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Here is a draft of a sermon for the Easter season

Abraham Lincoln. Mahatma Ghandi. John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr. All of these leaders inspired hope in others. They gathered huge numbers of supporters who followed them and believed in them. Yet all of them shared the fate of dying prematurely at the hands of violent men who opposed their vision for humanity. We remember these men as remarkable human beings and martyrs for their causes. But there is something else that these leaders have in common—none of them has returned from the dead. Their influence continued to resonate with the living, but their ability to impact the world ended substantially at their death. Some of their followers carried on with their causes but over time their legacy becomes more and more settled in a distant legendary past than a vital living witness.

There is one however who shared a similar fate, but whose vibrancy, power, and influence remains white hot to the present. In this season of Easter, we must remember that the death of Jesus truly was not the end. Jesus is alive. Jesus is with us. This claim is not merely one in which Jesus lives on in our memories or in our corporate gatherings. The consistent claim of the Scriptures is that God the Father raised Jesus the Son bodily from the dead. Our faith is rooted in the reality of an empty tomb. Moreover, the Scriptures declare that Jesus’ death was not merely a heroic or martyr’s death, but a purposeful one planned long before by God in which the Son would die for our sins according to the Scriptures and be raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. In fact our text for today records a conversation between Jesus and his first followers in which Jesus attempts to prepare his disciples for his impending death and what his absence will mean for them.

In the immediate context, Jesus has already made the bold and daring claim, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.” He has announced that his followers will do even greater works that the ones that he has done. Moreover Jesus himself will live even after death. The departure of Jesus will not mark the end of his movement, but the beginning of a high octane, enhanced version of it.

Love as Faithfulness
The Christ following movement is rooted in a profound moment-by-moment relationship with God through the person of Jesus. This relationship expresses itself in terms of faithful obedience. Love for Jesus implies living in ways indicative of this relationship.

At the heart of every wedding ceremony is the exchanging of vows between bride and groom. Each pledges love to the other and promises to live faithfully for life. The vows are significant as they constitute a public confession of fidelity and love, but they are only empty words apart from daily living out the implications of the vows both publicly and privately.

Likewise Jesus reminds his disciples of the centrality of expressing their love for him through action. Moreover, when one loves Jesus, he or she is actually expressing love for God the Father. This call that links love with faithful obedience is crystallized in the next chapter of John’s Gospel: “This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.”

Faithful obedience is not an end in itself. The end is God’s glory and the achievement of God’s missional intentions for the world. When we as followers of Christ demonstrate our love for God through our daily walk, we begin to live lives that demand an explanation. The world quietly and desperately longs for a truth and reality beyond mere self-interest, wealth, and power. The way of Jesus points to a hope bigger than this world. Our lives—our response of love to God’s actions in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus—serve as clues to the world of the substance of the Gospel.

A New Teacher
Jesus calls for faithful obedience, but this is not construed as merely the result of human effort. Jesus’ connection of love with faithfulness does not put the onus of obedience solely on the individual. The power of Jesus’ teaching in this passage is the reality of a power greater than self at work in our lives as disciples. The legacy of Jesus will be far more than the embodiment of the supreme example of the god-centered lifestyle. Jesus will leave his disciples with a much greater witness than merely a model for living. Jesus promises the disciples that God the Father will send the Holy Spirit to them.
Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the Advocate or Comforter. The role envisioned here is one of teacher and guide. The Spirit whom the Father will send subsequent to Jesus’ resurrection will serve to empower Christ’s followers to live out fully the way of Jesus. With the coming of the Spirit, we are not left alone or orphaned in the absence of Jesus. The death and resurrection of Jesus means the actual indwelling of God’s Spirit in the lives of Jesus’ followers. For Jesus’ disciples this means that the call to faithful obedience comes with the empowering presence and assistance of the Spirit. We do not have to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. We are able to rely on God’s supernatural power to live out the

Jesus way of life.
This reality was foreseen and promised by the prophets Jeremiah and Joel. They foresaw a coming time in which God would enact dynamically and potently his work of salvation. Joel prophesied a coming age in which God would pour out his spirit on all flesh. Jeremiah proclaimed a time in which a New Covenant would be carved out for God’s people. This new covenant would be one in which God’s law would be written upon the hearts of God’s people so that all may truly experience, know, and follow God.
Jesus assures his followers that the Spirit will serve as a teacher and as a reminder of all that Jesus himself taught. Jesus is preparing his disciples for his death by communicating the audacious claim that his power and renown will only increase through his going to the Father. Moreover those who follow Jesus will be empowered through the Advocate to live as Jesus’ witnesses in the world.

