A Dangerous Report

Reviews / Votes

"Harold Ellens knows how to craft a memorable sermon and how to always have something new to say, a new angle of vision, a beautifully told anecdote from his own immensely varied life experience. Shows why reading sermons need never become an old-fashioned pastime." - David J. A. Clines, Professor of Biblical Studies, Sheffield University"As facets on a gem reveal its hidden beauty, so Dr Ellens' Christmas and Easter sermons disclose the depth and beauty of the scriptures relating to these two great festivals of the Christian year. His long career prepared him well to author this book. With the approach of a scholar, the patience of a teacher, and the understanding of a pastor, he gives the reader new insights into these familiar scriptures. To read one of his Christmas sermons on a glorious summer day is to know 'Joy to the world, the Lord is come' or to read an Easter sermon on a day of great need, will give the reader reason to be grateful for this book."- Beuna Coburn Carlson, Church Administrator and Christian Educator, PCUSA, Retired"I have only actually heard one sermon by J. Harold Ellens, but reading this wonderful collection reminds me why he has long been one of my favorite homilists. More like a conversation than a monologue, these sermons immediately pull me into dialogue within myself and with God. Read them and be challenged, stimulated, provoked, informed, and edified. Receive them as medicine for your spirit and soul. Be prepared to be blessed by the Spirit that inspired them."- Dr David G. Benner, author of Soulful Spirituality and Spirituality and the Awakening Self"Throughout Harold Ellens' life he has been called professor, doctor, and colonel. Yet, Ellens is never happier than when people call him pastor. He is a man who loves to preach the good news of the Bible; something he clearly articulates as grace which is universal, unconditional, and radical. Yet, for Harold preaching is not reserved for the pulpit, his students know that God's grace is available to everybody, his patients know that God loves them no matter what, and the soldiers he counsels straight from the battlefields of Iraq, know that God's grace gets to the very core of their being and can heal the pain of their souls. However, it is in the traditional setting of a church on Sunday morning where Ellens preaches the message of grace with a craftsmanship honed over sixty years of service as a priest. All of his sermons are written with love and experience, and are always aesthetic, humorous, intelligent, relevant, and life changing. It has been a pleasure to read this book."- Dr Virginia Ingram, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia"Dr Ellens' resources are inexhaustible. Now he offers us a collection of provocative sermons for Advent and Easter. He breaths new life into our preaching by sermons that both enrich and challenge. He calls us back to the radical nature of God's grace at a time when we are not sure that it speaks to our age. I highly recommend this book to anyone, lay or professional, who deals with God's gracious relationship with us."- LeRoy Aden, Professor Emeritus of Pastoral Care, Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia; author of Guilt and the Search for Fulfillment"These sermons will inspire from the full power of grace, teach highlights of relevant biblical research with clarity of insight, and counsel the broken heart with meaning from out of the depths of a blend of mature psychology and the rich heritage of Christian thought and struggle. They are the fruit of a professional ministry which counsels with expertise, teaches with academic rigor, and dares to preach with prophetic sensitivity."- Jack T. Hanford, ThD, Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies, Ferris State University"In thirty-one sermons, J. Harold Ellens provides a lucid, challenging, and inspiring demonstration of the art of preaching in the two busiest seasons of the Church Year: Advent and Easter. Every page bears testimony to the professional background and life experience of the author, as professor of theology and philosophy, as pastor, as US Army Colonel, as psychologist and founding editor of The Journal of Psychology and Christianity, as research specialist in ancient Near-Eastern studies, as prodigious author, and as past master of the pulpit. He has preached 'the Word' in 11 different countries from India to South Africa, Brazil, Australia, Great Britain, Germany, and Estonia. The sermons in this volume attest to Ellens' controlling theme that the irrepressible human hunger for meaning is universal and that Scripture addresses this hunger in unanticipated, grace-filled, and saving ways."