Joke or Prophetic - you tell me

I have heard Peter Rollins share a joke in a couple of places the past month or so and thought that I would share it here. You let me know if this is a joke or a prophetic comment or both/neither.

A guy was in an accident that left him stranded on an island alone for 20 years. One day a plane flew overhead and saw the man, and so it landed to rescue him.

The man was grateful to be rescued but before they left the island to return home, there was great interest to see how this man lived for 20 years alone on an island. So the man gave a tour.

As they all came into a clearing there were three dwellings.

"What is this building?"

"Oh, this is where I live. I built it just after arrival here and have developed a system for running water and cooking."

"That is incredible. Can you tell us about this second building."

"That is my church. Every Sunday I attend worship to sing, pray and have communion with the saints. it is the place that has encouraged in my time here and I could not have made it without it."

"That is beautiful to hear. Can you tell us about this last building?"

"That building? I would rather not talk about it. It is too painful to talk about and is something that I would rather just forget about."

"Ah, come on. Tell us about that building."

"Well, you see, that is where I used to go to church."

Sermons should not be preached.

http://cameronbcook.com/files/2012/09/preaching-to-the-choir1.jpg

So here is the secret to preaching that you may not know. 

Preachers do not come up with their sermon the week they are preaching it. They come up with it weeks and years in advance, and sometimes preachers are unaware they are working on a sermon at any given time.

What I mean is that crafting a sermon is often thought of sitting down at a desk and Bible open and heart in deep meditation crafting each paragraph to perfection. But the fact of the matter is, crafting a sermon happens in and out of the daily life of the preacher.

Preaching is not about coming up with something to say on any given Sunday. Preaching is about learning to see and hear the world in ways that others may not. Much like a comic or an artist who sees the world in different ways, so too the preacher must see the world in a different way.

The demands on a minister in a local church are so much more than they used to be, and as such the time for traditional sermon prep has gone the way of the dinosaur. It is not possible to sit in front of a bit of paper and a bible for one hour per minute you are going to preach.

Rather the preacher must be able to see the time they take reading a book on their leisure as sermon prep. The time they take talking with a person who is dying as sermon prep. The time they take listening to the problems of the world as sermon prep. The time they take on their Sabbath as sermon prep.

You see the idea that a sermon is something that one preaches is just not true. A sermon is something that one lives out of.

A sermon is not a collection of words but a collection of life experiences.

A sermon is not something that is said, but something that is embodied by the preacher. 

Perhaps that is why there is an abundance of great public speakers, but few great preachers.

Guest Post - Sync & Swim

Below is an article that my friend Kyle Roberson wrote. He writes of the importance of 'flow' in an organization and the ways current technology can enhance 'flow'. Thanks Kyle for sharing and I submit it here for you to ponder...