An Emboldened Faith
Jesus has prepared his disciples for his coming death so that their faith would be strengthened rather than shattered by it. Unlike all other great figures in history, Jesus is resurrected. He is alive today. But even more profound than this testimony is the claim that this was God’s plan all along. Hear again the concluding words of our text: “And now I have told you this before it occurs so that when it does occur, you may believe.”

Jesus death and resurrection are God’s means by which we receive true life through faith. This is the purpose of John’s Gospel: “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciple, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.”

This life is rooted in a lifestyle of love for God and others. It is empowered by the Holy Spirit whom the Father and the Son have sent. It is emboldened by the truthfulness of Jesus’ teaching and reality of his resurrection from the dead. It is life that demands explanation and serves to point others to Jesus as “the way, and the truth, and the life.”

But it is based on the consistent claims of the New Testament that Jesus is alive bodily today. You can travel around the world to visit the final resting places of Lincoln, Ghandi, Kennedy, King and other great figures from history. You can also visit the graves of religious figures such as Mohammed and the Buddha. But there is no place on earth where you can visit the grave of Jesus. If you travel to Israel, you can stand in a long line near Jerusalem to enter into the tomb of Jesus, but you will be unimpressed by its simplicity. Visitors have been heard saying, “It’s just an empty tomb.” Yes it is. Thanks be to God. Jesus’ empty tomb is the heart of the Gospel. Amen.

Tags: Biblical Studies, Gospels, Mission, New Testament, Old Testament, Preaching, church, writing by brian
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This is a draft of an essay that will appear in an upcoming edition of Asbury’s Alumni Link:

I love the Scriptures. In offering my Top Ten Bible passages, I am sharing texts that continue to shape and transform me as I seek to follow the Risen Christ into the world for the sake of God’s mission. I have included a question or two that I find myself pondering as I read these passages.

Gen 1:26-31
God created humanity as the pinnacle of his creative work. Such a statement was audacious in its original Ancient Near Eastern setting and it remains compelling today. God crafted humanity for profound purposes. Women and men exist to serve as God’s visible representatives before Creation by reflecting God’s character through their communal lives together. People exist for mission, community, and holiness. The rest of the biblical story narrates the loss of this reality and God’s redemptive work to restore our true humanity.

Am I living as the person whom God created me to be? Am I part of a missional community that reflects God’s character before a watching world?

Gen 3:1-9
Gen 3:1-9 is a disarming reminder of the tragedy of human existence and of the root cause of our lostness apart from God’s grace. It narrates humanity’s substitution of self-rule for a moment-by-moment relationship of faithful obedience with the Creator. The issue is trust. The dialogue between Eve and the serpent moves God from the subject of Adam and Eve’s life in the garden to the mere object of a theological conversation in which the serpent sows seeds of doubt in the heart of Eve and invites her to rely on her own judgment rather than a relationship with God built on trust. Both Adam and Eve chose self-rule over trust.

Do I trust that God has my best interests at heart as well as those of whom I love?

Exodus 19:3-6
These are God’s initial words to Israel at Sinai. They interpret the meaning of Israel’s redemption from Egyptian bondage. The salvation of God is more than liberation from Egypt; it is liberation for the mission of God. The redeemed people of God exist to serve as a missional community that reflects and embodies the character of God in/for/to the nations (cf. 1 Pet 2:9). We must grapple with this text as we seek to inculcate a biblical DNA in our communities.

How do I embody God’s call to mission, holiness, and community? How well does my community of faith reflect the vision of this passage?

