The process of preaching
03/08/14 05:17
There are probably as many different ways to read and interpret the Bible as people who have read the bible. In seminary they teach exegesis: the critical interpretation of the text. You learn to examine the language, the history and the context of the text you are reading. You use historical and literary tools to ask what is the whole meaning that is contained in the text. This is contrasted with eisegesis, which is the process of interpreting the text in such a way that one reads one’s own ideas into the text. There are plenty of examples of preachers and others claiming that a passage of scripture means what they want it to mean.
When Christians disagree, often the language of exegesis and eisegesis are bandied about as weapons. Eisegesis is something that we accuse others of doing and claim that we are always reading the text properly. The truth is that we all bring perspective and experience into any reading ot the text. The spiritual discipline of scripture is not unlike other spiritual disciplines: they are relationships. We are constantly bringing ourselves and our own experiences to our relationship with God. None of us are purely objective - nor would we really want to be.
One of the tools that scholars use in an attempt to discover the deeper meanings of a text is to look for patterns of meaning. Rather than just examine a single sentence or paragraph, the words, ideas and concepts contained in one passage are compared with similar uses of the same words in other parts of scripture. There are plenty of places where one part of scripture makes direct reference to another. Jesus, for example, likes to quote Isaiah. The gospels contain passages from the prophet’s words.
In Bible study we also examine the age of the written texts. Our Bible did not emerge as a continuous narrative all in the order in which the texts are printed today. Parts of the Bible circulated as written texts before others were written. Some language forms used within the Bible are more ancient than others. This kind of analysis can be very complex and confusing because first written down doesn’t always mean most ancient. Because of the process of group memorization, the transmission of oral texts was very accurate and sometimes more accurate than writing before the invention of the printing press.
Because interpretation is so complex, there is no one person who has command of the entire bible. Teams of scholars are required to get an overview of meaning, theology and language usage. Part of academic study is learning to use those teams - to read and access their commentaries and other materials and to benefit from the work of others.
Those of us who are preachers carry a heavy responsibility to live lives of continual study and examination. Because others turn to us for interpretation and meaning, we need to examine the words that we say so that we don’t contribute to misunderstanding. I have heard more than a few sermons that I considered to be irresponsible - simple diatribes about what the preacher wanted us to believe, without the hard work of study and struggle with the text that yields genuine biblical authority. The formula is pretty simple. “Here is what I think and here are a few bible passages to back up what I think, and therefore you should agree with what I think.”
I have dedicated my professional life to avoiding that method of preaching. I have followed the lectionary in part because I don’t want to be returning to the same few texts over and over, but rather have the texts presented to me along with the challenge of making connections between the texts and the lives of the people that I serve. Rather than me picking the scripture, I prefer to have the scripture pick me. There is a danger to this approach, however. The lectionary, while it seeks to provide an overview of the scripture, does not contain all of scripture. The texts chosen for focus in worship need to be read alongside much larger blocks of scripture. Sometimes I need to re-read an entire book of the bible in order to keep aware of the context. Sometimes I discover other words in other parts of scripture that need additional examination and study. After preaching my way through the lectionary a dozen times, I still don’t feel like I have it down. Each week is a new journey of study and thought and learning.
That is why I participate in a weekly bible study that focuses specifically on the lectionary texts. I work with colleagues to extend our understanding and to bounce our ideas off of on another before we get into the pulpit to preach. And I can be pretty critical of colleagues who don’t invest the energy and just plain hard work that I feel is essential to the task.
Every three years the lectionary explores the events that precede the exodus. We get to invest a couple of months during the summer in the northern hemisphere examine the Jacob stories from Genesis. I look forward to this in each cycle of the lectionary. I did a lot of work in Genesis under a great teacher and translator during my seminary years. The book is familiar and the nuances of the stories of the patriarchs are intriguing to me. I can recall, off the top of my head, individual sermons that I have preached on the story of Jacob wrestling with the angel in each of the congregations that I have served. I can recall multiple sermons in this church. Three years ago in this congregation, I was coming off of a very intense period in my personal life. Within the preceding year I had experienced the death of a brother, the death of my mother, the birth of our first grandchild, the death of my father-in-law and the marriage of our daughter. To top things off our plans for a split sabbatical that year had been complicated by health problems experienced by the other minister of our church and it was clear that there were problems with our plan. We were also in the midst of hiring a new administrative colleague, a new organist and we had just hired a new choir director. The church was filled with change. And with the change there was plenty of criticism.
I was personally wrestling with angels at the time I delivered that sermon.
