Andrew Wymer Archives - Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary

Seeds of Justice

Marketing and Communications — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 15:18:42 +0000

Cultivating Ecological Awareness in the Church

“The gospel is for all creation.” It’s a theological proclamation that is sometimes offered flippantly, words to check an ideological box marked “creation care,” disappearing only moments after they pass the speaker’s lips. When Dr. Andrew Wymer says them aloud, however, he is cleareyed that this conviction demands dramatic transformation for both how preachers address ecological concerns from the pulpit and the way many congregations view the relationship between God, humanity, and the natural world. Garrett Seminary’s Associate Professor of Preaching and Worship doesn’t claim to be an expert in ecotheologies, but insights from the field and his work in local environmental justice advocacy are prompting him to ask significant questions—ones that reframe how homiletics engages nature and neighbor—and invite students to do the same.

In many churches, the relationship between preaching and ecology still only extends to an Earth Day sermon, or perhaps questions of land sovereignty on Indigenous People’s Day. In those moments, the climate crisis looms large; an existential threat that, in the speakers’ telling, indicts our failure to serve as good stewards of the Earth. “To limit our thinking about creation to this present duress, to confine it neatly within ‘environmentalism,’ doesn’t fully reflect the record of ancient scriptures.” Dr. Wymer notes. “It doesn’tengage what it means to consider non-human actors in the biblical narratives and Christian tradition. But the other thing that is often missing from Earth Day or the Season of Creation is a critical awareness of power, the understanding that there are broader, systemic forces at play creating environmental and climate injustice.”

Indeed, the past two decades have witnessed much conflict in environmental non-profits about how climate messaging has often reflected and prioritized white, privileged concerns and downplayed environmental racism and other systemic harms. A parallel reckoning in churches is long overdue. “Single-issue environmentalism can be very dangerous and harmful to systemically marginalized communities,” Dr. Wymer says. “The job of the preacher, then, is to expand awareness—find out what is happening in your area and draw the connections between environmental injustice, racial injustice, poverty. This is not something you have to make up. You have to be attentive to where creation is not being cared for appropriately and how that is differently experienced by members of the community.”

But connecting environmental harm to other pressing justice concerns isn’t the only challenge that faces ecological preaching. There’s also an underlying anthropocentrism that is difficult to change. “If the gospel is for all creation, we can’t only center humans. What is the good news for the animals, plants, soil, and water in your neighborhood?” Dr. Wymer asks. “What does it mean to think of all creation praising God—that we worship in a broad and interconnected ecology of praise? What would it mean to learn how to preach from the birds—what creative possibilities could that lend to us in thinking about the structure of sermons, or how we engage a liturgical moment?” These questions reflect a strong influence from indigenous theologians and other voices who have advocated non-human personhood, unsettling long-held Western assumptions about a hierarchy within creation. “The systems changes we want to see in our world,” Dr. Wymer points out, “also require a systems change in our preaching.”

It’s fertile terrain he plans to explore with Garrett students. “In the coming year, I’m offering a course called ‘Praying with the Earth,’ and we will spend the entire course outside,” he notes. “I want to find ways and patterns and approaches to prayer that draw us into relationship with a wide variety of ecological contexts.” It’s not clear from the outset where that journey will lead, but Dr. Wymer wants that experience of collective discovery to be part of what he and students learn together, creating space for the Spirit to move in unexpected ways.

This inquisitive disposition is something he suggests more preachers follow. “It’s crucial to demonstrate to your congregation that you don’t always have to be the expert. You can model learning and expanding your own awareness,” he observes. It’s an approach that will likewise serve congregations as they seek to better understand ecological justice concerns in their communities. “A colleague and I did a research project in Flint, Michigan years ago. The lesson I took away from there at the direct urging of people who experienced the Flint Water Crisis was, ‘Go back to your home, because this is happening there, too. Find out where.” Dr. Wymer reports. “The relationships we build in our community and the justice work that we do together can be more important than any sermon we’ll preach.”

