Showing posts with label Preaching. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Preaching. Show all posts
19 July 2009
28 April 2009
The Task of Preaching
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.
(1) Don’t tell students more than they can handle.
(2) Don’t tell them anything they’ll have to unlearn later.
07 April 2009
Are You a Bean-to?
Eugene Peterson believes that the task of being a Christian in our world today is intricately connected to the words that fall from our lips. Whether we preach in front of a community of faith, or offer a word of hope to a co-worker caught in the trappings of addiction and denial, the words we speak are the embodied means by which usher God's grace to this fragmented world.
Peterson thinks that story-telling is one of the most effective ways to do this.
In Tell it Slant, he tells the story of teaching in a graduate program on Jesus' parables. One of the students in the class, Father Tony, talked about the lessons he'd learned about story-telling in raising up leaders in Africa.
"When he [Tony] first began the work, whenever he would find men who were especially bright he would pull them out of their village and send them to Rome or Dublin or Boston or New York for training. After a couple of years they would return and take up their tasks. But the villagers hated them and would have nothing to do with them. They called the returnee a been-to (pronounced bean-to): "He's bean-to Boston." They hated the bean-to because he no longer told stories. He gave explanations. he taught them doctrines. He gave them directions. He drew diagrams on a chalk board. The bean-to left all his stories in the wastebasket of the libraries and lecture halls of Europe and America. The intimate and dignifying process of telling a parable had been sold for a mess of academic pottage. So, Father Brynne [Tony] told us, he quit the practice of sending the men off to those storyless schools," (Tell it Slant, 60-61).
---
I'm grateful that most of my education (history, english, and theology) was provided to me by men and women (starting first with my parents) who believed in the power of story.
Peterson thinks that story-telling is one of the most effective ways to do this.
In Tell it Slant, he tells the story of teaching in a graduate program on Jesus' parables. One of the students in the class, Father Tony, talked about the lessons he'd learned about story-telling in raising up leaders in Africa.
"When he [Tony] first began the work, whenever he would find men who were especially bright he would pull them out of their village and send them to Rome or Dublin or Boston or New York for training. After a couple of years they would return and take up their tasks. But the villagers hated them and would have nothing to do with them. They called the returnee a been-to (pronounced bean-to): "He's bean-to Boston." They hated the bean-to because he no longer told stories. He gave explanations. he taught them doctrines. He gave them directions. He drew diagrams on a chalk board. The bean-to left all his stories in the wastebasket of the libraries and lecture halls of Europe and America. The intimate and dignifying process of telling a parable had been sold for a mess of academic pottage. So, Father Brynne [Tony] told us, he quit the practice of sending the men off to those storyless schools," (Tell it Slant, 60-61).
---
I'm grateful that most of my education (history, english, and theology) was provided to me by men and women (starting first with my parents) who believed in the power of story.
05 February 2009
In an attempt to be creative . . .
I used this introduction last night to get a hearing on Paul's tough teaching regarding the man having sex with his stepmother in I. Cor. 5. At the onset of the worship time I told people I was going to "stretch their imaginations tonight . . . .so stay with me 'til the end." Here's what I did:
You might know Kara and I spent part of this past summer traveling. We worked it out to have time in London on our way to Uganda. On our way back, I spent some time in Paris. While I’m not necessarily in love with Parisians per se, the city of Paris is electric. One of my favorite aspects about being in Paris (in addition to Notre Dame) is the experience of walking through the Louvre. Known as perhaps the greatest art gallery in the world (though workers at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC might quibble with me), the Louvre is the gold standard, the best of the best.
As Kara and I walked through the halls of the Louvre, in awe of the sheer age of much of the work (and incidentally, the easy-to-forget youth of our home country), we felt the buzz as we moved closer and closer to the Big Show—the Mona Lisa. I’d heard Sara Barton talk about her disappointment with her Mona Lisa Experience, but I was not to be deterred. As we closed in on Da Vinci’s sixteenth century masterpiece, I could barely see ahead of me. The large room was packed wall to wall. Camera’s flashed, voices spoke in dozens of languages . . . we were coming closer and closer.
Just as I approached the velvet markings, in church we call them sheep herders, boundary markers (the kind you see on television roping off runways for celebrities walking down the red carpet via their que’s) . . . a short man grabbed my arm.
“Excuse me, Monsieur,” he said with a degree of brashness.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“Are you a priest?” This is what I get for wearing my black shirt with a white tee-shirt underneath. I thought about explaining non-denominational Christianity and the word ‘minister’ (“technically all Christians are ministers”) to the mysterious French-men. I reconsidered knowing this man’s only orientation to the world was Catholicism. Hence my black and white shirt.
“Yes. I am a priest.” I finally stammered.
