“Some people’s mothers told them not to talk about religion and politics in public,” says Lauren Winner, Author, Episcopal Priest, and Associate Professor of Christian Spirituality at Duke Divinity School. “Well, I grew up in a family where we talked about politics all the time, and my mother told me not to talk about religion or smell in public. Talking about smell, she said, was fundamentally declassee and might make people think about feet. As a preacher, and a divinity school professor, I’ve generally found it hard to avoid talking about religion in public, but I usually manage the other half of mom’s dictum. And then you get to the middle of the Gospel of John (11:1-12:8) and it’s kind of hard to avoid the topic of olfaction. So, today’s sermon is about smell. And actually, in its way, it is also about feet. So, apologies to my mother who I know is rolling over in her urn…”
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Amy Butler, is a former Senior Minister of the Riverside Church in New York City, Founder of Invested Faith, and a popular preacher, speaker, and writer. Visit her website at www.pastoramy.com
Michael Curry is the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church (USA), and the author of Love is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times
Brian McLaren is a speaker, an activist, and bestselling author of We Make the Road by Walking, Faith after Doubt, and his latest, Do I Stay Christian?
Will Willimon is a retired bishop in the United Methodist Church, a powerful preacher, and a prolific author. His most recent books include The Accidental Preacher and Stories by Willimon