Deuteronomy 6:4-9
The Shema marks the foundation for life as God intended. Our relationship with God is first order in importance. This text reminds us of the vital necessity of a fully committed life. Note that this commandment is lived out and nurtured within community. E. Stanley Jones once wrote, “Christianity that doesn’t begin with the individual doesn’t being; Christianity that ends with the individual ends.”

Is my life marked by a moment-by-moment relationship with God rooted in faithful obedience manifested in a whole being love for God? Am I “all in” for God? How well am I nurturing others in this first-order commitment?

Josh 1:1-9
Courage is the key that opens the door to the life of God’s dreams. Courage is determination to live out our faith commitments to accomplish God’s will. Joshua is God’s choice to take the mantle of leadership for God’s people. God appears to Joshua and casts a large vision for the future of God’s people. Joshua’s role is to live courageously by leading Israel into the Promised Land. The courage described in this passage is rooted in a journey shaped and formed by the Scriptures.

Do I live courageously to advance God’s Kingdom, or am I content to live in the “safety” of the status quo?

Psalm 73
Psalm 73 is a poignant psalm that narrates the psalmist’s struggle with life in the world. It captures a period of despair in which the psalmist’s perceived experience of God does not match his theological expectations. Yet it the midst of this dark time the psalmist enters God’s sanctuary and recognizes the ever present reality of God and God’s goodness. The psalmist moves from a faith rooted in external circumstances to one centered on the psalmist’s relationship with God.

What keeps me grounded when my faith experience does not match my theological understanding?

Jonah
Jonah sits among the Prophets as a nagging reminder to God’s people of God’s radical love for the nations. God is at work in the nations – even in those places that ostensibly stand the most opposed to God’s work in the world. God’s holy love extends far beyond the boundaries that we may be tempted to establish for it.

Do I love the lost as much as God does? In particular, what is my attitude toward those whom I consider my enemies?

Matt 4:17-22
Jesus begins his public ministry with a comprehensive call to (re)align continually with the ethos of God’s Kingdom that he is announcing has come near in him. Don’t miss the initial response to Jesus’ announcement: the creation of a missional community to serve as the vanguard for God’s age of salvation. The call to the kingdom is an invitation to mission and community.
In what ways have I separated following Jesus from following Jesus into the world on mission?

Philippians 3:7-16
This has been my favorite passage in the Scriptures since my teenage years. Paul recognizes that the ultimate value involves knowing Messiah Jesus as LORD. In response to this, Paul reorders his understanding of gain and privilege. Paul had boasted of his credentials in 3:1-6. He now advocates a radical reorientation of his past in light of Jesus. All that he once considered reasons for boasting are now reassessed as loss. This is not merely a pious display self-deprecation, but a deep rooted understanding that our gifts and talents become idols if we glory in them apart from a life centered on knowing Christ Jesus.

Have I surrendered to God my main thing so that it can become God’s thing?

There are countless other passages that I may well have chosen, but these are the one’s that have impacted me deeply in recent years as I seek to be continually realigned with and recast in the story that God is writing in the 21st century.

© 2009 Brian D. Russell

Tags: Biblical Studies, Community, Matthew, Mission, New Testament, Online discussions, Philippians, Psalms, Wesleyan, Wesleyan theology, asbury theological seminary, humanity, imago dei, learning, metanarrative, missional church, missional leadership, missional reading, theological education, writing by brian
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Here is a draft of a message for March 7, 2010 (Year C - Lent 3) based on Luke 13:1-9

1 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
6 Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. 7 So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ 8 “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’ “

If you have lived long, you’ve either experienced human tragedy personally or heard countless reports of it. 911. Earthquakes. War. Fires. Tsunamis. Hurricanes. Airline crashes. Murderous rampages. Tragedies create moments of reflection on the question of “Why?” These events jar us into contemplation of our own finitude. We humans readily obsess over cause and effect in the wake of troubling times. We long for some tangible answer to make sense of the tragic circumstances. Inevitably, someone, often a religious leader who audaciously claims divine insight into the event, announces that the latest catastrophe is a sign of God’s judgment. Moreover, we are told that the pain and suffering is the direct result of personal or national sin. Such answers are only comforting for insiders who are confident of their own standing with God and intent on pointing the fingers at others for the sake of self-justification.

