Origins 7.30.2026

     Most of my post-college life I have had a pocket copy of the US Constitution. Though it is not a document of divine origin, in no way scriptural or inherently moral, it is the “rule book” for the American Experiment, and this a good thing to know. The Constitution is a political blueprint for a new kind of nation. This very human document, like all writing, was a creature of the time of its composition.  But because the founders were pretty smart, it included the processes for its own expansion and emendation. 

    My interest is the exegesis and application of scripture, so I thought you might be wondering “Why these thoughts on Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit?” I wanted to provide a couple of lines about the origins of this month’s writing, and it comes back to that old, now lost copy of the constitution and a new copy I recently obtained. 

    If you follow anything I write you know I am a big notebook carrier and note-taker. My brand is Field Notes notebooks. There are two current (big and small) books on my desk right now, along with a desk diary and a stack of filled books I keep around for reference. Also, there is the box of a new notebook design from the Field Notes folk that I only purchased because it came with a premium copy of The Founding Documents: The Declaration of Independence and Constitution of the United States. So, the genesis of this July’s writing was a consideration of some of the cardinal thoughts of the founding documents of the USA, in light of parallel Biblical vocabulary. One might think of this as applied theology. I would also describe it as nitty-gritty theology. 

    The 250th birthday of our country came at the beginning of the month. Just about the time that my copy of the Founding Documents arrived. I browsed through them, hit some of the highlights and reflected on some of the core elements which are often thought to derive from a Biblical mindset. The 18th century may not have had the internet but that does not mean that it was not a connected and complex society. The 13 colonies were highly literate and filled with men who had drunk deeply at the well of the Enlightenment. The colonies were also an experimental hodgepodge of theological reflection and religious practice. Some of the colonies (Massachusetts) had and would continue to have established (that is tax-supported State) Churches until the 19th century. Other colonies (Pennsylvania) were founded with no State Church and full freedom of religion. In all the colonies there were “freethinkers” and devout believers everywhere. Sometimes both extremes existed in the same person. 

    Reading these documents reminds us that the past is truly a different country and we must go there warily lest we carry the baggage of our own prejudices back with us. A national birthday celebrates both the achievements of the past and the possibilities of the future. But the celebration is right now. We can afford neither to fritter away the accumulated wisdom of the past nor steal the unknown achievements of the future. We must live here. We must live now. 

For the believer it is a question of balance. I come back over and again to the second century letter to Diognetus…

“They live in their own countries, but as aliens. They share in everything as citizens and endure everything as foreigners. Every foreign country is ⌊their country⌋, and every country is foreign.” Rick Brannan, trans., The Apostolic Fathers in English (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012).

    Sometimes I fear that the contemporary Church has lost this balance. We have become too comfortable.  I am afraid that we wish, not to blend in but to edit out the complexity, variety, and diversity of the world. The choice between cowardice and conquest is not one that Jesus offers nor endorses. I am afraid that we have mistaken a profound blessing for a new purpose. The purpose of the Church is unaltered. It doesn’t matter if you live in Alabama, Illinois, Albania, Italy, or Washington DC. Our job is to make disciples, proclaim the gospel, lift Jesus, care for the broken, pursue the Kingdom. The Bible is the Kingdom document. Not the Constitution. Let’s let the last word come from Jesus. 

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33 ESV)

Pursuit 7.23.2026

     We are all familiar with the concept “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of______.” I leave the final clause blank because filling it will be the topic of this essay. Life is relatively easy to define. And though elusive, liberty a topic that all humans hold dear. It is this pursuit which bedevils us. 

    As derived from both enlightenment thinking and English common law tradition the third part of this triad (Jefferson may have leveraged it but he didn’t invent it) was generally some kind of a property clause. However, for the founders such a seemingly grasping concept did not come across as a thoughtful reason for separating from the King. I suppose it would have sounded like “Keep your hands, royal or otherwise off of our stuff!” And of course, the distinctive economies of the various sections of the country were founded on different, though interlocking economic realities. 