“We’ve been expecting you.”
“You have?” All of the sudden I felt as if I was in some sort of version of Dan Brown’s DaVinci Code. Was this a new game show—DaVinci Code Pranks Gone Wild?
“Yes. Come with me.” Now I was getting a bit upset with this guy. Who did he think he was? I could no longer find Kara—we’d been separated from each other in the mad dash to get closer to the Mona Lisa—whose smile was now getting further and further away from me.
I followed the short Frenchmen (his name, according to his work nametag, was Jean-Pierre). Jean led me to an unmarked elevator on the south side of the hallway. We took that down about three levels to an awkward room.
“Wait here,” he said abruptly.
After a few minutes of waiting, he came back with another man. They had a portable table and a large steel box. “We think you will find some interest in the contents of this box. About a year ago, an archaeologist for National Geographic stumbled upon some ancient letters in Italy. They were written in a form of Greek that very few people recognized. After a few months, we were informed by religion scholars that these letters were written in Koine Greek, the Greek of the New Testament. Mr. Graves, I don’t know quite how to say it, but you are holding a letter written by St. Paul himself. This is not a letter that appears in the New Testament. In fact, only a few dozen people have even laid eyes upon this. We believe this letter was written by St. Paul near the end of his life, concerning a person that appears in his first letter to Corinthian Christians. Would you mind looking at it, and telling us what you think? The best we can tell, this letter refers to I Corinthians 5 and St. Paul’s dealings with Christians living in Corinth.”
---
I've had to explain to several people what I was trying to do (and why I was trying to do it). That is, 1) we only have some of Paul's letters/correspondence with Corinthian Christians and 2) It's a precious gift that we have any at all.
You might know Kara and I spent part of this past summer traveling. We worked it out to have time in London on our way to Uganda. On our way back, I spent some time in Paris. While I’m not necessarily in love with Parisians per se, the city of Paris is electric. One of my favorite aspects about being in Paris (in addition to Notre Dame) is the experience of walking through the Louvre. Known as perhaps the greatest art gallery in the world (though workers at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC might quibble with me), the Louvre is the gold standard, the best of the best.
As Kara and I walked through the halls of the Louvre, in awe of the sheer age of much of the work (and incidentally, the easy-to-forget youth of our home country), we felt the buzz as we moved closer and closer to the Big Show—the Mona Lisa. I’d heard Sara Barton talk about her disappointment with her Mona Lisa Experience, but I was not to be deterred. As we closed in on Da Vinci’s sixteenth century masterpiece, I could barely see ahead of me. The large room was packed wall to wall. Camera’s flashed, voices spoke in dozens of languages . . . we were coming closer and closer.
Just as I approached the velvet markings, in church we call them sheep herders, boundary markers (the kind you see on television roping off runways for celebrities walking down the red carpet via their que’s) . . . a short man grabbed my arm.
“Excuse me, Monsieur,” he said with a degree of brashness.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“Are you a priest?” This is what I get for wearing my black shirt with a white tee-shirt underneath. I thought about explaining non-denominational Christianity and the word ‘minister’ (“technically all Christians are ministers”) to the mysterious French-men. I reconsidered knowing this man’s only orientation to the world was Catholicism. Hence my black and white shirt.
“Yes. I am a priest.” I finally stammered.
“We’ve been expecting you.”
“You have?” All of the sudden I felt as if I was in some sort of version of Dan Brown’s DaVinci Code. Was this a new game show—DaVinci Code Pranks Gone Wild?
“Yes. Come with me.” Now I was getting a bit upset with this guy. Who did he think he was? I could no longer find Kara—we’d been separated from each other in the mad dash to get closer to the Mona Lisa—whose smile was now getting further and further away from me.
I followed the short Frenchmen (his name, according to his work nametag, was Jean-Pierre). Jean led me to an unmarked elevator on the south side of the hallway. We took that down about three levels to an awkward room.
“Wait here,” he said abruptly.
After a few minutes of waiting, he came back with another man. They had a portable table and a large steel box. “We think you will find some interest in the contents of this box. About a year ago, an archaeologist for National Geographic stumbled upon some ancient letters in Italy. They were written in a form of Greek that very few people recognized. After a few months, we were informed by religion scholars that these letters were written in Koine Greek, the Greek of the New Testament. Mr. Graves, I don’t know quite how to say it, but you are holding a letter written by St. Paul himself. This is not a letter that appears in the New Testament. In fact, only a few dozen people have even laid eyes upon this. We believe this letter was written by St. Paul near the end of his life, concerning a person that appears in his first letter to Corinthian Christians. Would you mind looking at it, and telling us what you think? The best we can tell, this letter refers to I Corinthians 5 and St. Paul’s dealings with Christians living in Corinth.”
