On my way back to soul survivor from a jolly important meeting so I just downloaded jonny bakers article on preaching and gave it a read on my wonderful pda phone thing! It's amazing so if you haven't downloaded it yet you really must-The comments are good too so Ive them a read! I found it particularly helpful because in the methodist tradition preaching is held in ridiculously high regard so it was nice to read something that challenges that understanding.
I think I agree with what jonny is saying, though it's a little difficult without a hard copy in front of me, but I do have difficulty applying this wisdom. for those of you that aren't methodists, our current membership and system means that if you are willing you will end up preaching every week, often to three old ladies and a dog. truth is, in this situation doing something alternative and creative requires an extraordinary effort so i'm much more likely to go back to the default setting of four hymn a couple of prayers a twenty minute sermon and on a good da a bit of a mediation. Not quite sure what my superintendant (the guy who sorts out who preaches where) would say if I asked to preach four times a year in order to assure quality. p.s. Sorry about the lack of hyperlinks, it's a little tricks while moblogging, though I guess you've all got jonny's site bookmarked anyway!
I liked Jonny's article too, it's a shame it never made it into the book it was written for.
I think one of the problems in methodism has been not discouraging people who have had a call to preach when they turn out not to be very good! (though admittedly, that's been evident in the two circuits I've been preaching in but it might not be true everywhere)
Posted by: lou | August 13, 2005 at 09:48 AM