In our Gospel lesson for today, Jesus is confronted by a group looking for easy answers to a horrific event in which some Galileans had been killed by Pontius Pilate while worshipping in Jerusalem. This unsettling state-sanctioned murder had led unnamed persons to carry the gory details to Jesus. As was his usual modus operandi, Jesus turned this encounter on its head. The inquisitors were likely looking for self-justification in the face of unspeakable horror. They wanted a simple answer, but Jesus would have none of this. He turns the conversation into a call for repentance as the only ground for hope and standing in the face of God’s judgment.

Repentance
In response to the crowd, Jesus asks a question that surely was on the mind of all in his presence, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans?” Moreover he cites the death of eighteen people due to the collapse of the tower of Siloam as a second example and asks, “Do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem?”

The persons in the presence of Jesus surely wanted the answer to be “Yes.” Such a response is in keeping with the popular theology of Jesus’ day and our own. We unwittingly suppose that life would be less messy if we could explain every tragedy on the basis of the victim’s sin. This was the approach of Job’s friends in that great Old Testament dialogue over the suffering in Job’s life. But life isn’t that simple. God’s Creation is not so mechanical that every good experience is the result of an individual’s righteous actions and every bad experience the result of sin.

So Jesus will have none of this popular theologizing. He presses the issue more deeply. Were the people who died worse sinners than others? Absolutely not. This claim is unsettling and begs the questions: How should we then understand this tragic incident and how should we order our own lives? Jesus interprets the event as a warning, “…unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.” Jesus suggests that the ugliness of life should propel us to God rather than send us into a posture of self-justification. Tragedy can strike us at any moment. The only sure way through this world is the way of repentance.

Don’t miss the nuance of Jesus’ words. He is not talking about a one-time “I repented back in 1995” act of penitence. Jesus is calling on his hearers to adopt a lifestyle of repentance. There is a profound difference between a one-time repentance and an ongoing response of repentance to God. The first assumes a static approach to life; the other is dynamic.

During a trip to Port Canaveral beach on Florida’s space coast, the Russell family was enjoying a walk along the coastline. The waves gently splashed ashore. The sun was warm and the ocean was teeming with activity. Pelicans glided over the surface looking for fish. A pod of dolphins swam a dozen or so yards off shore. It was a perfect day. As they walked northward, the family spied an odd looking bluish object protruding from the sand about fifty yards down the beach. As they drew near, the identity of the mysterious object came into focus. It was an old ten gallon plastic gas can that had washed ashore and was now firmly stuck in the wet sand. The Russell girls began squealing with delight as they discovered living creatures attached to the can. Barnacles were all over it. The girls begged their father to rescue the helpless barnacles from certain death from the sun or the sea gulls which were encircling the area. Mr. Russell attempted to pull the can loose from the sand, but it was held fast by the vacuum achieved by the wet sand. Next he tried to pry the barnacles off by hand. All this accomplished was the crushing of several barnacles. The Russells walked away sad that day. The barnacles would not survive the day. They had made a decision at some moment in the past to attach to the gas can. It had likely been a good decision at the time, but now this past decision and the barnacles inability to change had sealed their fate.

When Jesus talks about repentance here, he is offering a warning. Repentance is not merely a one-time change. It must be an ongoing way of life in our walk with God. Past decisions must lead to present and future acts of repentance. Think of Jesus’ call to repentance as an internal GPS navigational device. As we follow Jesus into the world, we will be confronted by new situations and challenges. Our GPS device continually recalculates are route and calls us to realign ourselves with where God is moving. This is the essence of the dynamic life of repentance. It is a key marker of a vital, moment-by-moment relationship with God.

Rather than offering a cheap and popular answer, Jesus uses the question about a tragic event as a teaching moment to call his inquisitors to a deeper relationship with God by committing to a lifestyle of continual realignment of their lives with God. But this is not the end of the story.

