In a time of divisiveness, poverty, oppression, and war, the messages of Schuyler Rhodes send a clarion call for renewal in the church. Like the apostles on Pentecost, Rhodes offers words that comfort and provoke; words that empower and give us vision of a better world. His sermons build on the gospel texts to bring spiritual insight and hope in place of cynicism and despair. Bringing the ancient biblical wisdom to bear on contemporary society, this volume is excellent for inspiration, study, and discussion.
These sermons tell the truth, unsettling or devastating as this may be to conventional Christian ears.... I love this little book. It weaves through our scripture with verve, dignity, and good humor; the touch is now light, now a flick of the whip, the words rife with the truth that both hurts and heals. (from the Foreword)
Daniel Berrigan, SJ
Schuyler Rhodes is the pastor of Temple United Methodist Church in San Francisco, California. He previously pastored Washington Square United Methodist Church in New York City and served as executive director and campus pastor for the Wesley Foundation, a broad-based campus ministry at the University of California (Berkeley). Rhodes' commitment to social justice and peace has taken him around the globe. Over the last decade, he has traveled to more than a dozen countries, serving as a delegate to several consultations of the World Council of Churches, as the secretary of the Social and International Affairs Committee of the World Methodist Council, and as the chair of the board of directors for Pastors for Peace and the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organizing. He has also been a consultant on Peace and Justice Ministries for the Methodist Church's General Board of Global Ministries, developing liturgical and training materials as well as representing the General Board at numerous national and international gatherings. A prolific writer, Rhodes is an honors graduate of Drew University Theological School (M.Div.) and the State University of New York at Potsdam (B.A.).