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".

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.

Children's Sermons revisited

A few weeks ago I posted about an idea to shift the focus of children's sermons.

This is still a work in progress (you may see there are still five slots open for suggestions and modifications). I have made a public google calendar with the different focus for each children's sermon.

Here is the html link.
And, below is the calendar just embedded into this blog post.

I would love to hear comments you might have. Is there something you would add? Is there any thing you would remove or change? (Please note that on the first Sundays of each month we have communion and so we do not have children's sermons on those dates.)

Enjoy!

 

Children's Sermons - reconsidered

Children's sermons/Children's time is something that plagues many a congregations (and I am not alone in this assessment - see Bishop Willimon). We want to help our children and let them know they are important in worship, but the best we can come up with is a 'moment' in worship when we tell the children some silly story, over their head object lesson, or many times use them to get a laugh.

I am sure there are people who do this moment very well - and you are few and far between.

Teaching children in worship - if only given one moment in worship - can be a tricky thing and I have been thinking about it for a while now (this post made one reader sick).

As Estee and I consider our move to a new faith community, we have batted around the idea of having only 52 pre-set children's sermons that repeat each year. Each lesson would focus on a spiritual discipline with the purpose of helping the kids learn practices that form them in the faith.

For instance, we might have the first Sunday in January we would talk about breath prayer. The second Sunday in January would focus on icons, while the third Sunday in January would look at lighting candles, and the fourth Sunday would look at alms giving and so on and so on. The lessons would repeat again come the next January and once again the kids would hear about breath prayer, icons, candles and alms giving.

In just a few moments sent on this we have about 30 ideas.

We would look to rename it from Children's time/sermon to something else, but we don't know what yet.

What do you think?

Medium is the message - Real life

She and I disagree on a number of theological ideas.  She might identify more Calvinist and Modern while I might identify with Arminius and Post-modern.  We differ on our atonement theories and our understandings of most things ranging from, I would suspect, sexual orientation to political engagement.

It is often the case that to encountered someone from the "other tribe" is to find in them an enemy, but the fact of the matter is I have nothing but respect for her.

She is devoted to her local church.  She volunteers when able.  She leads a weekly Bible study in which she is the lead teacher for hundreds of women.  She has devoted her life and time living into her understanding of the Christian life.  I wish that my local Church had more people like her.

Some of my fellow UMC clergy around the conference would find this next statement shocking, but while she and I disagree on a number of political, theological and social issues, I would allow her to teach in a Church I serve.

Why?

The medium, that is to say her life, is a message that is deeply loving and caring and hope-filled.  Her life is a message that is powerful and ought to be shared.

This is where the idea of the medium is the message matters in the Church.

You could have your "theological message" in line with me or even the UMC, but if your life, if you as a the medium for that message, is not Gospel, know that I would take someone who I disagree with in message content but agree with in medium any day.