Comments on: Encountering the Word of God: against effective preaching

By: D.W. Congdon

D.W. Congdon — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 05:16:11 +0000

Wonderful! I really like how you began by referencing the Second Helvetic Confession. Thanks for this.

By: Jarvis Wood

Jarvis Wood — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 23:02:42 +0000

Sorry, I don’t get that - in fact I go so far as to say I disagree. If I, misguided as I am, stand up to preach the Word of God, that doesn’t make the event the Word of God. The bible that I preach out of is the Word of God, but what I say is not necessarily what He would say.I suppose you could say that if I stand up to preach the Word of God in my misguided state, the event that takes place is not the preaching of the Word of God. This denial would rescue your assertion, but only at the cost of no-one ever being able to be sure that any particular purported preaching event was actually a preaching of the Word of God. I suggest that’s about as much use as the Roman Catholic doctrine of marriage: a marriage is only a marriage if it is entered into with the right intention, and seeing as one cannot look into one’s spouse’s heart, one can never be sure if one was truly married. Hence there’s always the possibility of annulment later. Isn’t it preferable to allow that there were real marriages which later on really broke down? Isn’t it better to allow that there were real sermons which later on proved to be not the Word of God.Another problem with your assertion is that of the sermon which helps one person but not another. Can the Word of God really be so subjective as to be his Word for one and not for another? Isn’t it better to allow that the preaching of the Word of God is one step removed from the Word of God itself?Yours in Christ - JOHN HARTLEYvicar@stluke-eccleshill.org.uk

By: Erin

Erin — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 16:58:49 +0000

Wonderful post post Prof. Anderson. Glad to see you around here again

By: kim fabricius

kim fabricius — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 13:34:25 +0000

Neat gnomic post, with which I too concur - as long as it all comes under the rubric ubi et quando deo visum est. Ray is surely not suggesting that the sermon works ex opere operato. Hananiah preached as well as Jeremiah. No, the main thing being to keep the main thing the main thing, as Ray begins: what happens between pulpit and pew, and when it happens, is not a matter of mastery, technique, technology, relevance, etc., it is miracle and mystery, death and resurrection (which, on the one hand, doesn't mean you can loaf in the study, but which does mean, on the other, that God can speak even through lousy sermons, as well as, I dare say, through "teaching" semons). Sermons resist closure - and good posts on sermons do too.Now to bed, so I've got plenty of energy to be nervous and careful about handling high explosives tomorrow morning at around 11:00. Miserere Deus.

By: Rylee McCormick

Rylee McCormick — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 10:28:43 +0000

Thanks for this excellent post!

By: patrick

patrick — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 05:04:27 +0000

What could it mean to say that the preaching of the Word of God *is* the Word of God? It seems to follow from the fact that the preaching of the Word of God is the preaching *of* the Word of God — some distinct thing — that the two things aren’t identical. Compare: suppose someone said that the tasting of an apple *is* the apple. Or that listening to music *is* the music being listened to. Something’s gone wrong. And (moving on) what could it mean to say that the effect of X *is* X? If X is around to have effects, then it’s pretty clearly conceptually prior to its effects. It sounds odd to say things like: the effect of my teaching *is* my teaching, or the effect of the crash *is* the crash, and so on. In short, these claims seem dubious.

By: Ray Anderson

Ray Anderson — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 02:08:35 +0000

I appreciate all of the responses. John Hartley rightly asks about the relation of Scripture to Word of God and Patrick wonders how both the Bible and preaching can be–”is”– Word of God. Behind my view of preaching as Word of God lies Barth’s three-fold concept of Word of God (CD I/1, pp. 120 ff). Revelation (Christ), Scripture and proclamation are a unity of the event of Word of God. This is what “is” is. Just do it faithfully and expectantly because (as Barth says), God is faithful. Ray Anderson

By: psw

psw — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 21:41:41 +0000

One Monday morning when I got up. What first thing came to my mind is the pictures shown from the powerpoint in Sunday morning sermon.What I am worrying about is that sight has already overpowered our listening in worship. I think that not only do we need to develop the theology of the Word in preaching, but also the theology of listening. It seems to me that listening is much more emphasized in the Old Testament. Listening, for me, is a humable act that the congregation of the church has to learn. Sight is always a preparation of listening. Not the reverse.Thus, although I agree that God will use the powerpoint, it never overrides the voice of the Word.

By: clayschmit

clayschmit — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 18:10:07 +0000

I teach with Ray at Fuller Seminary, especially in the area of preaching. What Ray says about preaching as the Word of God is at the core of a solid theology of preaching. One can quibble about X is Y or X is about Y. The point is that if the preacher does not begin, prepare, and deliver a message that he or she believes is God’s Word for God’s people in a given time and place, then the preacher has no business wasting people’s time. Sure, that is expecting a lot. It probably makes some people’s blood run cold. But, it ought to. Preaching is, to quote another Barthian (Charles Bartow), “God’s Human Speech.” So, as preachers, we should not shrink from our calling: we are set apart to speak God’s Word. If we don’t plan to do that, we should save ourselves the effort and our listeners to time. Clay Schmit

By: Joel

Joel — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 17:57:16 +0000

for me the expectancy and eventfulness of preaching is nicely expressed in :”God will make himself heard; he it is who speaks, not man. The preacher only has to announce the fact that God is about to speak”- KB, from an early lecture on preaching.Cheers,Joel.