Should Preachers be "Dying to Preach"?

November 10, 2010 by Timothy Dalrymple

Continued from Page 1

So in this grasp to represent the texts of Scripture in the glorious way in which they are given to us, there comes the risk of pride. Righteousness descends to self-righteousness. At a breathless pace we find ourselves using the pulpit to manage our reputation as good preachers. We make word choices that draw the listener's attention to ourselves and not to the text. It's as subtle as breathing, so it demands an assault on the flesh to be free of it. All of the struggles of sanctification are manifested in the struggle to be faithful in the pulpit. It is who we are as preachers.

If a preacher took seriously the theology you set forth in this book, how would it change the way he or she is a pastor and preacher?

This is the question. It would first change thinking; namely this thought: The pulpit is a place to re-present what God has spoken. The ancients held invention as a "cannon" of rhetoric. This will be foreign to the preacher who is dying to preach. I am not inventing; I am proclaiming. I am re-telling what has already been revealed.

With this understanding comes a joyful sobriety. Silliness is jettisoned. Artful distractions are gone. And there is a general willingness to leave behind us all that distracts the hearer from the text. This is because the text speaks of Christ and the Christ reveals the Father. To keep people from the text is to keep them from Christ. To keep them from Christ is to keep them from the Father. The preacher dying to preach knows this and is willing to do anything to get people to the Father, through the Son, via the Word.

Finally, there would be less obsessing over the "style" of preaching. In our deadness we find our identity; a life so much more real than the bogus sort of style where one preacher hijacks a caricature of another preacher and fronts it as his own.

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About Timothy Dalrymple

Timothy Dalrymple is the CEO and Chief Creative Officer of Polymath Innovations, a strategic storytelling agency that advances the good with visionary organizations and brands. He leads a unique team of communicators from around North America and across the creative spectrum, serving mission-driven businesses and nonprofits who need a partner to amplify their voice and good works. Once a world-class gymnast whose career ended with a broken neck, Tim channeled his passions for faith and storytelling into his role as VP of Business Development for Patheos, helping to launch and grow the network into the world's largest religion website. He holds a Ph.D. in Religion from Harvard's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Tim blogs at Philosophical Fragments.

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