Good Preaching #3

Last weekend a friend of mine announced that he had started attending a Pentecostal church after years ministering in a 'typical' Sydney Anglican setting. His most startling comment was that for the first time since high school (he is now in his mid 20s) he is now reading his Bible in a devotional way. He says that the preaching he's now hearing is getting him excited about God and about what can be found in Scripture. What were we doing wrong to deprive this man of the affective wonder of God's word? Here's a thought:

Could our use of the Bible from the pulpit and in the small group Bible study be feeding an approach to Scripture which is about knowing things about God rather than knowing God himself? Such an approach could lead us along the path of Gnosticism; saved, kept and fed solely by information and not by an informed relationship. Yes knowledge is important, but in the sense that it feeds our relationship with the one we have knowledge about. To fail to draw out and make this connection in our preaching is a severe discrepancy. This is the problem with common statement that our goal in preaching is to 'help people be able to read the Bible'. Unless that help includes a renewed passion for being a child of the Almighty then I fear that we aren't teaching people to read the Bible at all. At best we are giving a lesson in hermeneutics; helpful to a point, but not adequate on its own.

Aside from this issue, there is a problem with our current obsession over ministry 'training'. I saw one document recently which suggested that the goal of ministry was to raise up other ministers and to train them to train and raise up more ministers who will then train others to train others to train others etc. So who actually does the ministry? Yeah, training is important, and we need to provide for subsequent generations, but the problem with this approach is exemplified in the attitude of my friend mentioned above. He never stopped to enjoy his status as a loved child of God. Why? Because his church and university Christian group taught him that being Christian was all about serving others and training others to serve others; about doing and not being. If we had more 'be' along side the 'do' then we would be in a better state of spiritual health.

Of course these issues aren't found everywhere in the Anglican Church in Sydney (of which I'm a proud member), but I fear that they are issues which we are particularly susceptible to. It's probably a good idea to keep an eye on our own particular temptations.

Good Preaching Part 2

Preaching error #1: preach just in order to explain the content of scripture, thinking that by doing this you are “teaching people how to read the Bible”.
Preaching error #2: preach in a way which is overly anthropocentric, meeting the congregation’s needs as only the congregation sees them. This is nothing more than a baptized episode of Dr Phil.
A better approach: apply divine scripture to the hopes and aspirations of those who have gathered together, allowing God to form and mould those hopes and aspirations to be those which he wants them to have.

What makes for good preaching?

Recently I've developed the habit of listening to a variety of preachers from around the globe. This started as a professional development thing, but it's also turned out (surprise surprise) to be an incredibly edifying hobby. One of the most enjoyable has been Greg Laurie from the west coast of the US. Exegetically he can miss the mark at times (who is going to cast the first stone?), but he is sure worth a listen...so darn clear in his presentation, and you end up thinking "Man, its good to be Christ-follower." Now there are two goals that I reckon we should be aiming for when firing from the pulpit. So now I'm interested, what do like hearing from the pulpit/lecturn/stage/podcast?

How might we be saved?

Last night was the first of the 2006 Annual Moore Theological College Lectures, with Gerald Bray presenting his first paper in a series of five theological reflections on the Lord's Prayer. This, I think, is a very helpful undertaking; to dive into the theology of what GB has called the 'first systematic statement of theology that we have.' Within what was a pastorally helpful hour, GB did make a claim that because the Father is in Heaven, he is in a position to save us. It's his transcendence which enables him to come into our mire and lift us out of trouble.

This got me thinking. Didn't one of the Cappadocians (I forget which one) say that you cannot save that which is not assumed? This opens up the whole question of how our salvation works... a big, big issue (and perhaps very presumptuous to attempt to tackle it here). But I think at the very least we've got to hold to both the necessity of God's transcendence and his immanence for our salvation; his transcendence because we can't save ourselves, his immanence because our selves need saving. Another reason why the uniqueness of Christ as the God-man is a wonderful thing to hold on to. I'm sure GB would agree entirely. In fact, I'm sure that he was only reflecting on one aspect of the atonement (an aspect particularly relevant to the first clause of the Lord's Prayer), but the balance is something worth reflecting on.

Now on to more prep for Sunday's sermon: Mark 8.22-9.1

OK, here I am!!!

OT essay is over, so now it’s down to blogging. There are numerous reasons why I've decided to join the ranks of the cyber-savvy. First of all, it seems to be a trend at the moment, and I'm a sucker for fashion, so here I am. Secondly I learn when I write so this provides the space to do some reflection. Third, I enjoy reading and posting on other peoples pages so I really should start my own. Fourth, its the way of the future baby, so I'm on board. Fifth, I can't let Byron or MPJ get away with all the stuff that they post (Ha ha!! Just kidding guys, I do appreciate your posts). So with that fist-full of reasons its off we go!

So what can you expect? I'll post some theo-reflective stuff, but will also throw in some personal things as well; we are people and not just thoughts after all. Some times some weird stuff happens in my life, so every now and again I'll put that in, and I might post some of my sermons or essays too.

Happy reading!