Connections: Year C, Volume 1, Advent through Epiphany (Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and Worsh)

In this day when potential listeners are biblically and theologically untutored, distracted and disconnected, Connections is just what the doctor ordered for contemporary preaching. Connections is well named, for it equips preachers to preach sermons that connect with both Scripture and contemporary life, sermons that are both faithful to their biblical contexts and fitting to the contexts of their congregations in the world. Connections provides an antidote to biblical lectures with little acquaintance with contemporary life as well as to strings of stories that lack biblical grounding. We owe the publisher, editors, and authors of this series a debt of gratitude for the gift of this resource for preaching. -Alyce M. McKenzie, Le Van Professor of Preaching and Worship, Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor, and Director, The Perkins Center for Preaching Excellence, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University

Pity the poor preacher. The sabbath seems to come back around every ten minutes and pastoral life is already full to overflowing. Thank God for Westminster John Knox Press and for these editors and this small army of writers. The fantastic biblical resources in Connections will help many poor preachers remember the biblical and theological substance of our calling. Reading these commentaries reminds me of the joy of leading in the church-we actually get to participate with God in the renewal of creation. -Jason Byassee, Butler Chair in Homiletics and Biblical Hermeneutics at the Vancouver School of Theology

Given the deep crisis we face in church and in society, the recovery of the biblical text in all its glorious truth-telling is an urgent task for us preachers. For much too long the text has been neglected through complacency, timidity, and embarrassment. Now is the time of recovery of the test. There are few resources as useful for such a recovery as Connections. It is interpretive work done by our best interpreters, skilled in our best methods, grounded in deep faith, and linked to lived reality. This resource is an immense treasure that invites boldness and imagination in our shared work of proclamation. -Walter Brueggemann

Having to preach Sunday after Sunday can lead preachers to acquire laser vision into biblical passages so that we can discover a message for the sermon quickly and skillfully. This relentless routine, however, can also lead us to neglect subtle nuances in the texts. Without adding days to our sermon preparation process, Connections brings to us a wide range of scholars and preachers to interpret lectionary texts with a thick examination of their interrelatedness to the wider ancient biblical canon and the depths of the contemporary world. The pairing of these two concerns in commentaries on every lection for the year will help preachers discover wonderful, new homiletical possibilities that we missed three years ago. -O. Wesley Allen Jr., Lois Craddock Perkins Professor of Homiletics, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University

Here is a resource that puts hundreds and hundreds of focused scholars in the preacher's study, ready to help shovel the diamonds of Scripture for the Sunday sermon. Every congregation in the country should buy their pastor a complete set, both for their own good and the good of the world. -Barbara Brown Taylor