The wisdom of the ages

Greetings, once again.  This time, a crumb I picked up from a friend's trail.

Went to Murwillumbah Pressy on Sunday, and was greatly blessed by Chris Lindsay's exposition of Proverbs 8 and 9.  So good.

I was going to write a beautifully eloquent summation of all the excellent things he had to say.  But I'm not sure I have time.  And perhaps just listening to the talk yourself would be more edifying anyways.

So I'll just mention a couple of things.  Literally.

• The wisdom offered by Lady Wisdom is something that pre-dates the creation of the world.  It, in fact, undergirds the creation.  If you're looking for transcendent wisdom or ancient and deep truth, Lady Wisdom offers something deeper than the most ancient sage or sect.

• Though so often we choose Lady Folly over Lady Wisdom, the logos, the reason, the logic, the unifying principle, the word of God has come to be Wisdom for us.  So that in Him we are truly wise and all else is made to look foolish.

Much more theological gold in there that'll make you want to read the rest of Proverbs.  Go get it.

A naked preacher?

My lovely friend Anna posted a vulnerable, self-aware and in-process piece on theological writing just the other day.  It made my soul smile.

It echoed the thoughts of Billy Coffee's one-time lecturer on the subject of writing, who said of writers:

“Don’t simply tell me that faith saves you, tell me how it almost failed you, too. Don’t tell me about love, speak of your passion. Don’t tell me you’re hurt, let me see your heart breaking. I don’t want to see your talent on the page, I want to see your blood. Dare to be naked before your readers. Because that is writing, and everything else is worthless crap.”

And for writing, I agree.  Writers who genuinely say something say what they mean.  Which is what they deeply and utterly believe.  And so are naked before those who would laugh, mock and critique that.

Thus, genuine writers:

“People write because they must. Because there is a story inside them that is meant to be shared with the world. But having that story inside you doesn’t make you a writer. How you tell that story does. And you tell it through honesty.”

A question for me, then, is to what extent preaching is 'writing' in this sense?  For we do not tell our own story, though that story is equally "inside us and meant to be shared with the world".

On the side of the naked preacher, I would say that if the person doesn't preach, but only the text is preached, then the duty of plunging the sword of the spirit into oneself before plunging it, with your own blood still afresh on it, into your hearers has been neglected.

On the other hand, when does the preacher's nudity become a distraction from the preacher's work of exposing the naked word of God, in all its glory and implications, to the congregation?  For even if we have a story to tell in Christ, a sermon is not a testimony.  It is the story of Another,

Of course, the answer is not a blank yes or no. (sorry if that's what you were going to say.  Let me introduce you to Graeme Goldsworthy if you were.)  But I suspect the answer lies somewhere in the field of "in what sense ought the preacher be naked, and in what sense ought no-one be looking at the preacher to have noticed?"

Your thoughts?  I'd value them dearly.

John Piper on Preaching - An index

Many of us were greatly blessed by God yesterday as John Piper shared with us what he's learned about preaching. It was awesome. Far better then even his evening address.

Here's some introductory comments that he made on the topic of preaching.

He then gave us his thoughts on 5 key areas of preaching. Its aim, its content, the manner of your preaching, preparation for preaching and the act of preaching.

These are just notes and at times fail to capture the depth and significance of each of the points that he made. Mulling over them and their depth may well be very beneficial. A quick scan will likely miss much of the significance of his address.

What is the good?

In preaching, there are a number of goals that a preacher is trying to achieve. In this post, however, I'm focussing in not on content, but rather on communication.

What is the chief value that a communicator ought to strive for? Retention of information? Affecting the hearer? Mirroring the rhetorical method employed by the text?

I'd love to hear some thoughts.