resources for pastors
Leading a congregation is a challenging task. We at the Frederick Buechner Center seek to support pastors by providing resources in two particular areas: sermon preparation and helping people through life’s challenges.
Christian author Frederick Buechner is frequently quoted, including within many sermons. His writings have proven to be quite insightful on many topics, particularly those relating to faith, doubt, and experiencing life with all its ups and downs. In order to better support pastors looking for sermon inspiration and specific passages from Buechner’s many books, we have provided the following tools:
Weekly Lectionary Blog – every Monday on our Blog we will post a reading from the Revised Common Lectionary for the upcoming Sunday, and pair it with a Frederick Buechner reading on the same topic.
Search By Topic – In the MyBuechner area of this website, we have digitized all of Frederick Buechner’s books and made them searchable. You can thus search for a particular topic and find all the places where it is mentioned in Buechner’s books.
Search By Phrase – If you’ve remembered part of one of Buechner’s quotes, you can search for that phrase and find the rest of the passage around it. Use the Search function in the MyBuechner area.
Facebook Share – Whenever you Share an item on Facebook (found under the Share / Save button in various locations or our site) the item you have “Shared” will be stored on your Favorites page in the MyBuechner area (if you are logged in), and will also be posted to your Facebook page (if you are logged in there).
Quote-of-the-Day – Mr. Buechner’s profound statements have served as a treasure trove of quotations. We can provide you with one of his helpful and insightful quotes each day, delivered via email, Twitter, Facebook, or other avenues.
Theme Pages – Within this website, we have identified seven key themes and developed a web page for each. The page goes into greater depth on each theme and includes examples of passages that deal with that theme. A great resource for sermon ideas.
Audio and Video recordings – Hear and see how Buechner delivered many of his sermons.
In addition to inspiring pastors around the world, Buechner’s writings have served to help people through a wide variety of life’s challenges. Many of Buechner’s books deal with the harsh realities of life, including failure, suicide, isolation, death, adultery, guilt, hatred, and many others. However they also have served as beacons of hope that there is indeed a light at the end of the tunnel, and it is not another train! Learn more how you can help others here.
