Choosing to Be Grateful
Cycle A Gospel Sermons for Pentecost 23 Through Thanksgiving Day
Albert G. Butzer, III

In this latest collection of Cycle A gospel sermons for Pentecost (last third), Albert Butzer shows that we Christians live our lives with one leg in the ancient and sacred world of the Bible and the other leg in our modern, scientific world. The job of the preacher is to make holy sense of the intersection of these two worlds. It is a great honor and a sacred responsibility to do this, as well as a weekly lesson in humility.


Preaching is risky business. And good preachers quake every time they step into the preaching moment. Al Butzer understands this privilege, this power, this promise of preaching, he has been at it a long time, and his quaking is as fresh today as it was 35 years ago. His sermons crawl inside our lives, because his life is much like ours. He does not pontificate; he persuades. He does not prescribe; he wonders. He does not scold; he inspires. Through story and metaphor and creative twists of theology, he widens the lens of our lives and helps us see in new ways.

Susan Andrews
Moderator of the 215th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, USA


These sermons do precisely what the author intends: They help the reader live at the intersection of holy scripture and daily life. They never stray from that complex and often ambiguous intersection where all faithful people must live. Read these sermons to hear a word of God's wide grace proclaimed with courage and deep faith in the living God who is still at work in our lives. Al Butzer is a seasoned preacher whose gifts are displayed in this collection.

Roy Howard
Book Editor for The Presbyterian Outlook


Sermon titles included:
All Are Invited, But… (Matthew 22:1-14)
Stamped With God's Own Image (Matthew 22:15-22)
The Rule of Love (Matthew 22:34-46)
The Word Above All Earthly Powers (John 8:31-36)
Blessed to Be Among the Company of Mourners (Matthew 5:1-12)

Albert G. Butzer, III has served as pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Virginia Beach, Virginia since 2007. A graduate of Tufts University and Princeton Theological Seminary, he previously served congregations in Short Hills, New Jersey; Oak Park, Illinois; and Fairfax, Virginia. He was elected moderator of Chicago Presbytery in 1992 and three times served as a commissioner to meetings of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, USA. He is the author of Tears of Sadness; Tears of Gladness also published by CSS Publishing. In 2011 he received an Award of Merit (Second Place) from the Associated Church Press for his essay, "Making Sense of Difficult Texts," originally published in The Presbyterian Outlook.