It is a happy coincidence that the opportunity to publish this collection of sermons coincides with twenty years of serving as pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church, Buffalo, NY. Happy because it gives me and the members of this great church a way to mark our years together. Anniversaries are often recognized with objects that symbolize the number of years together; perhaps it's not inappropriate to recognize twenty years of sharing the covenant of ministry with a book of sermons. In a very real sense, this book belongs not just to me but to Westminster. For as I learned from my mentor David McFarlane long ago, sermons are conversations between the pastor and the people in the pews taken together as a Christian community. And my son the Latin student, who knew I was preparing this collection, took a break from his studies and called excitedly the other day from Chapel Hill to tell me that the root word of sermon comes from the Latin word "sermo" which means, conveniently, conversation. But while a sermon is a conversation it is not just any conversation. The conversation between a pastor and a congregation is charged, held accountable to, and finally judged by the mission and ministry that that community is called to engage in. And so, in a very real way, preaching and sermons are not 'orations' or 'speeches' or 'lectures' or well-crafted essays compellingly read. They are real dialogues between real people who have in common life's highest priority-to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God. And since we are wondrous though flawed creatures our efforts to live faithful lives individually and collectively are always works in progress. More specifically, because we are the hands and feet of Christ in the world, the measure of our ministry is the recognizable stamp or evidence of Christ in what we do. The compass that guides this work is the Bible, and discerning the extent to which we are going in the right direction or need a change of course as a Christian community or, for that matter, as city or nation is rightly the subject matter of the sermon. The Holy Spirit enables such discernment. You could say, therefore, the conversation between pastor and people is God-infused when it works. It is also worth noting that while these sermons have the specificity of time and place, they deal with everyday concerns common to most people. There will be, therefore, hopefully, value, relevance and even perhaps a few glimpses of inspiration for those who are not members of the Westminster community but who choose to listen in on these pastor/people conversations.