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Edna Lister’s Sermons
By Linda Mihalic
What makes a sermon great? Theologians argue the question, seminaries teach courses on how to write and deliver one, but only the listener knows when a sermon hits the mark. Those who came to “hear the word of the Lord” from Edna Lister lavishly praised her efforts, saying, “Oh, what a sermon! I’ve never heard the like!” Or “Now, that was a sermon!” How did her sermons manage to leave such an indelible mark on those who heard them? She ascended to heights of such joy that her message was undiluted, straight from the Source. Often shocking in their richness and simplicity, you may best savor these sermons and outlines by reading them slowly or aloud. Her lectures are just as rich in subject and detail, evoking the memory of the academy, portico and peristyle, the oak groves, plane trees and cypress of ancient Greece. Her topics are varied and unusual; her insights illuminating.
We offer this collection of sermons and Bible interpretations based on the written outlines Edna Lister created, and on transcripts of her students’ notes wherever possible. We have placed her outlines of sermons first on a given date, since they are often so different from students’ notes of what she actually delivered. While the outlines may seem “sparse,” imagine what that sermon was really like. Ponder as you read, and you may “tune in” the living record eternally stored in divine Mind.
Sermons 1930s
Sermons 1930
Sermons 1931
In 1932 Edna Lister toured Great Britain with Dr. Thomas P. Boyd.
Sermons 1933
Sermons 1934
Sermons 1935
Sermons 1936
Sermons 1937
Sermons 1938
Sermons 1939 » Coming soon »
Sermons 1940s
Sermons 1940
Sermons 1950
Sermons 1960
Edna Miriam Lister ascended to the Father August 3, 1971. Crossing the Bar By Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Sunset and evening star, But such a tide as moving seems asleep, Twilight and evening bell, For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place
Sermons 1941
Sermons 1942
Sermons 1943
Sermons 1944
Sermons 1945
Sermons 1946
Sermons 1947
Sermons 1948
Sermons 1949
Sermons 1951
Sermons 1952
Sermons 1953
Sermons 1954
Sermons 1955
Sermons 1956
Sermons 1957
Sermons 1958
Sermons 1959
Sermons 1961
Sermons 1962
Sermons 1963
Sermons 1964
Sermons 1965
Sermons 1966
Sermons 1967
Sermons 1968
Sermons 1969
Vivere in Gaudiis
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar.
Edna Miriam Lister
1884–1971
The original Christian Pioneering Mystic,
Platonist philosopher, American Idealist, Founder, Society of the Universal Living Christ, minister, teacher, author, wife, and mother.
References
Her students’ notes are of inestimable value in publishing Edna Lister’s sermons, which were not recorded. Our gratitude and thanks for their faithful attendance and note-taking go to: Kay Wilder Abstein, Dorothy Allen, Elizabeth Barnes, Molly Doan Bellamy, Edna Bender, Susan Bender, Edith Bruce, L. Burnett, Ethel Call, Ferne Chapman, Victor and Ruth Bender Collord, Clara El Damm, Joan Bender Dinse, Margaret Pratt Doan, Alfhild Graham, Theresa Grosscurth, Ruth Johnson, Lillian Kondash, Michael Kuzmic, Lotus Judson Landis, William R. Mitchell, Marjorie Muehlhauser, Jean Metzger, Linda Hildebrand Mihalic, Eunice Morrison, Edward Pembroke, Darcea Schiesl, Lucille Smith, Wilhelmina Smith, Virginia Sypher, Florence Waldorf, Clarissa A. Watkins, Irene White, Ross and Virginia Whitehead, and May Wilder.
Many thanks to our proofreaders: Christi Carlson, Sherry Abstein Gordon, Sandra L. Gustavson, Barbara Imboden Martien, David P. Mihalic, Roberta Parsons, Mona Rainwater, Judith Weiss, and Michelle C. Whyman.