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Preaching Has As Its Primary Purpose...

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Preaching has as its primary purpose reminding believers of God's mercy and justice and calling them to respond by living lives motivated by the Christ-life within them. When it stays close to biblical patterns of preaching--which is not the same thing as citing the Bible copiously-it can be most effective.

Preaching has had a bad name in Christian circles almost from apostolic times. There are a number of reasons for this. The basic one is that God and the things of God are ineffable; therefore, when words about the divine are multiplied they attempt to do the impossible. More practically, preachers have numerous faults that can make the word of god unpalatable. They depart from the biblical word and deliver a merely human word; they do not sufficiently prepare what they mean to say; they deal in clichés, thereby rendering their remarks predictable and otiose; they preach too long. The latter is not a chronological judgment so much as the perceived disproportion between the number of words spoken and the ideas expressed.

----------Gerard S. Sloyan in, The Collegeville Pastoral Dictionary of Biblical Theology.

 

Quotable Archive

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(The latest submissions are listed first.)

• Others Have Value In God's Eyes •
• The Trinity •
• PRAYING FOR PENTECOST •
• The Season of Pentecost •
• A PRAYER TO THE CREATOR •
• A PRAYER FOR OUR EARTH •
• ON TURNING •
• Prayer for Peace •
• Pentecost •
• Second Synod of Orange •
• 7 Social Sins •
• The Homily •
• Resurrection •
• Sin Is Something that Changes... •
• AND THEN... •
• The Winter Journey of Advent •
• A Prayer For the World •
• Come Home •
• A New Psalm •
• A blessing for Preachers •
• Christmas In A Prison Cell •
• Compare Reading the Scriptures With Eating the Eucharist... •
• DOMINICAN PREACHER •
• Eastering •
• For Me To Preach... •
• Formulas •
• I Am Disciple •
• Indeed Any Sermon... •
• Christ needs apostles •
• Jesus, Light of the World, Come •
• Lament For A Son •
• Lenten Penance •
• Litany of Non-Violence •
• Lovelight •
• Making the House Ready for the Lord •
• Money Order Angels •
• Ongoing Listening •
• On Jordan's Bank •
• Peace Prayer •
• Preacher •
• Preaching At Weddings •
• Preaching Is Dangerous •
• Preaching Has As Its Primary Purpose... •
• Seeds of Contemplation •
• The Homily Is Not... •
• The Difference Between Dead and Living Sermons •
• The Dominican Family •
• The Natural World •
• I'm Praying for Pentecost! •


...and blessings on your preaching!

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