Posts from — June 2007

Or, why it turns out badly when we do try to preach stories.

Alternative title: The Butterball Sermon.

My friend Larry Rogier has asked an important question on his blog. I started to answer in his comments, then decided to just answer it here on my own blog. He’s a friend, yes, but why give him free content when my little blog here is withering from disuse? Also, people go to his blog to read him, not me; and I think Larry knows how I would answer this anyway.

Larry’s question is: “…if almost half the Bible is narrative (think most of Genesis-Esther, Matthew-Acts), why aren’t narrative texts more prominent in our preaching?”

I told you it was a good question. Here’s how I would answer it:

Preaching narrative is tough for several reasons. First, narrative is tough to interpret. It is not difficult to know what the text says in narrative. In fact, that’s easy when compared to other biblical literary types. The narrative tells a story and it is unusual to have the meaning of a story depend on what one word or phrase in the original Hebrew or Greek means. So knowledge of biblical language, grammar, and syntax are less essential in interpreting biblical stories than they are interpreting other types of biblical literature, like say Paul’s letters.

No, when preaching Bible stories, the hard part is to abstract a truth from the story that is consistent with authorial intent and valid for believers in our time. Both of these (authorial intent & ongoing validity) are spots where the preacher can fall into a deep pit that causes him to fall short of truly preaching God’s word. The authorial intent misstep is the one that I see most frequently. Preachers find a biblically sound truth, but it is not the truth that the original human author had in mind to communicate. In other words, it is the old “right doctrine, wrong text” problem.

A second reason why (I think) preachers avoid preaching narrative is that they do not know how to structure a message from a biblical story. Even if they get the story right in their intepretation, they don’t know how to communicate it clearly and interestingly. This is because they usually try to use a deductive structure: big idea first, three points (usually, but it can be more or fewer), conclusion. That structure works well in the NT epistles and it can work well in the OT prophets, some OT poetry and occasionally in the Law and the Gospels, but it feels funny in a story. The preacher carves up the story like a turkey breast on Thanksgiving day, presenting the meat of the Word (maybe), but not in a way that resembles the original turkey. The sermon looks like mystery meat—a turkey roll, or a Butterball—rather than a beautifully baked bird. To preach a biblical story well, the preacher must learn to structure his sermon in a way that follows the structure of the text. Usually this means using pure induction, meaning that the big idea of the story/sermon is not clearly revealed until the end of the sermon. In this approach, the sermon carries the reader along using the story to hold his or her interest just as a screenwriter does in a good movie or TV drama or a writer does in a good novel. In my experience, most seminaries do not teach this kind of inductive preaching structure in their classes on preaching. It is a shame, too, because the stories of the Bible are better written than the kind of fiction we read/see in popular culture. We have better material (artistically and theologically) but our lack of training in dealing with it spoils the Sunday product/experience for our listeners.

A semi-inductive structure, where the big idea of the message becomes clear in the middle or toward the end of the message can also work with stories. This is a pretty easy structure to learn, too: Roman numeral one (I.) of the outline is the Big Idea of the Story. Roman numeral two (II.) of the outline is the continuing theological truth of the story—the truth that is taught in the text that applies to the original audience and to us equally. Roman numeral three of the outline is application: the big idea of the sermon stated in terms that a modern Christian can apply to his or her life.

For preachers to do well preaching narrative, we need better training. Laws of interpretation (as taught in a seminary class in hermeneutics) need to be reviewed in preaching classes (aka homiletics). Students need to be drilled and corrected in class on how to use these laws to interpret stories. Then they need to be taught inductive and semi-inductive sermon structures.

In case you’ve been living under a technological rock, Apple’s iPhone is scheduled to be released this Friday. I’ve written before in a now defunct blog about my desire for one of these. Unfortunately, I can’t part with the $600 it would take to get one in the near future.

So, I have to try to win one. And try I will.

Over on the Apple Phone Show, they are giving one away. All I have to do to enter is link to their show, so here it goes again: The Apple Phone Show. The Apple Phone Show is a podcast about—guess what?—the iPhone. Yes, it is quite nerdy to listen to a weekly podcast about a cellphone. I plead guilty. However, it is a good show! I’ve been listening to the first few episodes on my commute and I’ve enjoyed them. It is a little strange to be listening to a podcast about a phone that is not even for sale yet. It is even more strange to listen to guys opine about the phone even though they haven’t actively tested the phone yet. Andy Ihnatko, always entertaining, has used the iPhone for like 33 minutes. He probably has one for evaluation now, but as of a few weeks ago (I’m listening to episode 3 right now), he had only briefly used the phone. Nevertheless, the host Scott Bourne and the guests are well informed on iPhone news and the show is interesting and entertaining, at least for nerds like me.One more time, just in case excessive link love helps win the prize: The Apple Phone Show.

