Four delegates from the Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross attended a Preaching Festival in Cambridge from 17th to 19th September 2024. The group was led by the Very Rev. Cliff Jeffers, Dean of Ross. This was the third Preaching Festival, the first two taking place in Oxford in 2017 and 2019. The festival aims to inspire, nurture and celebrate all who are called to proclaim the gospel today. It features outstanding speakers and offers a stimulating and varied programme of worship, lectures and workshops.
The Very Rev. Cliff Jeffers, Dean of Ross Cathedral, who lead the group, commented:
It was great to be immersed in some inspiring preaching and teaching over a few days in Cambridge at the Festival of Preaching this year. Both the teaching about preaching and examples of preaching were exceptional, and inspired me to consider more deeply about how to craft and deliver sermons and to reflect how they are received by those who hear them, and what effect, if any, they have on the hearers !
The Rev. Elise Hanley, Rector of Cobh and Glanmire, said:
The Festival was great in reinforcing what I think I’m doing right as a preacher, inspiring and encouraging in what I could do better, and excellent in reminding me what I should never do again!
I was glad to hear from Amy-Jill Levine, who is an American Jewish scholar of the New Testament, and whose work has greatly informed my preaching. I was also thrilled to be introduced to other speakers with whom I was unfamiliar, especially Paula Gooder and Mark Oakley. It was also a great time as someone new to the Diocese to get to know my wonderful colleagues better.
The Rev. Adam Pullen, Rector of Fanlobbus Union, said:
The Preaching Festival Cambridge was a wonderful opportunity and privilege to hear from experienced and gifted preachers. We heard their craft in preaching and to learn from their technique that was generously and humbly shared, in seminars and in a Q & A. It was also good to meet, speak and be encouraged by fellow preachers both lay and ordained from across the UK and from a number of different churches. An additional highlight was the evening worship in St John’s College chapel and Jazz Vespers in Great St. Mary’s Church.
The Rev. Meghan Farr, Priest-in-charge of St Anne’s Church, Shandon, said:
From Paula Gooder, our first preacher at the Festival on Sunday at Evensong, right through to the end, the quality and variety of preaching did not disappoint! I was also pleased by the variety of topics explored across the plenary and breakout sessions. Highlights for me were the incredibly moving sermon by Reverend Mark Oakley, Dean of Southwark Cathedral, Paula Gooder reading an excerpt from her new book Women of the Nativity and Diocese of Chelmsford Bishop Guli Francis-Dehqani’s honest reflection on the exhaustion of clergy as she spoke about “Encouraging the Weary with a Word.”
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