Looking back, I am pretty critical of that particular sermon. Which brings me to another joy of being a lectionary preacher. Today I get the opportunity to preach a new sermon on the same text. Perhaps with enough practice, I’ll come up with a good and honest sermon that reaches deeply for the meaning in the text with a minimum of laying my own meaning on the sacred words.
I can’t help but wondering a little bit how that sermon will feel to me three years from now.
When Christians disagree, often the language of exegesis and eisegesis are bandied about as weapons. Eisegesis is something that we accuse others of doing and claim that we are always reading the text properly. The truth is that we all bring perspective and experience into any reading ot the text. The spiritual discipline of scripture is not unlike other spiritual disciplines: they are relationships. We are constantly bringing ourselves and our own experiences to our relationship with God. None of us are purely objective - nor would we really want to be.
One of the tools that scholars use in an attempt to discover the deeper meanings of a text is to look for patterns of meaning. Rather than just examine a single sentence or paragraph, the words, ideas and concepts contained in one passage are compared with similar uses of the same words in other parts of scripture. There are plenty of places where one part of scripture makes direct reference to another. Jesus, for example, likes to quote Isaiah. The gospels contain passages from the prophet’s words.
In Bible study we also examine the age of the written texts. Our Bible did not emerge as a continuous narrative all in the order in which the texts are printed today. Parts of the Bible circulated as written texts before others were written. Some language forms used within the Bible are more ancient than others. This kind of analysis can be very complex and confusing because first written down doesn’t always mean most ancient. Because of the process of group memorization, the transmission of oral texts was very accurate and sometimes more accurate than writing before the invention of the printing press.
Because interpretation is so complex, there is no one person who has command of the entire bible. Teams of scholars are required to get an overview of meaning, theology and language usage. Part of academic study is learning to use those teams - to read and access their commentaries and other materials and to benefit from the work of others.
Those of us who are preachers carry a heavy responsibility to live lives of continual study and examination. Because others turn to us for interpretation and meaning, we need to examine the words that we say so that we don’t contribute to misunderstanding. I have heard more than a few sermons that I considered to be irresponsible - simple diatribes about what the preacher wanted us to believe, without the hard work of study and struggle with the text that yields genuine biblical authority. The formula is pretty simple. “Here is what I think and here are a few bible passages to back up what I think, and therefore you should agree with what I think.”
I have dedicated my professional life to avoiding that method of preaching. I have followed the lectionary in part because I don’t want to be returning to the same few texts over and over, but rather have the texts presented to me along with the challenge of making connections between the texts and the lives of the people that I serve. Rather than me picking the scripture, I prefer to have the scripture pick me. There is a danger to this approach, however. The lectionary, while it seeks to provide an overview of the scripture, does not contain all of scripture. The texts chosen for focus in worship need to be read alongside much larger blocks of scripture. Sometimes I need to re-read an entire book of the bible in order to keep aware of the context. Sometimes I discover other words in other parts of scripture that need additional examination and study. After preaching my way through the lectionary a dozen times, I still don’t feel like I have it down. Each week is a new journey of study and thought and learning.
That is why I participate in a weekly bible study that focuses specifically on the lectionary texts. I work with colleagues to extend our understanding and to bounce our ideas off of on another before we get into the pulpit to preach. And I can be pretty critical of colleagues who don’t invest the energy and just plain hard work that I feel is essential to the task.
Every three years the lectionary explores the events that precede the exodus. We get to invest a couple of months during the summer in the northern hemisphere examine the Jacob stories from Genesis. I look forward to this in each cycle of the lectionary. I did a lot of work in Genesis under a great teacher and translator during my seminary years. The book is familiar and the nuances of the stories of the patriarchs are intriguing to me. I can recall, off the top of my head, individual sermons that I have preached on the story of Jacob wrestling with the angel in each of the congregations that I have served. I can recall multiple sermons in this church. Three years ago in this congregation, I was coming off of a very intense period in my personal life. Within the preceding year I had experienced the death of a brother, the death of my mother, the birth of our first grandchild, the death of my father-in-law and the marriage of our daughter. To top things off our plans for a split sabbatical that year had been complicated by health problems experienced by the other minister of our church and it was clear that there were problems with our plan. We were also in the midst of hiring a new administrative colleague, a new organist and we had just hired a new choir director. The church was filled with change. And with the change there was plenty of criticism.
I was personally wrestling with angels at the time I delivered that sermon.
Looking back, I am pretty critical of that particular sermon. Which brings me to another joy of being a lectionary preacher. Today I get the opportunity to preach a new sermon on the same text. Perhaps with enough practice, I’ll come up with a good and honest sermon that reaches deeply for the meaning in the text with a minimum of laying my own meaning on the sacred words.
I can’t help but wondering a little bit how that sermon will feel to me three years from now.