I just finished reading a live blog post on Rob Bells preaching conference Poets, Prophets, Preachers conference, where he addressed "The Story We're Telling." This has inspired me to awaken the art of the sermon in my own life. After the infamous ladder dream, Jacob awakens and says, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it” (Genesis 28: 16). Maybe that is the reaction the sermon should bring out.
Perhaps the preacher isn’t so much a schoolteacher as she is a tour guide. “Did you notice that? Hey, look over here.” And then like any good guide, we allow the viewer to take their own pictures, explore some personal trails, we allow questions and we encourage walks that take us further. Our sermon doesn’t have to be the last word on the subject, being the answer-person doesn’t have to include closing the door behind us definitively.
“A sermon can be focused and yet open to interpretation,” Bell said. “It can be said and yet left with things to say. It can be defining and yet open for more imagination, and it can be resolute and yet unresolved and left with issues.”
The ancient art of the sermon is an invitation into the presence of God, and it is an artform and a privilege that too many of us (myself included) have neglected and abused.
One of the most powerful things I read Bell said at the conference, was this, “A sermon is like building a cathedral of words that invites people to come into it and say, ‘Ah it’s beautiful.’”
I am so thankful for those who are helping people communicate in a world where communication is faster, convenient and more inexpensive than ever yet the substance is lacking. More and more people are communicating but fewer and fewer have anything to say. Check out the live blog of the event.
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