Leonard Sweet has a good article in the current issue of Rev. Magazine. I'm not sure that I buy his assertion that preaching as we have known it ("old-school", 20th-century style) is on life-support. But I did appreciate these words:
C.S. Lewis once said that writers should have blood in their veins, not ink. The same is true of the 21st-century preacher. Preachers should preach from the blood in the veins, not from the ink of words on a manuscript. Preaching has become too inky, too watery, and too bloodless. And the Christian preacher should bleed the shed blood of Christ, as preaching is ultimately God's act through the power of the Holy Spirit. A preacher sets a table before the people in which there is laid out the body and blood of Christ in bread and wine and in word and flesh . If, when you're finished preaching, you're not finished, spent, wiped out -- if you haven't died a little -- you haven't really preached. I once heard Howard Edington say that if you're truly preaching, you will shorten your life a little, because every time you preach you die a little.
3 comments:
I think this speaks to our preparation as much as it does our presentation.
Yep. All style and no substance makes the sheep look for greener pastures.
Great post Mike, I think this is right on!
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