As Time Goes By 10.8.2026

    One of the great standards ever recorded is of course As Time Goes By. In fact, the song itself and the motion picture in which it appears—Casablanca—each mutually buttress the other. Neither would likely be much remembered except for this juxtaposition. I’m going to highlight some of the familiar phrases from the song this month as we continue to discuss the power of standards—contextual, procedural, and linguistic to strengthen the study and writing we do for sermons. 

    Time is an often forgotten, easily dismissed factor that contributes to our preaching. Consider Paul’s famous line in 1 Corinthians 13, not for what it says about the nature of love but for its unspoken assumption about the nature of passing time. 

“When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.  For now, we see in a mirror dimly but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:11-12 ESV)

    Paul’s point is of course, that love is an aspect of increasing and deepening Christian maturity.  He does not state (but clearly assumes) that as children mature and grow to adulthood, a maturing faith becomes increasingly love focused. To make this point he is relying upon the simple fact that time passes, time goes by; and this process—as inalterable as it is, progresses through several different inflection points. The unspoken subtext of Paul’s epistle is that many of the Corinthians have not matured as expected. Their movement from “when I was a Child” to “When I became a man” did not result in the kind of loving Christlikeness which is to be expected. Paul takes what he determines to be a basic theological point and locates it in time and space. 

    Let’s take Paul’s observation about the passing of time and apply it to the topic at hand. As Christians, and surely as preachers we need to be constantly considering this process in our own lives and in our own ministries. Paul rightly expects growing Christians to exhibit certain signs of that maturity. By extension this is true of us, not only with respect to Christian character—but especially for those who preach, in consideration of the work needed for the preparation and delivery of sermons. 

    To whit—time goes by and if your writing and preaching now, are the same as they were 20, 30, or 40 years ago people are right to wonder what maturity the years have yielded. As time goes by, more than time needs to go by. Your program of study should provide a well-rounded diet keeping your mind sharp and involved in biblical, historical, and theological studies. Your writing schedule should produce more than you need every week. You need, minimally, to write enough so that you may edit yourself ruthlessly 

    As time goes by the world changes. The Bible does not—virtually everything else does. We need to keep the old skills sharp and learn a few new ones. Just this week, one of our ladies, who was in hospital over the weekend, gave me some helpful advice on changes we need to make to the online streaming of our services. This is a great example of the fact that people of all ages are embracing new technologies and if you don’t or won’t you might be letting more than time go by. W get no more or no less time than anybody else. And many of the opportunities we let slip by are just as gone.

    The key is neither to mourn the passing of time nor to celebrate it—but to leverage it. Time passes without requiring our permission or asking our blessing. It is a stream that moves all around us. We can choose to work with it or against it. In ministry, time may mean greater opportunity, increasing wisdom, and focused growth. Or it may mean missed opportunity, plateaued wisdom, and little growth. The time is going by, but we can move with it from youth through the various stages of adulthood attaining broader levels of experience and wisdom. 

    Preaching is central to our call to ministry. Some of the basic skills erode over time. For example, our voices generally lose volume and change tone requiring some change in how we speak from the pulpit. Other skills increase, as we move through time accumulating the deeper wisdom, broader experience, and expanded study. The key to a long and fruitful ministry is not getting stuck in the past, longing for a time which has long gone by. Time goes by, but it need not pass us by.  

Standards 10.1.2026

     I listen to a lot of music. Most of what I listen to throughout the day will be some sort of instrumental music. I alternate between forms of classical, jazz, and ambient music to provide a mix of musical ideas that keep my mind engaged when I am studying scripture. As I have grown more sophisticated in my tastes I have learned some of the basic theoretical tenets of how music works. This not only helps one to appreciate music it helps you to understand how various genres of music relate to one another. 

    My listening has made it clear exactly what makes some tunes stand out, what allows those basic melodies to be so memorable that they are able to cross the boundaries of genre to be identified as “classics” or “standards”. Because my listening moves across several genre’s my application is somewhat different than the dictionary definition of “standard.” Here is my conclusion. There are some tunes that transcend genre. They can be arranged as simple jazz-piano improvisations, filled out with an orchestra, transcribed as a folk or pop tune—even morphed into rock or elevated into classical structures and the basic tune remains.

When I think of a standard tune, I am impressed by a universal flexibility that allows a text (song) to transcend its original compositional context. The following elements are essential to this flexibility. 

• Basic Idea—A “Standard” will generally be based on a very basic idea. A simple phrase, theme, chord, measure or concept. Something complex in origin will not likely be capable of restatement. 
• Tolerates differing arrangements (re-contextualization)—My best advice here: listen to Miles Davis version of Someday My Prince Will Come. This song, written for the Disney movie Snow White is largely considered a standard, not because of its role or performance in the film but by rearrangement and re-contextualization such as Davis’s rendition. It is instantly recognizable and at the same time wholly different. 
• Regularly quoted by other works—Standards have a life outside of original context. When I was a youngster, teens were introduced to the wonder of Rachmaninoff, not by picking up a copy of the composer’s Second Piano Concerto at a record store but by listening to Eric Carmen’s All By Myself. It might be stretching my point to consider Rachmaninoff’s #2 as a standard, but Carmen did show that it was eminently quotable. 

The Point

    Standard songs transcend original context. They are embedded in their time and place but continue to speak in widening contexts. Similarly, good preaching begins with a specific message, drawn from a specific text, proclaimed before a specific congregation, yet if that sermon is to be effective it must be grounded in the standard repertoire of the pulpit. Sermons can be unique but not sui generis. I only rarely repeat a sermon, but I could. Despite their specific compositional circumstances, good sermons are (or should be)  a part of the “standard repertoire” of preaching. A little bit of re-contextualizing and a sermon I preached at home can be adapted for a revival or used at camp. We need to keep something vital in mind here: The line between unique and weird can be hazy, and often when I am the one writing the words I miss the distinction. The preacher must be careful to avoid the faddish lest the congregation tire or become infatuated with novelty. 

    As a preacher you will develop a voice and a style. You will develop a personal approach to moving from a text to preaching themes, points, and big ideas. You will learn how to arrange various materials so that you can “quote” and draw from deep wells of spiritual nourishment without slavishly footnoting or knavishly stealing material. 

    As I listen to great musicians select, arrange, perform, and re-contextualize tunes I am always struck by how deeply they must be immersed in the “literature” of their craft to create beautiful music. Herein the lesson. To become a flexible preacher who can work within the context of the standards and practices of preaching we need to be deeply, wholly immersed in the study of our craft. Biblical Studies. Theology. Philosophy. History. Biography. Literature. Old or new, local or universal, Clear or opaque, we must linger over our books to keep from become programmatic, pragmatic, or pedantic. 

    We preach with the guarded hope that people will listen and benefit from our preaching. That will only ever happen if we keep to the task. We will enlarge upon this topic of standards throughout the month. I hope that through our hard work God blesses His Church through the proclaimed word.