Wednesday, June 29, 2011

The most important thing in preaching

"After every Sunday-evening worship and another sermon, Dr Buttrick invited the seminarians- there were seven or eight of us- to his penthouse manse on Fifth Avenue overlooking central park.......We asked him questions and he asked us questions. There was no agenda. .....On one of these evenings he was asked by one of the students something about preaching. Something on the order of "What is the most important thing you do in preparing to preach each Sunday? I think we were all surprised by the answer, at least I was. His answer: "For two hours every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon I walk through the neighbourhood and make home visits. There is no way I can preach the gospel to these people if I don't know how they are living, what they are thinking and talking about. Preaching is proclamation, God's word revealed in Jesus, but only when it gets embedded in conversation, in a listening ear and responding tongue, does it become gospel"

(Eugene Peterson, The Pastor, Page 86)

1 comment:

Clout said...

Bart Simpson would just chuckle at his name!

Saturday blog-sweep

 Some interesting books for pastors The State we're in Attack at dawn Joseph Scriven Joy comes with the morning When small is beautiful