Jesus' Radical Message: Subversive Sermons for Today's Seekers

Traditional preaching along with the mainline churches in which it has been most prevalent over the years is losing its appeal for growing numbers of people who are caught up in the dangers and confusion of our fragmented world. Many are hungering for a more powerful and challenging message rooted in Jesus life and teachings seeking clues about how to live faithfully amid the destructive social and personal pressures created by our nations exploitation of its position of global dominance. The sermons in this volume emerge from the conversion story of a Southern white Presbyterian pastor who was transformed by the civil rights struggle and who has chosen to live on the boundary between mainstream and marginalized people. Rooted in an understanding that Jesus gospel message is subversive of many of the dominant values and practices of our culture and our world today they are intended to be disturbing sermons. But they disturb for the sake of healing and hope always pointing to Jesus good news of the liberating possibility of beloved community inclusive of us all. Z Hollers collection of sermons Jesus Radical Message are exegetical models faithful to their texts but highly disturbing. He has taken familiar stories of Jesus and let them speak to modern readers as they spoke to the disciples of old threatening their prejudices and challenging their deepest commitments. They grow out of Hollers own experience--as all good sermons should do--are well-written and to the point. --Charles Cousar Columbia Theological Seminary I share with my friend and elder Z Holler two deep convictions: that the gospels call us to radical discipleship and that the Beloved Community Center of Greensboro is truly carrying on the work and witness of Martin Luther King. Zs journey of following Jesus and standing in solidarity with the BCC is remarkable for a white southern preacher of his generation reminiscent of Clarence Jordan and Will Campbell. His memoir and sermons testify to the wound of racism and to how gospel faith changes personal and political geographies. --Ched Myers Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries Having been associated with Z Holler on a daily basis for many years I have been impressed by his interest in and compassion for those in our society for whom the social legal and economic systems were a burden instead of offering help and deliverance. He worked diligently to understand their life situations and to confront those who controlled the systems. His vision of justice for all was always clear and his ability to articulate that vision is a challenge to any one of us who dare preach sermons based on the person and work of Jesus Christ. --William A. Stewart Minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) With a heart trained by scripture Z Holler listens to the pain of the oppressed. Bearing the particular burden of white Southerners he has painstakingly translated the pain of racial and class injustice into these sermons along with the dangerous memory of Jesus the Radical Messiah and Zs particular rendering of his demanding call to discipleship. Fresh and urgent here is a wonderful gift to the discipleship movement-inspiration to engage the word in all times and places. --Revs. Murphy Davis and Eduard Loring Open Door Community Atlanta GA Jesus was and is very radical as he proclaimed and gave witness to the in-breaking of Gods Kingdom. Z Holler gives witness to the radical nature of Jesus proclamation in these sermons with the aid of Scripture and his own scholarship. For a taste and sample read sermon number four Let us Go Across to the Other Side. You will want more! The sermons are deep and require reflection. Share reflection in a group or meditate on one each morning. You will be challenged and fed. --Rt. Rev. A. C. Marble Jr. Bishop of Mississippi retired 1993-2003 Bishop Assisting Diocese of North Carolina 2004 Z Holler a retired Presbyterian pastor is