---
I've had to explain to several people what I was trying to do (and why I was trying to do it). That is, 1) we only have some of Paul's letters/correspondence with Corinthian Christians and 2) It's a precious gift that we have any at all.
05 January 2009
Words
No other modern public speaker does what the preacher tries to do. The trial attorney has glossy photographs and bagged evidence to hand around; the teacher has blackboards and overhead projectors; the politician has brass bands and media consultants. All the preacher has is words, (Barbara Brown Taylor in The Preaching Life, 81).
JGO (Josh Graves Original)updated version of this quote.
No other modern public speaker does what the preacher, writer, teacher of Christianity tries to do. We cannot prove the very thing on which we've staked our lives--the ressurection of a teacher from Nazareth. We are preaching, writing, and teaching about something we cannot prove. Ever.
The trial attorney has CSI investigative techniques; the teacher has the internet, blogs, google, and Planet Earth; the politician has email, facebook, and Springsteen/George Jones. All the preacher, teacher, writer of Christian faith has is words. Of course those words are connected to the lives we lead. If we speak a word that betrays our life, we speak a word we do not own, to paraphrase Augustine. But, in the moment of truth, all we have are words.
---
A new semester begins today at Rochester College. It's a good day.
JGO (Josh Graves Original)updated version of this quote.
No other modern public speaker does what the preacher, writer, teacher of Christianity tries to do. We cannot prove the very thing on which we've staked our lives--the ressurection of a teacher from Nazareth. We are preaching, writing, and teaching about something we cannot prove. Ever.
The trial attorney has CSI investigative techniques; the teacher has the internet, blogs, google, and Planet Earth; the politician has email, facebook, and Springsteen/George Jones. All the preacher, teacher, writer of Christian faith has is words. Of course those words are connected to the lives we lead. If we speak a word that betrays our life, we speak a word we do not own, to paraphrase Augustine. But, in the moment of truth, all we have are words.
---
A new semester begins today at Rochester College. It's a good day.
26 November 2008
Prep
The week leading up to Thanksgiving and Christmas are the only two weeks I find difficult to prepare to preach/teach. I am anxious to watch movies, get in extra work-outs, watch RC hoop games, spend time with family, etc. This week, we're starting a new series at Rochester Church called Visitation. It's our version of advent.
This week we're exploring God's visitation to Abraham and Moses in the form of conversation and a burning bush.
I love this quote from Elie Wiesel on Moses (The Messengers of God, 182).
This week we're exploring God's visitation to Abraham and Moses in the form of conversation and a burning bush.
I love this quote from Elie Wiesel on Moses (The Messengers of God, 182).
It is not surprising that Moses occupies a special place in Jewish tradition. His passion for social justice, his struggle for national liberation, his triumphs and disappointments, his poetic inspiration, his gifts as a strategist and his organizational genius, his complex relationship with God and His people, his requirements and promises, his condemnations and blessings, his bursts of anger, his silences, his efforts to reconcile the law with compassion, authority with integrity—no individual, ever, anywhere accomplished so much for so many people in so many different domains. His influence is boundless, it reverberates beyond time.
24 November 2008
The Weekend
This weekend was eventful. I flew to Mission, Texas Friday (just north of the Mexico border) to speak at the North Mission Family/Youth Conference for a group of churches in that area. I only get asked to do one or two youth events a year. I'm fine with that. I really am. I personally think it is the hardest age group for me to connect to. I'm grateful for people like David Fraze, Patrick, et al who can speak powerfully into the lives of our teens. I'm more comfortable with a diverse audience.
I flew Saturday to Dallas to speak at Highland Oaks Church. This might be the most organized church I've ever associated with. Seriously. They got mad skills when it comes to staff, series, direction, and implementation. They are also one of a few in the Churches of Christ doing "multi-site" (one church many locations). The other is Farmers Branch Church with visionary leader, Chris Seidman. Our journey to/in "multi-site" for Rochester Church and Christ Church Macomb has been one of many mistakes, celebrations, victories and defeats. It is good to know we have fellow travelers along the way.
You can click here to listen to my teaching time at Highland Oaks.
I flew Saturday to Dallas to speak at Highland Oaks Church. This might be the most organized church I've ever associated with. Seriously. They got mad skills when it comes to staff, series, direction, and implementation. They are also one of a few in the Churches of Christ doing "multi-site" (one church many locations). The other is Farmers Branch Church with visionary leader, Chris Seidman. Our journey to/in "multi-site" for Rochester Church and Christ Church Macomb has been one of many mistakes, celebrations, victories and defeats. It is good to know we have fellow travelers along the way.
You can click here to listen to my teaching time at Highland Oaks.
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