And, here’s a link to the podcast subscription in iTunes.

Running is the only sport I engage in anymore and I really enjoy it. I do it completely for recreation and fitness. I have no desire whatsoever to run in a marathon, half-marathon, 10k or whatever. That would feel like work and just take all the joy right out of it for me.

When I started running, ten years ago or so, I was a pathetic weakling. I couldn’t run half a mile without wheezing and feeling pain in my legs. But I kept at it—kept pressing myself to add distance and increase my speed. Now I run pretty consistently about five or six miles (depending on how I feel). We have a treadmill at home that works fine, but I enjoy the outdoors so much more. It is a lot easier to run consistently outdoors in the summer when the daylight hours last longer. When I lived in the beautiful community of Sycamore, IL we had a nice bike path behind our house that was just perfect for running. My usual route had a few rolling hills, but nothing steep. The scenery was placid: a meadow here and there, a few buildings, and lots of farmland. Yes, it had Bethany Road on one side too, but that was no big deal. The cars were a good distance away and I barely noticed them. For a change of pace, I could also run into downtown Sycamore and enjoy watching life in our little town.

Here in Michigan, most of my running route follows Baker road, the main thoroughfare from I-94 into the village of Dexter. There is no sidewalk for most of the route on Baker, so I have to run along the shoulder of the road, just outside the white line. Only a few feet separate me from the cars and trucks passing at 35 to 55 miles per hour. That took some getting used to, but after two years it is no big deal now. I run against the flow of traffic which you really aren’t supposed to do, but the cops just wave at me as they pass by so it hasn’t caused me any trouble. I’m sure that I’m kidding myself to think that I could get out of the way of an oncoming car, but I feel better knowing that at least I’ll see the end coming if a bad driver does end up hitting me (see: Stephen King). All of this is introduction to some random thoughts I’ve had recently during my runs:

• I share the side of the road with a rotation of dead animals. Recently, there were two raccoons (on opposites sides of the road) and a kitty lying dead within six feet of each other. Someone came and got the poor cat within twenty-four hours after its demise. One of the ‘coons is gone now, too. Nature is taking care of the other one. It is interesting, albeit distasteful, to see these dead critters decompose. They smell bad, of course, but that goes away after a few days. Meanwhile you see the thing change from being a fully-formed animal to (eventually) nothing but a grease spot on the road.
• Lots of drivers drive with one hand on the top of the steering wheel, in the twelve o’clock position. Men seem to be slightly more likely to do this than women. I don’t find this a comfortable position for steering at all. Occasionally I do it when my hands need a change in position, but normally I steer left-handed at around seven or ten on the clock, depending on where my arm is resting on the door.
• A few months ago an open Jeep with four or five teenage girls drove by me. They were going fast, probably fifty or better. After they passed I got a strong whiff of perfume that gagged me momentarily. That’s probably overdoing the scent, ladies.
• Too many drivers are oblivious to pedestrians, even in the village where I use the crosswalks and obey the crossing signs. We pedestrians must beware of the cars because the drivers aren’t watching for us. This is especially true at the four schools I pass, unfortunately. People there just pull out and block the crosswalk without stopping or looking. No wonder they have crossing guards during school hours, otherwise the kids wouldn’t stand a chance. I have come to appreciate the people who notice me running there and stay clear of the crosswalk or wait for me to pass before making their turns. I can only offer them a friendly smile and a wave, but I never fail to do this for the courteous driver.
• My very old third generation iPod has just about been ruined by running. It has a hard drive in it and the constant motion is just too hard on the poor thing. I’ve reset the software and done other various tweaks to it to make it work fine in my car, but it can’t be moved too much or it just has a mental meltdown.
• The second generation iPod Shuffle I bought last year just for running is great, almost perfect for running if you want to listen to music or short podcasts. It is terrible for audiobooks, however. Mine never remembers where I stopped listening last time and since there is no display to show the time elapsed, I just can’t find my way back to where I was.