Is this why I like N T Wright, or why I enjoy the West Wing?

Principles for preaching- Mazes and Brick walls

I find writing sermons difficult, a struggle, hard work.
I think people underestimate how much work goes into a good sermon (and into some bad ones too!)
The problem is, people think writing a sermon is like building a brick wall. Surely a twenty minute sermon is just a matter of laying one 1 minute brick after another. How long can 2000 words take?

The reality ( for me at least) is that writing sermons is like finding your way through a maze. There are all sorts of exegetical and hermeneutical wrong turns, you may take one early and have to retrace your steps. And then as you try to go from text into the world of your hearers, there are all sorts of theological, pastoral and emotional blunders you can make.
But here is what makes it really stressful.
Until you have solved the puzzle, you are lost.
You have absolutely nothing. Just some wanderings.

And then once you do solve the maze, you waltz your congregation through and (if you've done your job) they think 'that was easy'.

Some pastors, I feel, give up on the maze. They stop trying to find the exit, and instead build interesting, even entertaining brick walls. So they don't understand why you would find preaching difficult either.

I don't think preachers are alone in this. It happens with all creative work.

Psalm 73 Come on up to the house

Psalm 73
A psalm of Asaph.

¹ Surely God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.

² But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;
I had nearly lost my foothold.
³ For I envied the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

⁴ They have no struggles;
their bodies are healthy and strong.^[a]
5 They are free from common human burdens;
they are not plagued by human ills.
⁶ Therefore pride is their necklace;
they clothe themselves with violence.
⁷ From their callous hearts comes iniquity^[b];
their evil imaginations have no limits.
⁸ They scoff, and speak with malice;
with arrogance they threaten oppression.
⁹ Their mouths lay claim to heaven,
and their tongues take possession of the earth.
¹⁰ Therefore their people turn to them
and drink up waters in abundance.^[c]
11 They say, “How would God know?
Does the Most High know anything?”

¹² This is what the wicked are like—
always free of care, they go on amassing wealth.

¹³ Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure
and have washed my hands in innocence.
¹⁴ All day long I have been afflicted,
and every morning brings new punishments.

¹⁵ If I had spoken out like that,
I would have betrayed your children.
¹⁶ When I tried to understand all this,
it troubled me deeply
¹⁷ till I entered the sanctuary of God;
then I understood their final destiny.

¹⁸ Surely you place them on slippery ground;
you cast them down to ruin.
¹⁹ How suddenly are they destroyed,
completely swept away by terrors!
²⁰ They are like a dream when one awakes;
when you arise, Lord,
you will despise them as fantasies.

²¹ When my heart was grieved
and my spirit embittered,
²² I was senseless and ignorant;
I was a brute beast before you.

²³ Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.
²⁴ You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.
²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
²⁶ My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.

²⁷ Those who are far from you will perish;
you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
²⁸ But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.

Principles for preaching- Whatever it takes

You've done the work in the study, you've figured out what the passage is saying, you've figured out how you want to apply this to your congregation.
Now,
do whatever it takes to get that message across as clearly and truthfully and as emotionally appropriate as possible.

Last week I preached a sermon where half of it was written by someone else (a poem almost).
It went for 12 minutes, and was possibly the best sermon I have ever done
It wasn't what was in my notes. My notes had a 25 minute clunker, where I expanded some of the points, made some extra points, faffed around.
I was intending to use one line from this 'poem'.
By the grace of God I was beginning to lose my voice that morning. I knew I only had about 10 minutes speaking in me, I knew that the poem said what I wanted to say, far better, so I did the whole thing and added some interpretive points at the end.
I had been contemplating doing this as I prepared, but my ego couldn't let me do it. Surely it would be shameful to use someone else's material for the majority of the sermon?
Bollocks to that.
The message is to important to waste time on bad ways of getting it across, do whatever it takes.

Volf: Allah- a christian response

Miroslav Volf is one of my favourite theologians.
Today I received his "Allah:a christian response" in the mail.
I'm about half way through, and so far, it is a terribly disappointing book.
Poorly written, self congratulatory, engaging in caricatures, logically flawed, muddled and worst of all, theologically pretty facile. There are some interesting and illuminating points, but I don't think they support his argument, that christians and muslims worship the same God, very well.
Though he rejects Feurbach, Volf effectively treats God as a bunch of concepts held inside the head of professional theologians.
Perhaps the second half will be much better.

Principles for preaching- Be Right

When preaching, it is easier to be clear if you are right.

If you haven't done the work at understanding the text in front of you, your explanation of it will be convoluted, tying people in knots, or detached and confusing.

If you try to impose a theological grid onto the text that isn't there, your sermon will be confusing.

If you are preaching on a topic, and cant describe it truthfully, thoughtfully, deeply, your sermon will be difficult to follow.

If your reading is incorrect, you will fight the text.

Clear, easier to follow sermons require more work in the study, not less.

Recommendations?

Ok so now I have watched "The West Wing" and "The Wire", is there any television that will ever be worth watching ever again?