Saturday before I have to preach I often feel like I do at this moment: a bit anxious. I spent a good part of today researching the texts. This is a necessary step, but often not all that helpful. I think you have to be disciplined by the text and the act of reinterpreting it again and again, but you always have to avoid preaching in a way that demonstrates knowledge simply to demonstrate knowledge. I've heard many sermons that were perhaps interesting and even thoughtful, but failed to effectuate much grace because they focused on the scriptures as if they were a text and not the Word of God.
Thinking of them as the Word of God means engaging them at a deeper level, and that's where you want to take a congregation when preaching. The shortcut to this place for preachers is to focus on the relationship. "How do I feel towards God and God's people, reading this?"
Anyway, I'm thinking more about Namaan and the Hebrew Bible's story about him than the Gospel lesson about Jesus sending out his disciples on their second mission trip. I do get tired of preaching about mission, you know.
-t
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