Hook and Hope

What if your hardest sermon becomes your most life-giving?

Pastors dread that call: unfamiliar name, shattered family, a room of strangers. The pressure is immense; you fear hollow words when hope is desperately needed. You feel inadequate, worried you'll leave them grieving without the powerful hope of Jesus.

For over thirty years, Pastor Thomas Lyberg has navigated these difficult waters. In Hook and Hope, he shares the compassionate art of casting a funeral sermon. It's a masterclass in pastoral care, transforming ministry's greatest challenge into its most intimate privilege. With a fisherman's heart and pastor's soul, Lyberg shows you how to:

• Find your "Hook": Discover how to listen for the unique personal story that connects the deceased to the living.
• Cast tangible "Hope": Proclaim a hope so real it draws listeners from grief into a life-changing encounter with Christ.
• Navigate the roughest waters: Gain confidence to preach in tragedy, suicide, and conflict, turning pain into grace.
• Go from duty to delight: Witness how this simple approach makes the funeral sermon your most rewarding proclamation.

This toolbox offers hard-won wisdom, honesty, and grace, changing how you approach the pulpit. Stop dreading the call. Learn to cast a sermon that imparts life itself.

Thomas A. Lyberg is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America who has served in parish ministry since 1990. A graduate of Capital University, he earned his Master of Divinity from Trinity Lutheran Seminary and currently serves St. John Lutheran Church in Winter Park, Florida.

Drawing on more than thirty years of preaching and pastoral care, Lyberg brings particular experience to crafting personal, Gospel-centered funeral sermons that proclaim the hope of resurrection in Jesus Christ. His interests include science fiction and fantasy literature, computer gaming, all things Disney, cooking and barbecue, bartending, progressive rock, and vinyl records.

Author: Thomas A. Lyberg
Item Number / ISBN: 0-7880-3145-7