    Better to round off these “inalienable” human rights with one that seemed acceptable to all reasonable people. Of course, the unfolding history of our nation reminds us repeatedly that maybe these “rights” to property were more of a motivating force towards liberty than we are comfortable acknowledging. 

    The Confederacy was certainly founded upon the notion that the pursuit of southern liberty was predicated upon specific property rights. The notion that these three rights were more alienable for some than others, though avoided in the declaration, it was certainly made clear in the maudlin mathematics of the Constitution (3/5ths). 

    Subsequent developments from the gilded age to the jazz age, to the digital age confirm that for every poor soul who wanted to be happy there were many more who wanted to get rich. For those whose happiness is primarily found in the pursuit of property there are very few other rules. It is amazing how many people revere the words of Jefferson and his colleagues and hide behind a facade of Christianity whilst being wholly ignorant of some Jesus’ central teachings. Ignorant, or willfully blind—it works both ways. If you are a believer, the following words should resonate with you. 

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21 ESV)

    Christian people since the very earliest days of the Church have been reconciled to the fact that our life, our liberty, and our pursuits must be subservient to and derived from our life in Christ. If not, then they are temporary at best and blinding distractions at worst. 

    The American Church must do a better job of making a distinction between our tremendous blessings to be living in such a wealthy and powerful country and the realization that it has no eternal significance. In fact, if we are not careful, we will find that we begin to amass earthly treasures vulnerable to time, decay, and intrusion. When we consider this question “What is most important to me? What do I pursue?” we need to make sure that the choice is informed more by the gospel than the good chance of our physical location. 

    We must also be aware that a misguided pursuit—for riches, power, position, or influence can very quickly move from damaged desire to misdirected decisions and actions

“My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.” (James 2:1-8 ESV)

 James is merely citing circumstances where the pursuit, freed from biblical, theological, and moral restraint had flipped the gospel completely around! James understood that when the Church is filled with speculators who have invested the treasure of their life in the things of this world. They may win in the prediction market but lose in the sanctification market. 

    Where are you investing the great treasures that Jesus has provided to you? Are you hoarding and hiding them or using them to bless others? This goes beyond money—some will always have more than others—what of your time, your abilities, and your kindness? 

    The words of the declaration are a fine reflection, a good beginning for our great political experiment. They are also a great point of departure for thinking about issues that are far more important. How am I using my redeemed life? Do I squander my liberty in Christ pursuing my own self-interest? Am I living in dogged pursuit of material wealth or investing for eternity? It’s your treasure. Choose well.

Liberty 7.16.2026

    Virtually every human person has their own definition of liberty. In each individual’s mind he or she is at the very center of everything. The most popular definition of liberty would go something like this. “I can think, say, and do anything I wish at any time, with absolutely no external restraint.” For most civilized people this doesn’t sound like liberty—it sounds like license. Yet for much of human history these two seeming opposites were more closely related than what we moderns would find comfortable. 

    Last week’s look at life was comparatively easy! Everyone who has life wishes to keep it and maximize it. Yet, even in the third decade of the 21st century the masses of people throughout history who lived without any conception of liberty still dwarfs those who have had liberty. For the human community, defining and delimiting itself, liberty may be the canary in the coal mine that not only didn’t die—it hardly ever lived! 

    Which is why a discussion of liberty that does not begin with and then focus on our universal captivity to sin is liable to miss the point. Consider what Jesus says in John 8.32 

“and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”” (John 8:32 ESV)

 He certainly knew that those words resonated differently in the various segments of His audience. Some would have thought themselves already free in mind and conscious, even if they were actual members of the servile class. (Slaves) Others would have been offended. Against well understood “objective history” those contending with Jesus replied to what Jesus said with

“They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”” (John 8:33 ESV)

    Which is just silly—they knew better! Half of the Hebrew Bible is about getting into, though, or out of slavery, exile, or vassalage. It’s not just that it wasn’t true, the boast was hollow and self-serving. They were in an argument, and they were reaching for whatever stick was at hand to win the argument regardless of its truthfulness.  Listening Roman soldiers or Herod’s henchmen overhearing this claim probably chuckled. This doesn’t even consider other listeners who may have had extended family members living in Persia, who had stayed put after the exile ended. 

