Issue 15 Vulnerability in PreachingBlog | Books for life
Books for life
Author: Andy PeckPost Date: 25.06.18
In the business of trying to keep up with life and ministry, crises and commitments, sometimes our preaching gets stuck in a rut. When we have developed a style of preaching that we find ourselves comfortable with, we become more efficient at preparing and delivering competent sermons, but our preaching risks becoming routinised, predictable, and, dare I say it, boring. Not only boring for our listeners, but to be honest, sometimes for us preachers too. What can we do to reignite our passion and kick-start a revolution in our preaching? Here are four books I have read recently that really challenged my preaching practices:
Preaching the Luminous Word: Biblical Sermons and Homiletical Essays Ellen F Davis (Eerdmans)
Insufficient preparation often means our sermons are flabby rather than forceful, silly rather than sensitive, they ramble and roam more than they rumble and roar, they circle instead of coming to land. Reading the sermons contained in this volume will challenge you to get your sermons in shape. In the same way that my jogs around the block suddenly step up a gear when our local multi-marathon runner whizzes past me, these sermons set a new standard for our preaching to aim at. Davis is the Distinguished Professor of Bible and Practical Theology at Duke Divinity School, working alongside such academic luminaries as Stanley Hauerwas, who writes a generous foreword to the book. These are beautifully crafted sermons, showing just how much theology, exposition and application you can fit into a concise and poetic 15-minute sermon.
