As I'm working on part three in our series on Heaven in the Real World, I'm reminded of Walter Brueggemann's belief that preachers and teachers must always keep in mind the two tasks of responsible sex educators:
(1) Don’t tell students more than they can handle.
(2) Don’t tell them anything they’ll have to unlearn later.
Please wait one moment . . .
About the Book (The Feast)
About Me
- Josh Graves
- Nashville, TN, United States
- I'm the best friend of Kara, father of Lucas, minister, author (The Feast), life-long Piston fan . . . I am the Preaching and Teaching Minister for the Otter Creek Church (Nashville) and I am working on a doctorate degree (second year) at Columbia Seminary studying the relationship of postmodernism and Christianity.
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11 comments:
I like it!
How do you know where the line is of how much the students can handle, and how much is too much?
Obviously there is a lot to cover on the topic, and a lot would just go over people's heads without adequate explanation, but how do you judge how much they can take?
No small feat. I don't envy you the task, but I'm confident that you will rise to it. :)
Gilbert, checked your blog for first time in a while. Good work. Enjoyed it.
Emily, I go by my gut on that one. I don't know all that goes into this but I've learned when you "put my foot down on the pedal" . . . I've certainly made mistakes but I do it more by a sixth sense than a scientific formula.
Josh,
You know I love the Brueggemann wisdom!
One aspect of preaching I have been thinking about lately is the thin line that separates prophetic passion and what may come off to your listeners as cynical preaching. If an issue needs to be addressed in the church and you are preaching; trying to find the passionate voice to addresses the issue head on while also trying not to sound too cynical is not an easy task.
Any Graves wisdom?
logos (logic), pathos (ethos), and ethos (character) are the trinity of Preaching (held together by the Spirit).
I think ethos is most important. More important than any of the other two.
JG
From Brueggemann to Aristotle huh… now that’s a range:)
Yes, I agree with ethos being the most critical; however, it is somewhat peculiar that Jesus taught mostly to people who had no idea what is character was like unless they traveled with him; for it was his character that was always being called into question.
Phil,
That's one way to read the Gospels. I think, more than not, Jesus was teaching to the disciples, and he allowed the crowd to overhear what he was saying. Of course, it's not an either/or but I think ethos matters most when speaking to your own people (in the Gospels the disciples are "his own people").
Regardless, you raise an excellent point. To those close, ethos emerges. To seekers and crowds, perhaps logos and pathos matter more.
I interpreted your question to be solely focused on your church family. So, perhaps you view them as your disciples (not that you are the Messiah).
Thoughts?
One friend wrote this in an e-mail to me.
- - -
"I like the sex ed/preaching analogy in your latest post. As a third point, I might add: Don't use your wife as an illustration!
Or perhaps along a little more serious line, perhaps the analogy does carry over in some way about showing reserve in interjecting our own lives as illustration or example (good or bad)."
simple, yet oh so true. my father-in-law used to say that preachers should always remember that the brain can only take in what the seat can endure.
4 things:
1) Hope Lucas gets here healthy! (and soon!)
2) thank you for the reminder -- it even helps bible class teachers
3) in your comment above, you wrote logos (logic), pathos (ethos), and ethos (character). Now i know you didn't mean to say that pathos is really ethos :)
4) why doesn't your blog like Google Reader? any ideas?
keep up the good work!
in HIS love,
nick
PS -- looking forward to listening to you and Patrick discuss eschatology.
The Heaven and Land lesson from Exodus was one of the best sermons i've ever heard.
Yep. Pathos is emotion/passion. I made a mistake. Good catch.
I don't know why Google Reader isn't working. I'll check into that.
You'll enjoy this Sunday--we're doing a dialog on the differences we have per eschatology. They have not put my teaching up yet. It's coming soon (from two weeks ago).
JG
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