Toolbox For Faith

When Dr. Marcus Miller came to Roanoke to talk about preaching the Lenten texts, he took a few moments to share his ideas on preaching. I thought his ideas were helpful. Let me know what you think.

1. Preaching is the central task of the pastor.

2. The Law/Gospel dichotomy still works in today’s world.

3. Preachers need to be as responsible for what people hear as for what they say. It is important to create opportunities for congregational feedback on preaching to make sure that our style doesn’t get in the way of proclaiming the good news about Jesus.

4. The purpose of preaching is to explicate scripture.

5. Biblical illiteracy is not the issue for most people. The issue in most cases is lack of theological understanding. Many people know Bible stories. Preaching involves more than just retelling the story. Preaching addresses the issue - “What does this mean to our life of faith?”.

6. Preaching needs to build community.

7. Preaching needs to point beyond ourselves. Dr. Miller instructs his students to write down a few of the current events of the day as they begin to prepare a sermon as a reminder to look beyond themselves.

8. Preaching is shaped by our own journey of faith. (I remember Dr. Charlie Sigel essentially saying that we look at the world through glasses that are tinted by our life experience. The preacher, he said, does well to learn what colors their glasses so they can know how that affects their view of scripture and shapes their preaching.)

- From a presentation Feb. 4, 2011 at St. Mark Lutheran Church, Roanoke, VA by Dr. Marcus Miller, president of the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary