Scripture as a diving board or the water in which we swim
One of the things that comes with being a preacher is that you are asked to listen to a lot of other preachers. I am not sure why this is the case, but people tend to tell me of a preacher they like and one that I "must listen to".
No matter how many preachers I hear I continue to find there are two types. There are those who use scripture as a diving board and those who understand scripture as the water in which we swim.
There are a sorts of preachers out there. In school we learned about a number of styles and archetypes. I can argue the theological underpinning of a 'dialogical sermon' until the cows come home. I can tell you about the "Lowry loop" and the difference between inductive and deductive preaching.
No matter how many preachers I hear I continue to find there are two types. There are those who use scripture as a diving board and those who understand scripture as the water in which we swim.
You can spot a diving board preacher rather easily. This is the person who reads scripture and then jumps to the point they want to make. They are found in the mainline and are most prominent in the "Bible Churches" I hear. Anytime someone gives you a dozen of verses from a half-dozen books over the course of a sermon, you are dealing with a diving board preacher. Anytime you hear a preacher who uses scripture as a jumping off point, they are diving.
Those who preach and understand scripture is not a jumping off point to deliver "keys to a healthy marriage" or "three steps to your best life now", these preachers understand scripture is the pool we swim in.
These are the preachers who are more story driven, more interested in delving into the richness of the scripture that they are not really interested in overlaying moralistic or "practical advice" on the scripture. They are far more interested in swimming in the text, even willing to tread in the water and not go anywhere. These preachers sometimes do not have a "point" because the verses read do not have a direction (see the end of Jonah).
Perhaps the church could use a little more swimmers and a lot less divers.
These are the preachers who are more story driven, more interested in delving into the richness of the scripture that they are not really interested in overlaying moralistic or "practical advice" on the scripture. They are far more interested in swimming in the text, even willing to tread in the water and not go anywhere. These preachers sometimes do not have a "point" because the verses read do not have a direction (see the end of Jonah).
Perhaps the church could use a little more swimmers and a lot less divers.
A little help. Seriously, I am lost.
Julian of Norwich once wrote "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well".
Paul of Tarsus once said "In God we live and move and have our being."
Maya Angelou once noted "I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
These lines have been with me for weeks now and there is a "mash-up" insight in there somewhere, but I have yet to glean it.
Any thoughts? Do these speak to you at all?
Paul of Tarsus once said "In God we live and move and have our being."
Maya Angelou once noted "I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
These lines have been with me for weeks now and there is a "mash-up" insight in there somewhere, but I have yet to glean it.
Any thoughts? Do these speak to you at all?
Biblical sermons
The conversation with the young woman was very nice as we shared adjacent tables at a local eatery. When I asked her what church community she was a part of, she shared that she was a part of the Catholic Church but is now a part of a "Bible Church".
Jokingly I said, "Really, I thought Catholics were a Bible Church?"
She did not get the joke at all and began to share with me that the priest never preached from the Bible on Sunday.
Not to discount her experience, I have a very difficult time buying into an idea that a Church that uses the Roman Mass and has at least four readings from the Bible is not preaching from the Bible.
Since this was Sunday, she pulled out her worship guide from earlier that morning and I saw the answer to the question I was pondering in my head.
There in the worship guide was a number of biblical citations in the pre-printed "sermon notes" section.
As I listened to her share her worship experience and faith journey, it became clear to me that a sermon or a Church is a "Biblical" if there are specific scripture citations. As long as the preacher teaches then can cite a specific biblical passage, then, from what I could gather, this young woman saw that as a "Biblical sermon."
Having a number of citations from the Bible is "Biblical" in the same way that a research paper is "fact checked" when it has encyclopedia (or in this age, Wikipedia) citations.
Here is the rub for me. This young woman was highly articulate and very clear and intelligent and yet she relied upon overt language to tell her that a sermon (or a church) is "Biblical".
Is this what is has come to? Do we only know if something is Gospel or Biblical if there is a verse citation next to it? Is this why there are posters in which we take a scene from nature and then put a bible verse next to it. Do Christians not know something is Biblical or Gospel or Good News or of God without a citation next to it?
Do we not know all churches are Bible Churches unless the sign out front says so?
All joking aside, I think there is an issue in our Churches if we are not able to hear a teaching and without the use of Biblical citations hear the Biblical witness. Heck Jesus did not cite any of his scripture yet we call his message Gospel.
Can we hear a sermon/teaching or attend a worship and critically engage in it to the point that we can hear the Biblical witness even if not one citation is made?
Let those who have ears hear.
Jokingly I said, "Really, I thought Catholics were a Bible Church?"
She did not get the joke at all and began to share with me that the priest never preached from the Bible on Sunday.
Not to discount her experience, I have a very difficult time buying into an idea that a Church that uses the Roman Mass and has at least four readings from the Bible is not preaching from the Bible.
Since this was Sunday, she pulled out her worship guide from earlier that morning and I saw the answer to the question I was pondering in my head.
There in the worship guide was a number of biblical citations in the pre-printed "sermon notes" section.
As I listened to her share her worship experience and faith journey, it became clear to me that a sermon or a Church is a "Biblical" if there are specific scripture citations. As long as the preacher teaches then can cite a specific biblical passage, then, from what I could gather, this young woman saw that as a "Biblical sermon."
Here is the rub for me. This young woman was highly articulate and very clear and intelligent and yet she relied upon overt language to tell her that a sermon (or a church) is "Biblical".
Is this what is has come to? Do we only know if something is Gospel or Biblical if there is a verse citation next to it? Is this why there are posters in which we take a scene from nature and then put a bible verse next to it. Do Christians not know something is Biblical or Gospel or Good News or of God without a citation next to it?
Do we not know all churches are Bible Churches unless the sign out front says so?
All joking aside, I think there is an issue in our Churches if we are not able to hear a teaching and without the use of Biblical citations hear the Biblical witness. Heck Jesus did not cite any of his scripture yet we call his message Gospel.
Can we hear a sermon/teaching or attend a worship and critically engage in it to the point that we can hear the Biblical witness even if not one citation is made?
Let those who have ears hear.
Be the change by Jason Valendy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.