Preaching Tips

Unspoken Metaphors may be as powerful as spoken ones.  Think of the “hand signals” we use in our culture.  One finger up means wait a minute. Two hands together –I’ll pray for you.  In Catholicism a four-way hand signal signs the cross. Don’t be afraid of unspoken metaphors!  They can…

Take time to breathe. Don’t rush your sermon in order to get everything in or in order to stay within your allotted time frame. Your timing is a guide.  But the Holy Spirit must not be put on a stop watch.  Rushing your sermon will mean that people do not…

When you are mining images, you’ve got to dig deep!  The Hebrew scriptures (and the New Testament scriptures as well) are written in metaphors that are heavily layered.  In order to find the depth and breadth of meaning hoped for, one must mine the metaphors, seeking multiple meanings, quality and…

Primal metaphors in scripture are those that begin in Genesis and weave like threads all throughout scripture.  Metaphors such as light, darkness, water, breath are all “primal metaphors.” You can tell the Story of Scripture and of Jesus using any one of them –a good exercise for you, and for…

What is a hidden metaphor? Many stories in scripture have not only visible metaphors, but hidden metaphors. For example, in the story of Rahab, Joshua’s men hang a red string in Rahab’s window, so that her family might be spared during their invasion of the city.  Meanwhile, just before they…

What is a metaphor? A metaphor is a noun that serves to describe something hard to describe, or adds depth and additional attributes to something or someone, or highlights a wider meaning of something or someone. The scriptures are filled with metaphors.  From Genesis onward, metaphors form threads that help…

Calling for Repentance can sound like an uncomfortable and dangerous thing to do in our churches today.  But without repentance, there can be no grace.  Without returning to Jesus, we cannot incarnate Jesus for the world.  In a world that beckons us everywhere else but in Jesus’ corner, perhaps repentance…

Who’s afraid of a little disorder?  Usually the church.  But if anything we learn about Pentecost Sunday, it’s that the Holy Spirit refuses to fit into our “orderly” understandings.  We are not in control.  God is. Just as in the Jewish tradition, the Jubilee tradition required a great deal of…

Be a GOOD Church! A good (GOOD) church is a “get out of doors” church!  Does your sermon help people “go out” to proclaim the name of Jesus to the world?  The end of your sermon needs to challenge people, nudge them, encourage them to be the message Jesus intended…

Help people embody your sermon by inviting them to act it out!  Use a blindfold to lead them out.  Or as our fellow contributor David McDonald did one Sunday to demonstrate Jesus’ burial, wrap them up!  You can have them up and moving about the space or participating in what…