetown, Kentucky. I will speak as a member of a panel scheduled for Tuesday at 9:30 AM addressing the theme "Academic Witness to the Church" that also includes Philip Thompson (Sioux Falls Seminary) and Christopher Hall (Chancellor, Eastern University), chaired by Brad Creed (Provost, Samford University).

I'm looking forward to these opportunities to do theology in, with, and for the church. Later this month I'll post material from some of these presentations here at Ecclesial Theology.