This paper addresses a two-pronged challenge. The first comes within my denomination, The United Church of Canada (UCCAN), where our understanding of preaching is shifting as we can no longer assume the church's dominant position at the center of society. The second is related to the first, and emerges out of my experience of moving from long-term preaching relationships, to preaching as part of an interim ministry, to preaching as an itinerant, and most recently into healthcare chaplaincy. Previously, I understood my primary focus as preaching week-by-week as a congregational minister. While that is no longer the case, I still see myself as one called, in the words of Thomas Harding, to "break open the Word." I believe these opportunities can be found not only within, but beyond a community which gathers for worship. Incorporating insights of Walter Brueggemann's Cadences of Home: Preaching Among Exiles, and Edwin Searcy's theory of "de-centered preaching," my thesis is that preaching from points of new location offers opportunities that are surprising, even refreshing, and that some of these opportunities are not present otherwise. Congregations should not fear losing their privileged place in society any more than preachers should resist leaving the familiarity and security of the pulpit in search of new avenues for proclamation.
