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Education
AB, Albion College, 1986, magna cum laude, Ancient Studies
MDiv, Princeton Theological Seminary, 1989
PhD, Graduate Theological Union, 2003, Homiletics and Liturgical Studies, Dissertation: “The Sermon in the Ordo: Toward the Recovery of a Liturgical Homiletic for the Reformed Tradition”
Bio
The Reverend Dr. Jennifer L. Lord is The Dorothy B. Vickery Professor of Homiletics and Liturgical Studies at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. She joined the faculty in 2005. Previously she was assistant professor of Preaching and Worship and Dean of the Chapel at Lancaster Theological Seminary and served pastorates in Nebraska and Upstate New York. She was ordained to the Ministry of Word and Sacrament in 1990 in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Dr. Lord received a BA in English Literature and Ancient Studies from Albion College (1986) where she was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Society. She received the MDiv from Princeton Theological Seminary (1989) and the PhD from the Graduate Theological Union in co-operation with the University of California, Berkeley (2003).
Her work focuses on liturgical theology informing renewal of Sunday worship practices, the sacramental life, preaching, presiding/worship leadership, spirituality, and keeping time in the church’s year. In addition, and in relation to these liturgical foci, she researches and presents on Pilgrimage, Liminality Studies, and Women’s voice in preaching and liturgical leadership.
Current book projects include: The Sunday Meeting: Reflections on a Liturgical Conversion; Preaching and The Church’s Year: Interpreting the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL); Pilgrimage: A Lenten Devotional; and Another Year with the Orthodox: A Liturgical Spirituality. Current research projects include a study, through a Calvin Institute for Christian Worship grant, focusing on pre/baptismal rites’ renunciations of evil and on the spirituality of time in the liturgical year.
Her book Finding Language and Imagery: Words for Holy Speech (Fortress Press, Elements of Preaching Series) was published in 2009 and has since been translated into Mandarin and Indonesian (2015, 2018). She was a contributing author for New Proclamation on Feasts, Holy Days and Other Celebrations (Augsburg Fortress, 2007).
She served as an Editorial Board Member and wrote the introduction to the RCL for the multi-volume Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and Worship (Westminster John Knox, 2021). She resources other RCL lectionary-based preaching resources including the stewardship newsletter for The Presbyterian Foundation; Sundays and Seasons: Preaching; New Interpreters Theological Companion to the Lectionary; Preaching Social Justice and Transformation: A Lectionary Commentary; and Feasting on the Word. She also served as an Editorial Advisory Board member and Consultant for the revision of the PC(USA) Book of Common Worship.
She has published articles in a number of journals including Studia Liturgica, Liturgy, Interpretation, Call to Worship, and “Living by the Word” for The Christian Century, and chapters on liturgy and preaching including “Choreography in the Worship Space” and “Presiding Basics,” Worship Matters: Sourcebook for Worship Leaders (Abingdon, 2014), “Sacraments and Preaching,” New Interpreters Bible Handbook of Preaching (Abingdon, 2008), “On Preaching: Some Affirmations and Admonitions,” Best Advice for Pastors and Preachers (Westminster John Knox, 2008),
Dr. Lord is active in her academic guilds. She has served collectively over two decades on the executive boards of the Academy of Homiletics and the North American Academy of Liturgy. In January 2016 she was elected by the membership of NAAL to the office of Vice-President and served as President for the 2018 meeting in Vancouver, B.C. She is also a member of Societas Liturgica, the international society for the study and renewal of worship.
She has walked over 2000 miles in 5 countries on the network of trails that are the Camino - the Compostela, the Way of St. James - and these travels undergird her work in pilgrimage and liminality studies. In June 2013 and June 2024, she led students, alumns, and administrative colleagues on the Austin Seminary travel seminar, The Way of St. James: On the Pilgrimage Trail and looks forward to leading that seminar in the future.
Married to an Orthodox Christian, her participation in the Byzantine Rite continues to inform her comparative analysis of practices including ritual performance, hymnography, preaching, chant, liturgical calendar, the catechumenate, marriage and funeral rites, sacramental enactment, morning and evening prayer, the Sunday Liturgy, and bell ringing. She is co-editor (with Fr. Mark Roosien, PhD), of the Issue “Looking East” for the peer-reviewed journal Liturgy of The Liturgical Conference (founded in 1940, which advocates for the renewal of liturgy by providing an ecumenical forum for articulating standards of liturgical excellence and for supporting persons who have a common interest and concern for the liturgical life and the liturgical arts of the church).
Dr. Lord has served as acting associate dean for Academic Affairs at Austin Seminary and led the efforts to establish Austin Seminary’s Master of Arts in Ministry Practice degree (MAMP) and the Certificate in Ministry program (CIM - the seminary’s initial online education offering) and served as faculty member of the Board of Trustees. She is passionate about teaching. She has benefited from the Wabash Center's Workshops and Small Project Grants and spent decades as participant and presenter at events convened by the Association for Theological Schools. She served on the Advisory Committee for Women in Leadership for ATS. Dr. Lord travels nationally as a conference leader, consultant, and liturgist/preacher.