FORWARD

    What follows is a series of sermons that I delivered during the 1998-2002 time frame, while a member at the Bayou Oaks Church of Christ in Slidell, Louisiana. This congregation had a practice, called the Homily, that I had not seen before, and have not seen since. Just before the Lord's supper, a member of the congregation would speak, on a spiritual matter, related if possible to the crucifixion. My turn came up some six times. As I am incapable of speaking "off the cuff", I had to write my copy out longhand, and consequently, still have them. 

   So, you see, this is not a book, in the sense that it has a persistent plotline or recurring characters...unless my dog and Jesus may be considered "recurring"! But there is a recurring theme, that of being aware of the lessons God gives all who will hear and see what goes on in their lives, being willing to learn from the sheer process of living, and being grateful for the blessings we expect, as well as the blessings we do NOT expect. "Being AWARE, Being WILLING, Being GRATEFUL"--I think I just wrote my next title!

   While there are lessons to be gleaned from each of these brief talks, there is also much dross, that has no especial appicability in the here and now, but whose significance was limited to that time and that place. I have done what I could to limit that, as well as to change or omit names where I felt it necessary, if I could do so without lessening the piece's impact or materially altering its flow. 

   I hope reading these lessons profits you as much as writing them did me.

                                  Mark Teague

Reviews

[emmajoy]

Your Forword gives such an insight into you and how you came to post your sermons and, that in itself is very Christian .. thank you, Mark.

To read is to learn, to learn is to open the mind and heart into another's corner of the realm we call Life.

[Shep]

Hey captured my interest and willing to press “on and upward” as they say.

[hyancynthstofeedthysoul]

Interesting use of the language. Forward is a good description, as it denotes the direction. It makes me think of upward and onward. I look forward to reading the rest of your book.

[Ellen Hammond]

Guess I should have read this before posting the review to the first brief sermon since it answers the question I posed. Life is a continuous learning process when we open our hearts to glean the lesson from everything we encounter. Glad you wrote some of yours down and are sharing them with us now.