Performing Arts for Healing, Equality, and Liberation

Lis Valle can enrich the ministry of your congregation as a guest preacher – as herself or one of her characters; and as a workshop leader to help performing arts ministries be stronger in leading worship and ministering the Word, and to help liturgical dancers and actors to experience in their bodies God’s power for healing and proclamation.

Lis is a creative preacher and liturgist, who has served as teacher, lawyer, theater director and producer, actress, and workshop leader in performing arts for proclamation, worship, and Christian education. She is currently a PhD student in Homiletics and Liturgics at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN.

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Prepare to be amazed! (an Other Pentecost)

Based on Acts 10:44-48 Think: Who are the ones with whom you are not supposed to hang out because you are a Christian? Once upon a time God sent Jonah to Nineveh and Jonah did not want to go because he was not supposed to hang out with those people. Once upon a time Peter […]

A Crowded Chancel with Jesus at the Table

“Have you ever done this?,” one of the students asked me. I responded, “Having the whole community in the chancel for the worship service? No, this is the first time.” Her question got me thinking. Why did we do it? Whose idea was it? How did we get to that decision? I could not remember, […]

Praying With Mother Earth

I had a conversation with Mother Earth today (Ash Wednesday 2015). I asked her to give me a Word to share with my community. And she said to me: I am always supporting you, calling you to the core of my heart. When you want a Word from God you raise your hands up and […]

Learning to Preach from Hercules’ Storyteller

Storytelling plays an important role in preaching. Preachers share and interpret stories from scripture and from life every time they are in front of a community. As storytellers, preachers may proclaim God’s deeds, prepare the community to receive the good news of the gospel, and inspire the community to join God in life-giving ministry. I […]

No more Ps, Loss and the Power of Ritual

Breaking the Silence in More Than One Way Talking about the uterus and what happens to it contributes to the liberation of women as human beings. Domestic and sexual violence are not the only topics that affect women but we keep in silence. Other topics that we don’t want to talk about and are related […]

Our Mother Atabey

Guabancex and Iguanaboína, two sides of the same coin, two halves that make up a whole. Our universal mother with five names: Atabey Apito Guacar Yermao Zuimaco – In her, destruction and benevolence come together; They constitute each other, They need each other, They complement each other. Atabey, my universal mother, showed me the way […]

Preaching in a Garage

This week a number of students of Vanderbilt Divinity School and members of the surrounding community will be performing “Blessed.” These are monologues inspired in the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus, featuring intersections between her life and the lives of contemporary women. The monologues were written by Jerusha Matsen Neal and published last […]

An Improvised Mujerista Liturgy

What happens when a bunch of Latin American women want to get together to seek the presence and voice of the Divine? Recently, the student organization of Latin@s American@s at Vanderbilt Divinity School received the nice surprise of the presence of a Latina Scholar in Nashville. We had very short notice and thus had to […]

Fate, God’s Will, and Human Agency in Life is a Dream by Calderón de la Barca

One of the most evident theological themes addressed in the play Life is a Dream seems to be the idea of inevitable fate vis a vis God’s will and human agency. The tension among these forces is evident in the internal struggles of the characters, the decisions they finally made, and Segismundo’s final speech. Segismundo […]

Don't Talk About The Text. Do The Text.

“Don’t talk about the text. Do the text.” I would call it a method for doing exegesis with your body. When applied to a “women must be quiet” kind of passage it can provide powerful tips for the ways we preach. At the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Homiletics celebrated December 5-7, 2013 in […]

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