"Preaching is not a conversation, a chat about some interesting ideas. It is not the moment in which postmoderns hear their own private messages in the biblical words, one unique to each one who hears, and then go their own way. No! This is God speaking! He speaks through the stammering lips of the preacher where that preacher's mind is on the text of Scripture and his heart is in the presence of God. God, as Luther put it, lives in the preacher's mouth.
This is the kind of preaching that issues a summons, which nourishes the soul, which draws the congregation into the very presence of God so that no matter what aspect of his character, his truth, his working in this world is in focus, we leave with awe, gratitude, encouragement, and sometimes a rebuke. We have been in the very presence of God! That is what great preaching always does."
Monday, June 02, 2008
David Wells on Preaching
From David Wells' most recent book, The Courage to be Protestant: Truth-lovers, Marketers and Emergents in the Postmodern World, page 230...
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2 comments:
That's the kind of preaching I want to hear!
i'm only to page 65 so far, but this is a great book.
i loved "above all earthly powers" but found it a difficult--but beneficial--read.
"courage to be protestant" seems to pack the same truths in a slightly more readable format...and i haven't even gotten to the page you quote!
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