The Impoverishment of Contemporary Preaching

 Conversations with Barth on Preaching by William Willimon is – even though I don’t agree with all of it – an excellent book about homiletics.  I’ve mentioned this book on the blog before, so I won’t go into it, but I do think preachers will benefit from it.  Here’s a part I was (re)reading today: …

Sunday and the Small Church

NOTE: This is a slightly edited repost from May 26, 2009. Here's some great stuff from Preaching and Worship in the Small Church by Willimon and Wilson (Nashville: Abigdon, 1980).  In this section (chapter three), Willimon and Wilson write about the primary activity of the small church: Sunday worship. The authors first lament the fact …

Preaching as Miracle

 William Willimon's Conversations with Barth on Preaching is one of those books that I love and hate.  It is so very good, but so very bad.  I've underlined, highlighted, and circled many different parts.  I've also scribbled a lot of question marks and exclamation points in the margins.  Anyway, before I digress too much, here's a …

Singing and the Perspicuity of Scripture (II)

Awhile back I argued that we need to update the vocab, syntax, and grammar of our church songs.  We should want our church songs to clearly reflect the teaching of Scripture; keeping the language understandable will help in that endeavor. The basis of these statements is what we in the Reformation tradition call the perspicuity (clarity) of …

For Students of Prayer

 One way to grow in our Christian sighs and prayers is to assume our life long position as students - by learning from wise teachers.  Here are a few resources I've found helpful when studying the Lord's Prayer or prayer in general.  (Note: these are not in any special order; I also realize there are other …