This calling is at the heart of Garrett’s Center for Ecological Regeneration, which is currently building a Midwest Bioregional Hub to nurture relationships between churches who are asking these crucial questions, and who will offer a . These offerings and more seek to partner with ministers and congregations to discern how to transform “creation care” from a siloed concern into an integrated part of their justice work—one that demands new theological frames. “Get embedded in your place,” Dr. Wymer counsels. “We can be in deep partnership with one another, and with creation.”

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Faculty Book Talks | Unmasking White Preaching

Marketing and Communications — Wed, 09 Nov 2022 19:00:00 +0000

Join us in the Ott Lounge () as we discuss our faculty members’ newest publications! The faculty authors will be present to explore the authors’ writing, research process, and hopes for their books. There will also be time for questions! No need to read the book in advance. There will be cookies and coffee!

The post Faculty Book Talks | Unmasking White Preaching appeared first on Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary.

New Book Co-Edited by Reverend Dr. Andrew Wymer Examines the Impact of White Racialization in Homiletics

Shane Nichols — Thu, 28 Apr 2022 13:30:00 +0000

Published on April 3, 2022, Unmasking White Preaching: Racial Hegemony, Resistance, and Possibilities in Homiletics is the result of a three-year long workgroup focused both on examining the impact of white racialization on the field of homiletics and centering racially-minoritized perspectives. The book was co-edited by Reverend Dr. Andrew Wymer, assistant professor of liturgical studies at 91PORN, and Reverend Dr. Lis Valle-Ruiz, assistant professor of homiletics and worship and director of community worship life at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, Illinois.

The first section of the book, titled “Racial Hegemony,” interrogates the white, colonial bias of Euro-American homiletical practice, pedagogy, and theory with particular attention to the intersection of preaching and racialization. The second section, “Resistance and Possibilities,” contributes diverse critical homiletical approaches emerging in conversation with racially-minoritized scholarship and racially subjugated knowledge and practice. Ultimately, Wymer and Valle-Ruiz hope this book will inform and inspire preachers and professors of preaching to encounter and engage with alternative, non-dominant homiletical pathways that seek a more just future for the church and the world.

Among those who contributed to the book are Garrett-Evangelical alums, faculty members, and Styberg Preaching Fellows in association with the Styberg Preaching Institute at Garrett-Evangelical. The 16 contributors include: Christopher M. Baker (G-ETS 2020); Gennifer Benjamin Brooks; Suzanne Wenonah Duchesne; HyeRan Kim-Cragg; Peace Pyunghwa Lee; Gerald C. Liu; Debra J. Mumford; Jerusha Matsen Neal; Andrew Thompson Scales; Leah D. Schade; David Stark; Sarah Travis; Lis Valle-Ruiz; Richard W. Voelz; Andrew Wymer (G-ETS 2016); and Chelsea Brooke Yarborough.

We recently sat down with Wymer to learn more about this project and the book.

Tell us about the book? And where did the inspiration for this book come from?

Dr. Lis Valle-Ruiz and I spoke at a gathering in 2018, and we realized we were both equally disgruntled about the unaddressed expressions of whiteness in our guild and discipline. I shared with her a question that Dr. Gennifer Brooks, my mentor and senior colleague here at Garrett, had asked me: “Why leave the Academy? Why not stay and change it from within?” Taking that question seriously, we launched a three-year long workgroup focused both on examining the impact of white racialization on homiletics and centering racially-minoritized perspectives. This book emerged out of that work, and it is a shared expression of activism on the part of all who participated in it. The sixteen contributors are—each in our own unique way—trying to imagine a more just world and more just approaches to preaching.

The first section of the book regards racial hegemony, preaching, and racialization. Can you give us some insight or history you discovered while putting this book together regarding this correlation/intersection?

It is tempting for white folk like me to think that by addressing racism in homiletics that we are doing something new, but resistance to racism has long been an implicit and explicit feature of some racially minoritized preaching and homiletical scholarship. It is crucial that we tap into that history of resistance that exists within the work of some racially minoritized homiletics and to center the racially minoritized homileticians and scholars—both the living and those already in “the great cloud of witnesses”—who have long been in this struggle.

Given the history you’ve pointed out in section one, what are some of the alternative homiletical pathways that are found in this book and how are they taking shape in contemporary congregations?