    You will notice that I am substituting freedom for “liberty” in this discussion. The use of the word “liberty” in the NT is a bit problematic. It is, at least in my favored version, rarely used  and translates several terms from different semantic domains. And when people speak candidly what they really want and they truly mean when they use terms like liberty, is freedom. 

    Even then, too many people do not understand that the real freedom Jesus discusses, the freedom—liberty if you will—that we really need has nothing to do with politics. The real freedom we need, now and always, is freedom from sin. And this salvation that Jesus offers, the salvation grounded in His own person and work is not restricted by nation, state, race, or background. The audience for His gospel expresses this universal need. 

    Jesus’ servant Paul was obviously not present when Jesus spoke the words recorded in John 8.  At that point in his life, however, he surely agreed with the sentiment expressed by those arguing with Jesus. Paul was proud of his racial/religious heritage and considered himself no man’s slave. He was filled with pride and loathing for those far less pure than he. I’m sure that the Saul we first meet—breathing fire and fury against the Church would have agreed against all evidence that he and his people had never been enslaved to anyone. It is interesting that he seizes on this imagery to describe the outcome of this freedom we gain through Jesus…

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23 ESV) 

    

Clearly, this was not the thrust of the founders. This is not what the meant by liberty. Their goal was founding a republic. Their purpose in declaring their “liberty” was freedom from external rule by what had become a foreign power. That freedom, wonderful as it is, is far different in kind and separate in function from the freedom we have in Christ. 

    All residents of this nation are covered by the freedoms guaranteed in our founding documents. Social and political liberty have a limited and parochial reach. Outside of the USA the Constitution may be an admirable statement but it is not foundational. 

     Many of those politically liberated people, free to “live their best life”, are still slaves to sin. The liberty they enjoy may lead to a richer life, but when that life ends the real problem remains. On the other hand, the goal of the Church is to proclaim the liberating gospel of Jesus wherever we may find ourselves, to whoever will listen, accept His offer of freedom, and be transformed. We proclaim that liberty whether here in the land of the free and the home of the brave, or elsewhere in the land of the oppressed political slave. Our goal, our ministry, our purpose, our mandate—our mission. Proclaim the true liberty only available in Jesus. 

Life 7.9.2026

The opening section of the Declaration of Independence famously states…

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…”

    Regardless of debates about how self-evidential these truths are, or what exactly the founders meant by equality, or how far they intended to extend these “unalienable” rights, there is a discussion to be held regarding their theological propriety since they also drug “Their Creator” into the discussion. 

    I think it proper during this anniversary month to consider how life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness should be rightly considered from the perspective of Scripture. A central part of this discussion needs to wrestle with the fact that words—all words, at all times--need to be considered in their proper literary, social, cultural, psychological, and (if possible) spiritual context(s).  As much as we would like to just say “word x means y”, this gets us nowhere until we fully consider the context in which x is uttered. Hermeneutics is more than lexicography. Hermeneutics requires us to survey the intellectual geography surrounding a term to determine why an author (or authors) chose to use a term in a specific way. All authors are creatures of this “geographical” intellectual environment that typifies their time and place, and it is virtually impossible to replicate that intellectual landscape. This is why we must be particularly careful in interpreting any text whether a purely political (and dare we say propagandistic) document like the Declaration of Independence or more critically, our approach to Scripture. 

    Obviously, the founders recognized that a political entity—Colony, State, or Nation needed to provide some modicum of stability so that people could simply live. People needed to farm, work, raise their families, establish communities, educate young people, and worship. Clearly, the founders had concluded that the King and his government no longer could be trusted to guarantee the freedom to live and function. They saw life, within this context. So, they worked to provide a justification for a new political alignment in which the governed would assume the liability for their own lives. What seems to be common sense to us, was, to put it mildly, revolutionary in their century. Not just in the 13 colonies but in the rest of the world. 