- Wayne G. Rollins, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Religion, Assumption College; Adjunct Professor of New Testament Hartford Seminary"As a parishioner privileged to attend to Dr Ellens preaching, I found my understanding of Christianity overturned and re-formed by his themes of radical grace, wholeness, health, and the enjoyment of life. In later years I have never seen a congregation pay more rapt attention to a sermon than when he was a guest preacher at our small congregation of retired Florida sunbirds. I think you, too, will be entranced and energized as this series of sermons expounds these themes - from the introductory sermon's setting out of the issues, through Methuel the depressed angel, the controversy over using 'live it up' as the benediction, to Jesus' entry into Jerusalem 'mad as a wet hen.'"- David Gritter, MS, Mechanical Engineer, Devoted Churchman, Lay-Theologian, and long-time Ruling Elder"In these Advent and Easter sermons one finds far more than a preacher's facility with words. These sermons embody soulful and genuine response to sacred texts. Jay Harold Ellens' attentive love for these scriptures is evident; the vision they inspire is clear and compelling. Addressing basic Christian truths these sermons inform the mind and strengthen the spirit."- Ralph Underwood, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Pastoral Care, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary"Imaginative, informal, engaging, informed, playful, and confronting, Hal Ellen's sermons will make you laugh and cry - and stay awake, because he cuts through to issues that matter. Keen to see that 'the center holds,' as he puts it, he keeps coming back to 'unconditional and universal grace and love,' which both preserves the connection with the text and the connection with us, the readers. From the experience and wisdom of 60 years of preaching - a gift to savor!"- William Loader PhD, FAHA, Emeritus Professor, Murdoch University, Western Australia"A fine collection of scholarly sermons presented over time noting major societal changes that engage one's interest in the seasons of Advent and Lent. Refreshing and most thoughtfully presented for one to ponder. An occasional sentence of wit and a dry humor sneaks in and you find yourself checking the scriptures. We're reminded how our stories blend with the Jesus story and what matters is the message. The Holy Spirit has been at work a long time and good sermons are truly a gift."- Helen Morrison, a Professional career consultant, Presbyterian Elder, Presbytery Staff Person, Director of Christian Education, Pastoral Associate, General Assembly Council, and President, Presbyterian Older Adult Ministry Network. "Harold Ellens' Dangerous Report is that if we really read the Bible, the Christian mandate turns out to be: 'live it up.' For Ellens, that means, first, 'live upward.' Live not toward a set of rules or the fear of judgment but toward that Lord who was among us as a man, and now is among us both spiritually and personally. 'God is not in the business of shaping us up but . . . of freeing us for spiritual and intellectual growth . . . to guarantee our mental health.' Second, 'live it up' means, 'Be joyful.' The 'good tidings' were intended specifically for 'great joy!' Finally, it means to live with abandon, God's abandon: of that inner voice that says we are not good enough, God's love could never be for us. Grace is given without any constraint - to all. There is the dangerous part of the message: it is given to all humanity of all descriptions, just as they are - whether we like it (or them) or not! To live with God's abandon is to understand that it is God who is our worth and who gives it to everybody without exception, including the direst enemies who have yet have no faith in God. Ellens has captured the intent of Creation and the intent and outcome of the journey from Eden to the new Jerusalem. We are going to have to give up a lot of presuppositions and prejudices to read and appreciate this book of sermons. But if you can without throwing it down in rebellion against that dangerous message, the prize at the end is grace, come in person, for you personally. God cannot resist you; can you resist him, as he comes to you through Ellens' soul-challenging sermons?"- Kamila Blessing, PhD, Episcopal priest, New Testament scholar, and author of Speak Ye First the Kingdom"Radical grace: the action of God. Radical change: the response of people. These are the two themes that run through all of these sermons for Advent and Easter by Hal Ellens. Readers - both clergy and laity - will find here a depth of biblical insight and spiritual imagination that will enrich these two crucial seasons of the Christian year. These are sermons that will nurture and inspire an individual and a congregation."- John M. Mulder, former President of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary"There is a Jewish saying, 'Whatever is not in the Torah is not in the world.' Hal Ellens knows the world, and he knows his Bible. He has been tested and tried by life, so he uses life to interpret the Bible and the Bible to interpret human existence. He is a theologian who combines scholarship with empathy and compassion. Whoever reads his sermons with an open mind and an open heart will be nourished and enlighted."- Schuyler Brown, Anglican Priest and Professor Emeritus, Toronto, ON, Canada