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…