    This perspective, largely derived from enlightenment thinking, challenged the status quo of thousands of years of reasoning regarding who was principally responsible for a nation’s life. Virtually everyone agreed that it was the responsibility of the sovereign. Now, for us, because of this Declaration of Independence, the responsibility for guaranteeing life and providing for community integrity comes down to the community; town, state, or nation. The people have become the guarantor of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Whilst this may be accurate from the perspective of political and social necessity it is separate from and unrelated to what the Bible asserts about the nature and character of the life we most need. 

    John, Elder, Apostle, and servant of Jesus didn’t know anything about this bootstrapping, new-fangled, citizenry that is defined by the Declaration. He was actually a royalist, albeit of a different kind than addressed by the founders. In the NT literature attributed to Him John uses the word “life” (ζωὴ) 59x. This term whether spoken by Jesus or used in narrative contexts is a central part of John’s presentation of the Gospel. It is a fitting point of contact. Consider some examples.

“In him was life, and the life was the light of men.” (John 1:4 ESV)

““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 ESV)

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” (John 5:24 ESV)

“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life (John 6:63 ESV)

"And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” (1 John 5:11-12 ESV)

“The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.”(Revelation 22:17 ESV)

    I realize that I have cited a significant body of Scripture. It is sufficient to establish the point that for John, and this is largely born out in the rest of the New Testament, life is found not in our political, social, racial, or cultural heritage but in Jesus—He who gave His life to redeem us. Our life—our entire being is in the Son. 

    In trying to make unfounded and unbiblical connections between the purely political, earthly, and imperial we lose our focus on the King in whose Kingdom we find not only earthly comfort but eternal redemption. 

    The USA is a wonderful country. There is no doubt that being an American is a tremendous blessing and that we possess enormous advantages that other nations do not. Privilege brings responsibility and enormous opportunity. We must be careful to not squander the latter in avoiding the former. 

    Yet individual humans die. Some nations and cultures have gone into extinction. Many of the places that nourished the Christian faith in its infancy are barren to it, even hostile in intent. Yet in other places it flourishes! Because the life of a nation may be its people, but the life of the Kingdom is the King who gave His own life to redeem us. As the Church changes and flourishes in new places the true life that we have in Jesus triumphs over all substitutes and fashionable facsimiles. As we share a national birthday it is right and good for us to remember that our faith-roots go far deeper than here and now. We share the inheritance of the Saints which transcends geography, nationality, and chronology to melt into the eternal life of God.

In Jesus 7.2.2026

5 They live in their own countries, but as aliens. 4 They share in everything as citizens and endure everything as foreigners. 5 Every foreign country is ⌊their country⌋, 6 and every country is foreign. Epistle to Diognetus, Rick Brannan, trans., The Apostolic Fathers in English (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012)

    Christian people have their identity in Jesus. I think that the epistle to Diognetus captures this complexity perfectly. It is in being able to embrace what it means to be in this world (whether that be our city, county, or nation) but not of it, that helps us to be joyfully present in our world. 

    In a couple of days, we will celebrate Independence Day 250. And while we will always have a special place in our hearts for the land of our native, physical birth, as Christians we should recognize that we should never feel fully at home here. Our new birth defines our nature, destiny, and purpose. 

    I believe we need to recall what it means to live, like our first brethren, in our own country, but as aliens. We need to hold fast to the Biblical testimony regarding our heavenly citizenship and cultivate a historical understanding of how believers have negotiated this often-confounding path. Diognetus is a good place to start. I think these words remind us that to stubbornly hold so tightly to something which is not permanent, risks losing the good offered by that very thing. And Diognetus is expounding a solidly Biblical principle. That’s the job of preacher/pastor/theologians, to take scripture and to interpret it into new contexts, new situations. 

    Here are some scriptures that help maintain a balanced perspective amid our alien existence. I don’t know if these texts were on the mind of the Epistle of Diognetus, but they certainly have resonance.  