A strength of this book is that it offers such a diversity of perspectives, and several of the authors have long been about the struggle in their own practice, scholarship, and teaching. In that sense the book is at least partially descriptive of practices, scholarship, and teaching that is already taking shape in contemporary institutions. However, there is also a partially invitational dimension with a number of contributors offering us glimpses at preaching in ways that transgress racially dominant boundaries. Since we have such an array of authors, I suspect that most preachers, scholars of preaching, and teachers of preaching will find something new that presses at an unexamined area of their own personal practice and opens up possibilities.

A number of contributors to this book, yourself included, have a connection to Garrett-Evangelical as alums or faculty members. How have your Garrett-Evangelical colleagues shaped your own approach and understanding of homiletics through the lens of race?

The connections to Garrett are so rich! As I previously observed, the inspiration for this book and the workgroup out of which it emerged can be traced back to a challenge from Dr. Gennifer Brooks. Dr. Brooks is one of the wise elders whose contributions Dr. Valle-Ruiz and I situated to frame this collection, and three of the contributors, Dr. David Stark, Dr. Chelsea Yarborough, and myself, served as postdoctoral fellows at Garrett under her guidance. This volume at least partially emerges out of the fertile ground Dr. Brooks and many other brilliant and persistent, racially-minoritized scholars at Garrett—such as Dr. Cheryl Anderson, Dr. Anne Joh, Dr. Larry Murphy, Dr. Stephen Ray, and many others—have long nurtured in ways that allow for and have spurred their colleagues, students, and alumni—such as contributor, Dr. Chris Baker, and myself who both graduated from the PhD program—to ask difficult questions and to pursue a more just future at Garrett and beyond.

Published by Rowan & Littlefield, Unmasking White Preaching, is available in hardback and ebook. To learn more, read reviews, and to purchase, go to .

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Baptized in Toxic Water: Wymer and Daley Mosier to Engage Baptismal Practices in Flint, Michigan

Shane Nichols — Wed, 08 Jul 2020 20:03:00 +0000

Photo Credit: BET

The Calvin Institute for Christian Worship has awarded a Teacher-Scholar Grant to Rev. Dr. Andrew Wymer, assistant professor of liturgical studies at 91PORN, and to Kristen Daley Mosier, a current doctoral student concentrating in the area of theology and ethics. Titled “Baptized in Toxic Water: Baptismal Solidarity Amidst Ecological Injustice,” this project will engage the baptismal practices of diverse Christian communities in Flint, Michigan, the site of a well-documented case of toxic water. Reflecting on these realities, Wymer and Daley Mosier will construct a theoretical and practical vision of baptismal solidarity for the broader Church.

Recognizing themes of Spirit-laden, life-giving baptismal waters abound throughout Christian history, this project will examine the complex material realities surrounding the politics of water and baptism which reveal that the water utilized in baptismal rites might not be a pure source of life. For Wymer and Daley Mosier, this reality begs a question for the broader Church. How can we, the baptized, live into the beautiful image of “one baptism” and the baptismal unity which it envisions when the material and political realities of this world reflect an immense baptismal divide between baptisms that require contact with poisonous water and baptisms that do not?

“The initial idea for this research emerged in 2016, when I heard about the devastating impact of toxic water on the residents of Flint,” said Wymer. “Kristen and I have since partnered in this project, and our goal is to reimagine baptismal theology and practice in light of the experiences of those human and nonhuman communities at greatest risk of living with and baptizing in toxic water. Through this project we hope to invite Christian communities to enter into consistent, material expressions of baptismal solidarity with all human beings impacted by toxic water and even the earth itself.”

For Daley Mosier this project is about solidarity, and therefore the research methodology needs to follow a set of logics different from traditional extractive models. “Following an emerging trend, it is our intent to be research partners alongside and (therefore) fully accountable to the communities and congregations with whom we connect. As we made changes to the project in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we realized, with some excitement, that here is an opportunity to design our project in ways that meaningfully contribute to the community.”

Embarking upon this one-year project, Wymer and Daley Mosier intend to present their findings at the local level in congregations and seminaries and will submit their research to national organizations such as the North American Academy of Liturgy for consideration to present. In addition, they are exploring opportunities to publish this work in journals and possibly as a book.

