Today is the Feast of the Nativity of St John the Baptist. (We only celebrate three birthdays in the church calendar – John the B, his cousin Jesus and Mary, Mother of Our Lord and Aunty of John the B).
I’ve been on retreat for the last week – something I last did 2 years ago. It has been very good too, looking at wounded healers – Henri Nouwen, Brother Roger, Mychal Judge and John O’Donohoe.
The town that I’ve been staying in goes rather large on celebrating the Eve of the Feast of St John, so we got a firework display just before midnight, a big fire by the sea and the local population all turning up to dip their feet into the water at midnight.
Anyway, here are a few firework photographs. It was a great retreat week and this was a rather spectacular conclusion.
3 responses to “Six Points for Preachers”
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I think I would add: if it does not matter to you, yourself, then don’t imagine it is likely to matter to anybody else. Find, if you can, the point where your concerns and the concerns of the text cross. Better to say a very little that matters, than a lot which really does not.
Also: read (to yourself, before you start) the whole passage you are going to speak on and read what comes before and after. You do not have to agree with it. You do have to enter into dialogue with it. Supine agreement of Scripture is not (in my opinion) required. Taking it seriously, is.
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[…] Dent-de-Lion by admin Posted on November 2, 2012 Six Points for Preachers […]
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I’ve noticed how uncomfortable preachers are with the word ‘love’. Discounting the times in is used in a pre-set theological phrase like ‘love of Christ’ as sort of a plug in, I rarely hear it in sermons.
Its a reason to be Episcopalian – if the preacher avoids love, you can always hear it – or see it- or taste it – in the Eucharist.
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