“By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion.”(Psalm 137:1 ESV)

“the word of the LORD came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the Chebar canal, and the hand of the LORD was upon him there.” (Ezekiel 1:3 ESV)

“ And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.” (Acts 16:13-14 ESV)

Three texts about three exiles, three aliens. Their identity was found neither in their native land nor in the land of their exile. They found their identity in their relationship to God. Lydia soon responded to the Gospel and found a new identity in Jesus. In their exile the knew their true citizenship was in the Kingdom. The same is true for us. Our true place is the Church, the present Kingdom of our Lord.

    We are not the first who have had to deal with this uncomfortable reality of being, in a sense, exiled, or at least separated from our home. We make the best of it. We hear God’s voice. In some circumstances the way will be wet with tears, in others there will be joyful celebration. 

    Peter addresses the whole Church in his epistle, when he assumes that this is our universal status. He describes his audience (as a “catholic” epistle this would be the whole, distributed Church) with these words.

“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, (1 Peter 1:1 ESV)

Mrs. Beckman and I live next to the mighty Wabash river. It isn’t the Chebar canal, it’s not the Gagnitus river. Just the ol’ Wabash. One of these days we will be at home and sing by another river

“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb” (Revelation 22:1 ESV)

 Till then, every country is foreign, and every country is home. Till then, we are happy exiles sharing the story of an undiscovered country and a universal kingdom. Till then, we tell the story of Jesus for those who love and live by that story, and for those who loath and laugh at that story. Till Jesus comes, or we conclude our journey we are happy travelers who sleep soundly at night, joyful exiles in the arms of Jesus. 

 

Yes, we’ll gather at the river,

The beautiful, the beautiful river;

Gather with the saints at the river

That flows by the throne of God.

Connecting to the Past and Present 6.25.2026

     I have been preaching long enough that when I begin a new sermon series—as a part of the initial research phase, I will browse through and skim my previous work on the texts for that series. My preaching from the Gospel of John this year consists of three distinct passes through the book. I think I have mentioned this before—just trying to get y’all up to speed. My first pass ended at Easter with the resurrection. The second pass begins next week, and it will focus on the “I am” passages and other texts that deal more directly with the divinity of Jesus. 

    This week I continue the transition back to “full-time” work on Johannine materials. And it begins with my old sermons along with all the persevered research behind entire series and individual sermons that I have preached over the last 30-40 years. Some of those years had a single theme and the arc of those messages and how texts were applied moved a different direction from my planned approach for the rest of this year. Still this review period is increasingly necessary and can be very fruitful. 

    It’s not just a matter of avoiding repetition. Sometimes the yearly trajectory required me to exegete larger passages of scripture. In revisiting those old sermons, I routinely find that the exegesis was adaptable to other concepts and applications. Often each section of a previous sermon could be reedited, reframed, and expanded into a differently applied message. 

    To reap the benefit, you gotta do the work. In this case the work is a matter of connecting your past work to the present. And that is only possible if you have been diligent in recording, filing, and organizing your work. Rules and tools. We can’t live without them. Here is some brief advice regarding choosing your tools and following your own rules. 

Document Properly

    Write down everything. DATE the pages in your notebook, journal, or Word Processing program! If you do a good job of documenting your work you will be able to look at your dated, outlined, thorough notes and get your bearing. If you don’t date, don’t write down Bibliographic information, don’t attribute quotations, and clearly label your own reflections and musings how in the world will you keep things straight?

    Why do so much work that is simply swept away when you are finished? Why invest your time in digging so deeply only to abandon the wells after they are dug? Work hard for the treasure you have and then leverage it by leaving a properly documented paper trail. (FYI...I’m going to call it a “paper trail” even though for many of us there is little to no paper involved).

File Intelligently

    The basis of your filing system should be simple. Do not make it any harder than it needs to be. Be intentional. Create a system and follow it. Yes, modern computers are fast, and you can let the computer do much of the work and simply use the search function to find things. You use the tool. Use it your way. Leverage the power of the systems you use to work more efficiently and effectively—but own your own work.

