The thirty-two-year-old ELCA pastor convinces with her sermon “The Jesus Parade”
13.04.2017. The thirty-two-year-old Rev. Lydia Posselt of the ELCA will preach at the closing service of the Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation in Windhoek, Namibia, on 16 May. She was one of the young pastors who submitted their sermons to the international sermon competition. Posselt was chosen from among ten finalists by both the international jury and online voters.
“I am thrilled to have been chosen for the opportunity to preach in Namibia at such a significant moment,” said the candidate on learning the news. When Posselt decided to take part in the preaching competition, she was serving as an associate pastor. “I took part in tribute to all those wonderful women pastors and preachers, friends and colleagues of all ages, who have influenced and nurtured me,” Posselt replied when asked about her reason for taking part.
Young pastors from the LWF member churches submitted sermons to the competition. The idea of inviting them in particular arose because Martin Luther was 33 years old when he sparked the Reformation in 1517. LWF General Secretary Martin Junge expressed his gratitude for the inspiring sermons that were submitted.
“I was deeply impressed by the powerful interpretations that were offered on the theme of ‘Freedom in Christ’. We addressed all the LWF member churches with a request to invite young pastors to take part. We are grateful to those who reached out to their talented young pastors and encouraged them to participate. The large number of sermons submitted speaks of a reformation that truly continues.”
Rev. Posselt was chosen by an international jury made up of six men and women, ordained and lay people of various generations from the churches of the Lutheran communion. In addition to their vote, Posselt also received high marks among more than 6,000 online votes.
Evaluating Posselt’s sermon on Gal 5:1, 22-26 entitled “The Jesus Parade”, one of the jury members said: “This is a well-written and theologically convincing sermon. It both analyzes the problem of sin at the personal and at the societal level, and directs our attention to how God will heal and save us. It addresses the ‘unpopular’ topic of ‘self-control’ and uses it to illustrate the nature of freedom in Jesus Christ. It also makes a fitting reference to Martin Luther.”
Lydia Posselt now serves as a full-time pastor at Family of God Lutheran Church in Buckingham, Pennsylvania, USA. “When I shared the news that I had been chosen among the top ten, my congregation was very excited,” says Posselt. Now that she has been chosen as the winner, they have all the more reason to be proud of their pastor.
The Twelfth Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation will take place in 2017 from 10 to 16 May in Windhoek, Namibia, on the theme “Liberated by God’s Grace”. Around 800 participants will take part, including about 400 delegates from the 145 LWF member churches representing 98 countries around the world. The Assembly is the highest decision-making body of the LWF and meets every six or seven years.
The Assembly will give the basic direction for the work of the LWF for the coming years. It will discuss questions that touch on the life and witness of the churches and of the world. It will elect the LWF president and council, who will serve until the next Assembly. At the Assembly, the LWF will mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, and it is being hosted by three Namibian LWF member churches – the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia-German Evangelical Lutheran Church.
Source: Lutheran World Federation news