Fruitfulness
Jesus concludes his exchange by offering a parable. He tells the story of fig tree that does not bear figs. The landowner has patiently been awaiting the arrival of figs. After three years of waiting, he orders his gardener to cut down the tree. The gardener responds by pleading for patience and asks that the landowner give the tree one more year to produce fruit.

This story represents the chief takeaway of our passage. The goal of our life with God is not merely repentance or realignment as an end in itself. God desires something more. Jesus’ parable suggests that purpose of repentance is fruitfulness. As fig trees were created to produce figs, God’s people exist to produce the fruit that God desires. In Luke-Acts, this fruit is understood in terms of God’s mission in Jesus. God’s people serve as witnesses to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The risen Jesus has unleashed and sent out his people to serve as witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection and as heralds of God’s salvation to all nations.

Realigning and following Jesus involves serving as witnesses of the Gospel to those around us. This represents a life of fruitfulness. Jesus understands this as the natural result of being God’s people. Just as a fig tree exists to produce figs, the people of God exist to bear witness to God. We are to serve as clues to the mysteries of God.

But what happens when a fig tree does not bear figs? It is likely to be cut down so that its place in the garden may be replaced by another. Don’t miss the warning in Jesus’ words. He is calling his hearers to examine themselves on the question of their fruitfulness. Jesus is looking for persons committed to an ongoing relationship with him. It is not about asking, “Am I less of a sinner than another?” But rather it is about asking, “Am I committed to realigning with God daily as a means to living faithfully and producing fruit for God’s kingdom?”

Conclusion:

The good news of this text is its testimony to the patience of God. The warning here is deadly serious: it is a call to repentance and fruitfulness. But the overall picture paints the picture of a generous God who desires God’s best for his people.

Jesus calls us to a moment-by-moment realignment with God’s work in the world. This way of life unleashes us to live fully as God’s.

How will we respond to the Gospel lesson? Will we heed Jesus’ teaching as a means to living the lives that God created us to live?

Tags: Biblical Studies, Gospels, Luke, Mission, New Testament, Preaching, writing by brian
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Why the Fall Matters?

1) The biblical witness offers a basis for understanding the presence of both good and evil in humanity. Genesis 1-11 describes the potential and pitfalls of women and men as persons created in the image of the Creator God. Humanity was crafted as the pinnacle of the creation and as the center of the myriad of relationship built into the created order by God. Women and men were created to serve as a missional community that reflects God’s character to, for, and in Creation. But now in the aftermath of sin and rebellion, God’s creational intentions for humanity are shattered, but the potential remains. People still intrinsically long to be the people that they were created to be and occasionally women and men commit astonishing acts of goodness and generosity. The biblical story can thus account for the goodness and kindness in our world based on the vestiges of God’s image in humanity as we suggested based on texts such as Ps 8. But the final verdict on humanity is its lostness.

2) Creation itself is marred. Humanity was created to serve as stewards and caretakers of the created world. Post-Gen 3, there now exists an enmity between humanity and the earth it was commanded to keep and fill. One of the hot button issues of our day is concern over the depletion of the earth’s resources and abuse of the environment. These texts call us to remember humanity’s original mandate of dominion over the earth. There is no warrant for the deification of the earth at the expense of humanity as is prevalent in much of the environmental thinking of the political left in the West, but there is likewise no warrant for the abuse of the earth as though this world does not matter. The biblical faith is a worldly one in the sense that the focus of the biblical story is our present world in anticipation of its recreation. Salvation is not an escape from the earth, but rather it is a return to the realities of Eden.

Paul reminds us of God’s intention to redeem even the world in Romans 8:18-23:

18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

3) All life and ministry on this side of the final consummation of history in the creation of a New Heavens and a New Earth will occur within the reality described in Gen 3-11. The biblical narrative assumes this. We lose sight of this reality at our own peril. There is room for a profound optimism because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, but every person has the capacity for the destructive and life-denying patterns witnessed to in Gen 3-11. There is no room for a naïve hope that the “good in people” will have the last word. We can’t simply “be good for goodness sake.”

