Preaching for the Layperson: Congregations magazine: Issues 3 & 4 2013.
Known for her dynamic preaching, Marilyn Sewell offers this article as a kind of “preaching primer” for lay persons who may be asked to preach. It is a detailed discussion of the purpose and practice of preaching, with much practical advice. Even experienced preachers will profit from this concise article about how to prepare and to deliver a sermon.
The Theology of Unitarian Universalists: The Huffington Post website.
Do Unitarian Universalists have a theology? Some would say no, not possible in a free faith. Marilyn Sewell believes that history and practice reveal a remarkably clear and consistent theology.
Power: Essay in The Growing Church: Keys to Congregational Vitality, ed. Thom Belote, Skinner House, 2010, p. 77.
Sewell redefines power, saying it is positive when used in service to the good, and further encourages parish ministers to own their power and provide strong leadership for the churches they serve. The book emerged from a gathering in Louisville, KY, of a dozen ministers of some of the fastest-growing Unitarian Universalist congregations to share their ideas and experience about church vitality and growth.
Reimagining the American Dream: Essay in A People So Bold: Theology and Ministry for Unitarian Universalists, ed., John Gibb Millspaugh, Skinner House, 2009, p. 75.
In her essay Marilyn Sewell begins by stating that the American Dream was a holy covenant with God and with one another, and that our lofty and indeed sacred ambitions have been distorted and lost. Our dreams of “success” are no longer worthy of our lives. She places the blame squarely on an economic system gone awry and further says that “economics is fundamentally a moral discipline.” She calls upon citizens to reimagine the kind of economy we want and the kind of life we want to live, saying that true leadership always comes from the bottom up. This essay was inspired by a convocation of UU religious leaders who gathered in Baltimore, MD, in early 2009, to share ideas about what our faith calls us to do, and how we might put that faith into action.
Articles by Marilyn at UU World Magazine:
- Do you have to be an activist to be a Unitarian Universalist?, 2017
- Our shadow side, 2011
- Let’s take off the hair shirt, 2010
- Repression of the sublime, 2005
- Midlife spirituality for women, 2005
Articles by Marilyn at Beacon Broadside:
- Our Compassion Needs a Bigger Umbrella, 2016
- Climate Change: Theological Considerations, 2016
- Civic Disobedience and Climate Change, 2015
- Mad Men: A Morality Tale, 2015
- Top Ten Reasons We Don’t Talk About Climate Change, 2015
- Was Christopher Hitchens Religious?, 2011
- A Religious Response to the Death of Osama bin Laden: Part 2, 2011
- What Brings Real Joy at Christmas?, 2010
- Should I Have My Next Mammogram?, 2009
- Greenspan Passes the Buck, 2008
Collected Speeches and Essays: 1982 to 2016: This collection of essays and speeches is representative of the prophetic voice of Rev. Dr. Marilyn Sewell, minister, writer, public speaker extraordinaire.
In this published collection you will find
- a letter published in the NY Times the Sunday after 9/11;
- an analysis of the uses of power;
- a historical overview of the protestant church’s failures to address racism;
- a description of a self-directed blues tour of the Mississippi Delta;
- a speculative essay on the sexuality of Jesus;
- a moving personal essay on death, previously unpublished;
- a Jungian perspective on gender balance; and
- an impassioned plea for theological shifts demanded by the climate crisis.