11.23.2021 Focusing on the Word in a flood of Words.

Preaching requires lots of reading and lots of writing. During the typical week, we exegete the text to have an accurate understanding of what it says. We read that same passage of scripture in several translations to compare and contrast what we have discovered about the text with the common ways it has been rendered in the versions our people will be using on Sunday. We undertake all kinds of research to ensure that our message is Biblical, timely, and coherent. For the preacher, that means we spend a lot of time reading and writing words. Lots of words. One of the dangers in this business is that we are so completely surrounded by words that any single word, any one message can be lost in the flood. 

The most frightening risk of all is that amid all those words we lose sight of the Word. Nothing that you or I will write or say can replace the incarnate presence of the Word that became flesh and shared our historical space. The best that we can hope for is that what we say when we preach helps the gathered Body of Christ to better enflesh and exemplify what it meant and still means for the Word of God to have taken on flesh. 

As we enter the Christmas season we will focus on the incarnate presence of Christ in a very familiar way. Many of us will have more words to write and more words to say than we commonly do. We will be tempted to trot out tropes which are so well known that they risk being worn out. We will be tempted to say what everyone expects because after all…they are just words and what power do they really have? Well, according to scripture the words we speak when we are anchored to the Word convey life, redemption, and peace upon those who seek God’s favor. Give thanks this week for the blessings of the Gospel. And then next week let’s hit it hard because our congregations and communities will be waist-deep in a flood of words. It is our job to focus their attention on the Word which gives all words coherence and power.