4) God’s mission recalibrates in response to the rebellion of humanity and brokenness of the “very good” world that God originally created. God’s mission shifts to work for the salvation of a fallen world and of a lost humanity. If there is to be a continuance of God’s mission that began in Creation, God will be the driver. Humanity on its own has shown itself to be incapable of serving as the missional community that God created women and men to be. In these chapters, God sets in motion the initial reverberations of his desire to redeem creation. As we reflect on mission in the 21st century, it is vital to hold together the need to reach lost people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but it is likewise missional to work for the good of the creation as a whole. There is no dichotomy between personal evangelism and social justice. A biblical view of mission does not pull asunder these dimensions. One of the tragedies of 20th century evangelicalism was its surrender of social justice issues to the theologically liberal wings of the Church. The Old Testament affirms the importance of the created world and missional thinking in the 21st century must return to a full orbed understanding of mission. Likewise, we must not make the opposite mistake of emphasizing social justice to the neglect of reaching lost people with the Gospel. Beginning in Genesis 3, God’s mission entails the redemption of humanity in all of its individual and social dimensions and of creation itself.

5) The “good news” of Gen 3-11 is that God the Creator of the “very good” heavens and earth commits to the redemption of creation rather than the option of uncreation. The Flood Story is about partial uncreation and recreation. Even in the judgment on humanity’s sin, God saves Noah, his family, and enough species of animals to replenish the earth post-Flood. The first explicit biblical covenant serves to guarantee the future of Creation presumably regardless of humanity’s ongoing wickedness. The future is secure because God guarantees it. God’s love for humanity and the world that he created is not stated explicitly. But the beginnings of God’s mission to bring salvation adumbrate the ultimate tangible demonstration of God’s love in the sending of the Son into the world.

6) Genesis 3-11 ends with hope that God will indeed achieve his creational aims. The Tower of Babel does not end in the destruction of humanity. Instead, humanity has now filled the earth. This is ironic because humanity on its own terms had chosen to centralize to build a tower to the heavens, but God scattered them around the globe (see Table of Nations in Gen 10). Thus God responds to human sin by partially fulfilling his creational intentions for humanity. God now has creatures created in his image scattered throughout the world. This is good news. But how will humanity ever function as God’s visible and tangible representatives? This will involve the creation of a new human community: the people of God. This lineage will begin with the call of Abram. The missional God of the Scripture is on the move.

What do you think?

© 2009 Brian D. Russell

Tags: 1 Corinthians, Biblical Studies, Community, Genesis, Leadership, Mission, New Testament, Old Testament, Paul, Psalms, biblical theology, emerging church, ethos, humanity, imago dei, learning, metanarrative, missional church, missional leadership, missional reading, theology, world mission, writing by brian
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This summer I hope to move forward significantly on a number of projects. There are 92 days between now and August 31. My goal is write 1000 words a day for 75 of those days.

Here are the projects that I intend to complete or advance:

1) Book on a missional hermeneutic/missional approach to biblical interpretation. It will be published under Wipf and Stock’s Cascade Books imprint in 2010.

2) An essay “What is a Missional Hermeneutic?” is due Aug 1 for publication in Catalyst.

3) Sermons on Matt 2:1-12 and Luke 13:1-9 are due 6/15 and 8/15 for publication in Proclaim

4) Working on a book idea with my friend Ben Collins that will use surfing as a metaphor for missional leadership/living

5) Exploring the design and creation of a new curriculum resource for small groups/adult education that will deploy a missional approach to the text and empower a missional transformation in the lives of those who use the material.

Tags: Biblical Studies, Mission, missional leadership, missional reading, writing by brian
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I am grateful for my Facebook friends who routinely engage me in great conversations about missional leadership. I recently posted a question as a status update:

What advice would you share with persons who are learning the art of preaching? What are good practices? What are ones best avoided?

I received a large number of comments on my Facebook page. They were very good so I organized them into the following list of “best practices.” I hope that you find them helpful. Thank you to everyone who posted their responses on Facebook. Great conversation.

Intangibles
Love first - or you will have no good news to share. I Cor. 13

I think the best preaching is incarnational. Preaching is more about who we are than the actual act of delivering the message.

Find your own voice

…listen to a lot of good preaching.

Brian I am unsure if you can make someone a preacher, I think if someone has good communicating skills you can improve them but if they don’t have it you can’t be taught it

Delivery
Smile. Speak up. If you don’t look like the sermon is an enjoyable (i.e. not boring or dry) experience for you, why should you expect it to be an enjoyable experience for your listeners?

Don’t take yourself too seriously - the message is very important, but you are a humble servant of God.

Avoid being boring. There is not excuse for boring people.

Land the plane! When you hit your conclusion, stop. Don’t circle back around and land over and over.

Be done when you are done.

The art of silence is very important. Christ asked tons of questions…sometimes I think we have sooo much we think we have to cover that even when we do ask “pondering” type questions, we tend to answer them for the people…take time for long thoughtful silences when communicating truths… I’ve often woken up the sleeping saint more quickly with silence than more or louder rhetoric…the Holy Spirit will work wonders in those times of contemplation…
You can use notes, outline, even manuscript if necessary… but remember this is communication: look at the people, make eye contact if possible, even following one thought, one paragraph with one person or one ‘area’ of the crowd. Also be mindful of your posture and gestures because they give you away, i.e. they communicate what you really think, regardless of your words.

Read Joseph Webb’s “Preaching Without Notes”… Think narrative… Approach the sermon as a series of stories that point to the biblical truth… Be inductive in study and delivery.

It is helpful to write out a manuscript, but don’t be tied to it. As a previous poster said, have one point (write it across the top of your notes!) and finally, when you get to the end, ask yourself “so what”? If people can’t use the sermon in their lives, why preach it? Also, don’t be afraid to use humor–it’s very effective in reaching people.

stand up, speak up, shut up, sit down

Know Your Audience
know your audience. You sound a lot smarter when people actually know what you’re talking about.

stay away from really long, unfunny. and ultimately unfruitful anecdotes. Don’t be afraid to TEACH the sheep, they may bite but they are smart little rascals. Quit underestimating how much they can understand.

Role of Scripture
be attentive; be willing to walk around to the other side of the text - and make THAT journey several times

change your lens from time to time; allow the text to shape the message; take a risk

Use the text throughout the sermon - not just as a launching point to say whatever you want.

Investigate using the Lectionary to avoid choosing the launching point as well.

Use lectionary to avoid going familiar - hone in on the main theme using original languages particularly subject/predicate - craft around the main theme letting it bake for a day or so bathed in prayer - tell stories to make message real - “what does it say, what does it mean, how can I apply it to real life”

Also…start with the assumption that nobody cares about anything you are about to share. Remember, the text has been your world in the preparation, not the listener’s.

Manuscripts, Notes, and Such
Use what’s comfortable. If that’s an outline, use and outline, if its note cards, use note cards, if its a manuscript, use a manuscript. However, don’t dismiss manuscripts because they can seem “canned.” Taking the time to write a full manuscripts forces you to think about everything you are going to say and ensure you have prayerfully thought through your whole message.

Oh… and more important… if you use a manuscript… NUMBER YOUR PAGES!!!

Practice the discipline of writing your sermon in manuscript form before preaching.

I personally disagree with writing a manuscript - I use a spider map - then outline

an hour of prep for every minute you preach. Pray, research, read, write it out, reread it, get feedback from others. THEN when you have done the work needed let the Holy Spirit put the icing on that cake as you deliver it… if God wants you to go a new direction… so be it.

Focus
Identify the “nugget” or one main, overarching point that you want the listeners to take with them by the end of the message - because they won’t remember much of your well-crafted words.

At the very least have a point.

The mistake most new preachers make is to try & pack everything they feel a need to share into 1 sermon. Narrow your focus.

Big Picture of Preaching’s Purpose
Keep it simple, keep it theological (please, say something about God!) and keep it current.

Preach truth.

Remember that the point is to make disciples of Christ.

What else would you add?

Tags: Preaching, blogosphere, church, communication, education, writing by brian
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