From The Introduction: "Preach the gospel," said St. Francis. "And, if necessary, use words." What follows - for better or worse - are words. These are sermons preached from a pastor to urban churches over several decades. Early on, one beloved parishioner would say, "Pastor, that was a nice sermon... nice and loud!" I wish that's all it took. To preach a sermon that all could hear, that all could truly understand. Like many preachers, I have had Saturday night bouts of doubt and agnosticism. And so, I put out my sermons, for posterity, for vanity perhaps, but in hopes that others might find some echo of their own doubts and worries, their own faith and joy. Preaching gets a bad rap. Children shout back to their parents, "Don't preach at me." Who wants to be told they are preachy? And yet, I love this art. Preaching is where the intellect and the heart meet. How does an ancient book relate to the stress and angst of a hurting, confused world? How does Jesus' life impact the single mother trying to pay the bills? An accountant wondering if she'll get laid off? The middle-aged parents with a disabled son? The widower who wonders if life is over? The sermon must speak to those people with authenticity and honesty. The sermon is the bridge that brings timeless wisdom and steadfast love to a person's day-to-day. Sermons can be life-giving... and sometimes even life-saving. Yet always, for a sermon to truly touch a human heart, it must be real. I believe the sermon can be the one sane voice amidst the great noise of twenty-four hour news channels. I believe the sermon gives voice to our grief, our doubt, and our joy. I believe the sermon gives some sense of meaning in this mad, wonderful world and hopefully moves us in a direction towards hope. The claims of Christianity are so bold - that a Jewish man in the first century saves your life for all time - that we need impassioned and thoughtful interpreters. What you hold in your hands is my heartfelt attempt. These sermons reflect the on-going conversation between a humble pastor and his beloved faith community. I am a dual vocation pastor. During the week, I am a physician on faculty at Yale Medical School. Over the years, I have been the solo pastor of urban churches, where I crafted sermons each week. More recently, I have been the associate, to support and assist others. I have culled out my sermons that speak to medical issues and placed them in a separate volume. What remains are sermons preached by the Pastor-in-me to the church. There are a few duplicates in the two volumes: I do so love telling a good story over and over. I do not differentiate my two worlds. While they seem so disparate - the modern medical center and the urban congregation - they both offer hope, healing, and meaning. To me, the church and the clinic are continuums, different places that offer very much the same thing. To me, if we availed ourselves of the former, we would not need so much of the later. "If necessary, use words." And so, I put these words out to the world. Not because they are necessarily good. But, because they are mine - the honest words of a stubbornly optimistic preacher who believes that Jesus matters in this world.
About the Author: Ben serves as pastor and physician. Presently, he is an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at the Yale School of Medicine where he serves as the Program Director for Yale's Medicine-Pediatrics Residency Program and the Medical Director of their faculty-resident practice. He has an active practice in addiction medicine, Hepatitis C, and HIV. Nationally, he has recently completed his term as the President of the Medicine Pediatrics Program Directors Association (MPPDA). In 2018, he was honored to receive the Parker Palmer Courage to Teach award from the ACGME. On the ministry front, "Pastor Ben" has served in various urban congregations since 1991. Presently, he is the Associate Pastor at Pilgrim Congregational Church in New Haven, CT. He is also an Associate Professor of Religion and Health at the Yale Divinity School where he co-teaches a course on Theology and Medicine. He is ordained in the Reformed Church in America. Dr. Doolittle's research interest involves the intersection of burnout, coping, and spirituality, especially as it applies to residency education. He writes regularly for the New England Journal Knowledge Plus education website and commentary for the AAP Grand Rounds. He is the author of 6 books.