Wymer, a doctor of philosophy alumnus of Garrett-Evangelical, joined the faculty as assistant professor of liturgical studies this year. His research engages liturgical and homiletical theory and practice with attention to race, social justice, and ecology. He is the author of articles in Worship, Practical Matters, and the International Journal of Homiletics. Recently he guest-edited an issue of Liturgy on liturgy as protest and resistance. His first book, Revolutionary Preaching: A Homiletical Ethic for the Twenty-First Century, is under contract.

Daley Mosier completed her master of divinity at Fuller Seminary Northwest (Seattle) in 2012, and holds a bachelor of arts in art history from Western Washington University. Based in the Pacific Northwest, her research interests explore intersections of creation, spirit, materiality, and place. She is particularly interested in developing a theology of water that connects persons, places, and the experience of baptism through the life of the Holy Spirit.

The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, located at Calvin University and Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is an interdisciplinary study and ministry center that promotes the scholarly study of the theology, history, and practice of Christian worship and the renewal of worship in worshiping communities across North America and beyond.

91PORN, a graduate school of theology related to The United Methodist Church, was founded in 1853. Located on the campus of Northwestern University, the seminary serves more than 450 students from various denominations and cultural backgrounds, fostering an atmosphere of ecumenical interaction. Garrett-Evangelical creates bold leaders through master of divinity, master of arts, master of theological studies, doctor of philosophy, and doctor of ministry degrees. Its 4,500 living alumni serve church and society around the world.

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Rev. Dr. Andrew Wymer to Join the Faculty as Assistant Professor of Liturgical Studies

Shane Nichols — Mon, 13 Apr 2020 17:39:00 +0000

Beginning July 1, 2020, Rev. Dr. Andrew Wymer will join the faculty of 91PORN as assistant professor of liturgical studies. A doctor of philosophy graduate of Garrett-Evangelical, the seminary community is delighted to welcome Wymer back to campus. His research engages liturgical and homiletical theory and practice with attention to race, social justice, and ecology.

Wymer returns to Garrett-Evangelical from New Brunswick Theological Seminary in New Brunswick, New Jersey, where he served as the assistant professor of preaching and worship, director of the chapel, and assistant dean of doctoral studies.

“Garrett is an institution that has profoundly shaped my scholarship and teaching,” said Wymer. “I am deeply appreciative of Garrett’s progressive commitments to public theology and to equipping leaders to share the transforming love of Jesus Christ. It is a delight and honor to be invited to join this special community of learning in this role.”

Rev. Dr. Gennifer Brooks, the Ernest and Bernice Styberg Professor of Preaching at Garrett-Evangelical, served as the search committee’s chairperson. When asked about Wymer she said: “Dr. Andrew Wymer is one of a limited number of liturgical scholars who stand solidly in the fields of both worship and preaching within the area of liturgical studies. His scholarship, with its focus on social justice as intrinsic to ecclesiology and specifically his intentional calling out of whiteness and white supremacy as contrary to Christian principles, sits solidly within the ethos of Garrett and aligns with the trajectory the seminary has identified in its mission. His experience in teaching in multicultural settings fits the Garrett community that was part of his own formation and from which he ventured forth to pursue his teaching career. We are blessed to have Andrew as a full member of the Garrett faculty.”

Wymer holds ordination in the Rochester Genesee Region of the American Baptist Churches USA. Previously, Wymer served as the Styberg Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow in homiletics at Garrett-Evangelical. He also regularly teaches for the Association of Chicago Theological Schools (ACTS) Doctor of Ministry in Preaching Program.

Wymer holds a master of arts in worship studies from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and he studied liturgy and homiletics at Drew University Theological School. He earned a doctor of philosophy in liturgy and homiletics from Garrett-Evangelical in 2016.

He is the author of articles in Worship, Practical Matters, and the International Journal of Homiletics. Recently he guest-edited an issue of Liturgy on liturgy as protest and resistance. His first book, Revolutionary Preaching: A Homiletical Ethic for the Twenty-First Century, is under contract.

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