Organizing Chaos 11.3.2022

 If you follow this blog, then you know that my sermon calendar is complete. Here is what I will be preaching on Sunday Mornings in 2023:

1 Series: Advent/Christmas A Charlie Brown Christmas

2 Series: The Gospel of Mark: Beginnings

3 Series: Acts: Beginning of the Church

4 Series: OT Wisdom Literature (Book Summary Series) Faith Begins to Work

5 Series: Ruth: Beginning to Believe

6 Series Ship Shape: Beginning to Serve (Discipleship, Leadership, Stewardship, Worship)

7 Series:  Philippians: Completing the Work God Began 

After selecting the basic texts, I was able to theme the entire year (beginnings) except for the Christmas season. I will need the first Sunday of Advent (November 27) to finish my series from 1 John and then we are on to next year. 

    This process of thinking through the entire year helps the preacher to see the year as a whole, rather than 53 individual sermons I have an overarching theme for the year so that each individual sermon on each particular Sunday contributes to the overall, cumulative effect for the year. 

    And now I begin to organize the chaos of study for the year. I am well into my work on the Gospel of Mark. I will not begin to preach from Mark until January 1, 2023. I have roughly two months of study ahead of me to make sure that I am ready to proclaim the Gospel as Mark preserves it for us. 

    And chaos it is. My Mark folder of research materials contains 136 documents totaling around 1.2 gigabytes. When I search in Logos Bible Software (using several interrelated search terms: Mark, Synoptic, Gospel, Jesus) I find that there are a further 120 or so items. Specific verses searches, during preparation for individual sermons, will disclose other resources which are relevant (and hopefully helpful). I try and restrict Accordance Bible Software to reference materials. I have but a few commentaries in this program, but the important Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospel, is there along with the Dictionary of New Testament Background and the IVP New Testament Background Commentary. I have already read several of the articles from these and will consider more as my studies unfold. 

    Logos released version 10 and it allows the preacher to catalog his/her print library so that in textual searches it returns a hit in your print book that tells you where to find it when you get the book off your shelf. Very cool. However, not everything I have will get cataloged. The book in question must be contained in the broader Logos catalog. That leaves about 60 books on my shelves that I will need to access the old-fashioned way. There are two right behind me that are recent acquisitions that I look forward to reading. 

    The question is of course, when and, in what order? One book is entitled Sense and Absence: Structure and Suspension in the Ending of Mark’s Gospel, by J. Lee Magness. Clearly, I won’t be needing to read this until I am within a few weeks of Mark 16. On the other hand, Hans-Herbert Stoldt’s History and Criticism of the Marcan Hypothesis needs to be attended to within the next couple of weeks for it to be of any use. 

    Out of this mass of material I have accumulated I need to formulate a plan of attack. I need to be able to quickly assess the relative value of a book or article, and where it needs to fit in my overarching plan for studying and preaching from Mark, and then move from item to item as quick as I can while reading deeply, taking, notes and thinking through the issues as they present themselves. 

    At this point, I am setting the stage (doing introductory work). I try and prioritize items that are relatively new and put them in the front of the queue. From commentaries, I am only reading the introductory sections. Some major commentaries have deep and helpful Introductions. I will quickly glance through them and prioritize them by date (most recently published, first). Then I will look through the special studies I have available. Because Mark is one of the Synoptic Gospels that means going over, around, and through the Synoptic Problem. Again. The heart of Mark is, of course, Jesus. That means going through Historical Jesus studies. Those I have read before can provide a good map for materials I am reading for the first time. These sub-disciplines of New Testament studies are mature enough, and the conversations are so entrenched that I can usually assess a work within a half-hour and decide whether it merits further attention. Some writers are chock-full of information and dry as un-buttered toast. I try and make my way through them looking for new information to help me as I go through Mark this time. 

    I don’t really quote that often from secondary literature, so my notes are for my own understanding. As I go through this process, I am trying to nail down the basic facts and how the broad scholarly community views this, Gospel. There are certain authors who are reliable guides and I use them to provide a roadmap for what other items to prioritize. Right now, I am trying to organize my course of study, so that in about 7 weeks’ time I will be able to fully turn my focus to exegetical matters: the text, language, and structure of the book itself. 

    The Gospels have been a scholarly playground in the last century. Some of the luminaries of NT studies have stamped their mark on the field and controlled the conversation, often after their specific views have become passé. I try and follow Luther’s standards of “scripture and common sense” in making judgments about what others have said. When I was younger, I generally focused on the “conservative” and “liberal” categories. While these are useful heuristic categories, that is their limit. My concern is to accurately interpret the text. My goal is to be Biblical—the only label which really matters. A lot of the time, the scholars are talking to one another and past you and me as preachers. My goal is to glean from my study a broader, more accurate, and communicable understanding of the text. I’m not writing a thesis, I’m preaching sermons. 

    My goal is not just to be a better preacher, but to preach the Bible better. I want the flock I preach for to know that every week they will hear the Bible. They will be challenged to not only accept the Bible as true but to apply the Bible to their lives. I want them to know that I will not leave any stone unturned that will help me preach the Word of God more clearly and accurately. Today’s chaos is the source of tomorrow's clarity.