Yesterday we suggested that preaching on a Bible narrative should include more than just elements based on the story, but should actually tell the story. Here’s another implication of the pervasive nature of narrative: 2. Don’t just enter the narrative as a means to an end, but see the entering in as a potential location of the “end.” That seems like a risky sentence, but I think it holds firm. Too easily we feel that a story is, at best, an introduction to our pontifications, applications and morals. But a well timed, well placed, well told story will often carry its own weight and do its own work. The listeners will enter into it, they will find themselves in the world of the story, and they will feel the story in their world. As they identify with the characters and feel the rising tension, as they see the tension resolved, as they feel the blessing of “their” character trusting God, or sense the emptiness of a character choosing the pain of sin, and so on, they will be impacted by the story, during the story. God invented narrative, trusts narrative and so gave us loads of it in Scripture, knowing people would hear it and read it, and knowing that there wouldn’t always be the helpful explanation we sometimes feel God “needs” from people like us. God knew what he was doing with the inspiration of narrative, perhaps our seeing story as effective communication in itself might be an act of faith that could bear fruit? I am not anti-explanation or suggesting that storytelling replace preaching. I am suggesting that in our preaching we don’t simply see narratives as illustration, or introductions to the “real stuff.” It’s tempting to move on to the next implication, but perhaps it would be better to let this post linger longer. Number three tomorrow.
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Preaching and Story – Part 2
Some time soon England will ordain women as bishops. It is just a matter of time, and time is as always of the essence, because in England time without the decision to ordain women as Bishops is time wasted
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The The Sky Will Not Fall and Women Will be Bishops in The Church of England
I’m not doing any writing this week. Don’t need to! I’m just going to relax and point to a fine series of posts from J at ” Shadows of WCG Next Generation ” that work together perfectly with what I’ve been writing about here for weeks. (And, no, we didn’t collaborate together at all, before during or after, if anyone was wondering.) J deserves to be commended for a clearly inspired body of work.
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The Key To Understanding Why Armstrongism is a False Gospel
This week I am in Asia, teaching an MDiv course on Preaching Biblical Narrative. I’d value your prayers for the course, the students, the travel and the family back home. On here I thought I would preload a series of posts reflecting on the place of biblical narrative in our preaching. I hope it will spark comments, but I don’t know if I’ll have internet access to approve the comments, so apologies if yours doesn’t appear for a few days.
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Preaching and Story – Part 1
News hailing from the Orange County Weekly and Reuters reports what we only knew was just a fleeting moment away: the nation’s first megachurch, the Crystal Cathedral, has filed Chapter 11.
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It’s official: Robert Schuller’s ministry has lost its ‘power’ and files bankruptcy
Full time minister Church Name Greenwich Church of Christ Affiliation Type Non-Denominational Affiliation Name Church of Christ Required education Bachelors Degree Average Worship Attendence 25 Start date 10/21/2010 Additional Information Parsonage Salary negotiable Some insurance Jim Eakins 8 Townsend St Greenwich, OH 44837 P:419-347-6070 F: Email: barbara_eakins@yahoo.com
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Full-Time Minister at Greenwich Church of Christ
On Friday I wrote about note takers and made a passing comment about the idea of people returning to their notes and reviewing. I think it is only fair to suggest that many never achieve that goal, even if they have it. But even if they do, it raises an issue. Is my goal to make my listeners need my outline in order to navigate their way through a passage? Certainly this is better than being lost in a passage. But personally I would rather preach so as to motivate people to go back to the passage, not my outline. Furthermore, I would rather preach to equip people to get the main thrust of the passage and know how to apply the text and respond to the God who inspired the text.
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Back to the Note Takers
Back in July, we sprawled all over this Wall about some sanctimonious loon who decided it would be a grand idea to burn a wheelbarrow full of Qu’rans in an effort to talk smack about Muslims on September 11. Never mind that only an underground stink tank full of extremists committed those heinous acts on
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Here’s a driving reason to burn a Qu’ran
Have you ever seen uber-offensive pieces of “art” that completely demeans Christ, and you can’t do a thing about it? Don’t get me wrong, they are pieces of something but you still can’t bury them. There are pictures like this mess – not done in fun, not meant to make people think, not intended for
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Vengeance is mine, says the Lord. Well, and this chic’s.
I had an enjoyable conversation with a friend today about note takers in church. Some preachers love it when listeners are taking notes. After all, it means they are listening, learning and will be going over the message again later. But actually it doesn’t. They are half-listening, may be learning, may or may not go over it again later. I’ve read research that suggests the best way for listeners to learn from a message is to listen attentively, and then have time immediately afterwards to make some retrospective notes. That allows them to give full attention to the message, rather than trying to recall and write while you are preaching. It also allows them to immediately distill main point and applications of the message, rather than fooling themselves into thinking an outline equates to learning or life change. Attention given to one thing means less attention given to something else. If people are writing, then their minds are distracted from what is being said at that moment
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Preaching and Note Takers