Michael Curry, the first African-American presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, is renowned for his engaging, entertaining, and sometimes lengthy preaching.
In a break with Royal tradition, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have chosen him to give the address at their wedding on Saturday. This came on the advice of the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, despite the couple never having met Curry, who became head of the US Anglican Church in 2015.
While Curry is a relatively unknown quality in Britain, you can read all about him and what he stands for here:
Michael Curry: Who is the Royal wedding preacher who backs gay marriage and opposes Trump?
Church of England officials are excited about Curry's presence at the wedding. One of the reasons for this anticipation is Curry's famous preaching which, despite being relatively unknown to Brits, is thought likely to enthral wedding watchers.
So much is his preaching famed in America that the diocese of North Carolina compiled a bingo list of 10 phrases you are likely to hear in a Curry sermon. Included among them are 'I'm not going to be up here long' and 'One more thing and then I'm going to sit down' which may indicate Curry will struggle to keep to his allotted ten minutes.
For those who have never heard Curry speak, his Morgan Freeman/James Earl Jones voice combined with his passion for inclusion and emphasis on love makes him an excellent preacher.
Here are five of Curry's best sermons to prepare you for Saturday.
His sermon at the 2012 General Convention of the Episcopal Church in Indianapolis thrust Curry into the limelight and led to him being chosen for presiding bishop in 2015. His (relatively) short message, entitled We need more Crazy Christians led on to a book published in 2013 called Crazy Christians: A Call to Follow Jesus.
Curry was installed as the first African-American presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church on November 1, 2015, which is All Saints' Day in the Anglican and Catholic calendar.
Curry refers to himself as the CEO of the Episcopal Church – the chief evangelism officer. He talks about the wider gospel as the Jesus Movement and says he is part of Episcopal wing of Jesus Movement. Here is a summary of Curry speaking on his favourite subject:
Justin Welby is Curry's counterpart in England and holds him in high regard. In 2018 Curry contributed to Welby's Thy Kingdom Come initiative with the following video message.
