Illuminating Sermons
Curating Illustrations That Inspire
- Preaching & Worship
- Publisher: Fortress Press (Augsburg Fortress)
- Published: 2025
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Publisher's Description
Good sermon illustrations are among a preacher's most persistent needs. However, Carlos E. Wilton argues that asking where to find good illustrations is the wrong question. In Illuminating Sermons, Wilton offers practical wisdom about how preachers can curate their own materials that extend beyond sermon illustrations. Using museum curation as a lens, this book presents the foundational habit of holy wonder to help preachers recognize short textual materials--metaphors, stories, quotations, and poetry--that shimmer with the possibility of inspiration. The book casts an imaginative vision for preachers to develop lifelong disciplines of attention, creativity, discernment, and personal organization as they acquire, store, and deploy materials that illuminate rather than illustrate. Illuminating Sermons provides an accessible approach for preachers to develop and sustain a practice to curate their own sermon illuminations. This easy-to-use approach makes the book ideal for seminary students in homiletics, preachers, and lay ministry educators who desire an innovative approach toward sermon preparation and development.
Endorsements (3)
“Praise for Illuminating Sermons I headed to the church parking lot after having preached during our 11:00 a.m. worship service, and an usher jokingly asked, “Did you get your book back?” She saw the confused look on my face. She laughed and said, “The book you talked about in the sermon. Did you get it back?” I laughed, too. Her husband also laughed out loud and said, “Pastor, that was a great story. People will remember that one for a long time.” Those two beloved church members made the point of Illuminating Sermons: Stories stick. Carlos E. Wilton takes readers on a masterful but very practical journey in helping preachers become curators who create, for their sermonic disposal, a cadre of tools for illumination, not just illustration. As someone who regularly preaches, I found Wilton’s guidance, in a category-by-category form, essential for moving from high-level abstraction to concrete illumination. This book is a great tool for anyone serious about preaching and using it to transform people’s lives. I highly recommend Illuminating Sermons.”
“The ability to make a sermon more relatable with illustrations is essential. But often illustrations are hard to come by. Illuminating Sermons gives the preacher necessary tools that make illustration-finding easier. It is a key tool in the preacher’s arsenal.”
Rev. Dr. Marcus Jerkins
“This practical and well-written book will be an excellent resource for preachers at all stages of their ministry. It reflects Carlos E. Wilton’s vast pastoral experience and excellent judgment. Wilton has gathered here a resource that teaches how to locate, choose, present, and archive appropriate sermon illustrations.”
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