Tuesday, May 6, 2008

The Big 30

No, this is not my age. I'm nearing the big 5-0. But "3-0" is now the number of books I've read in 2008. With the addition of completing The End of Words, by Richard Lischer, my old homiletics professor, I realize I've moved past a landmark, I've slipped past another bouy in the sea of pages I'm trying to navigate.

I have to thank Dr. Dick for another fascinating and provocative book. I say "provocative" because it did elicite a number of thoughts, questions, and concerns about preaching, the role of the preacher, and the place of words in a world where one voice just doesn't have much clout anymore.

I know where my old prof is coming from. Sermons are a dime a dozen, and often the preacher is left asking: "Who cares?"

I did sit down to tally my own contribution to the ocean of sermonic discourse, however. By my calculations, I've preached over 1000 sermons in my lifetime. But I only recall the one I preached last week (and that one, barely). But who's counting? One of these Sundays I might just show up and do a witness sermon, like the prophets running naked through the streets of Jerusalem, or Hosea declaring that his wife is a whore, or . . . hey, would anyone like to hear a sermon like this?

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