    I think it is best at the root level to file chronologically. You may occasionally move some things around or make duplicates of documents, or need to keep a few (minimal, please) items on your computer desktop, but at the highest level keep things simple. By filing chronologically at the top-most level, then appropriately by ministry area as needed you will save yourself time and, following the analogy of traditional analog filing systems, you will have like materials clustered together.  

Differentiate Work Product from Deliverables

    People will hear or read your sermon live or via a streaming medium. At some point in the future, you will be doing what I’m doing now, reviewing your past work to see how it can impact what lies ahead head. You will thank yourself for leaving a quality paper trail that you can easily follow to reconstruct your work, reconfigure your writing, and recycle your research. 

    That means you need to differentiate your work product from your deliverables. This not is not a common description we use to describe our work process or the varied outputs for writing sermons. Yet they are very applicable. Reading notes, scribblings, sketching, and personal asides provide a very personal and messy perspective on the creative process. As we move through multiple drafts we leave behind usable material for the future. No one wants to or should need to read that material unless and until your biographer is recounting your intellectual journey! Just for the sake of argument, let’s leave that aside and agree that each of us leaves a lot of material lying around as we work. Some winds up on the “cutting room floor. Some is immediately repurposed into other ongoing projects. Some of it just piles up on analog or digital desktop You and I write words, edit sentences, mull over paragraphs, and draft entire sermons that no one ever hears. But that material is still valuable to you. When you file, as you complete your final manuscript make sure that you can follow the trail. 

    We preach and teach the story of Jesus to increase His Church and to guide and strengthen disciples. This important task requires the best of our attention and energy. A lifetime of this work is challenging and exciting. Good work habits help us remain focused and productive while laying a foundation for sermons and lessons to come. A simple process for preserving all our work, from first notes to final manuscript is a growing resource for productivity and peace of mind.   

Some Change of Pace 6.18.2026

     Reviewing and tidying up are focused on externals. We review to see where we have been so that we can move forward into our preaching calendar with confidence. We tidy up our control systems to make sure we can maintain control over the rules and tools that help us to manage our time. Today I want to discuss how a change of pace can help clear our minds so that all that redeemed time has mental bandwidth to do its thing. 

    We need a change of pace to help us keep the edge. We are nearly half a year into studying, thinking through, and writing about specific texts and themes.  As we move through our sermon calendars we read, study, make notes, do the research—all of which can dull the mental edge we began with. Like you, I still have quite a lot to do before I’ve written all and said all I intend to say in 2026. I have two more sermons in Proverbs and then the rest of the year will be taken up with more preaching from the Gospel of John and a brief series from 1 John. I have pretty much been on this Johannine glide-path the entire year and when studying the same basic subject(s) it is common to lose emotional enthusiasm, mental flexibility, and intellectual sharpness for the project. And I’ve not even mentioned plain ol’ fatigue or waning curiosity which are also lethal to good study and preparation. 

    The best remedy I know of is changing the pace of what you read and consider. These suggestions are not typical, and some might think that they are out of place in a preacher’s study. I disagree. We need to be sharp. We need to be curious. We need to be able to think critically. We need to be creative. We need to be flexible. We need to be engaged. The best way to accomplish these tasks is to find something to occupy our minds that keeps the synapses buzzing without just adding to the mental load of preparing sermons, lessons, essays, and presentations. It is not selfish or indulgent to keep your mind occupied and engaged with materials that do not dovetail into explicit, ongoing work. Consider the following. 

Reading for Profit and Pleasure

    Let me put it this way. You cannot read for “prophet” if you never read for “profit”. Some investments do not have an immediate return and if you don’t do that broader reading eventually the plumbing will get gummed up. 

    What interests you? What makes you laugh? Are you curious about history or architecture, archaeology or mythology? Read those books. Sit at your desk, engage with a text that does not immediately address something you’re preparing to speak about. Take notes, file them, and sit on the information.  

    Preachers need to know about Theology and History. Keep a list (or stack) of books to be read. Make sure that many of those books address broad hermeneutical and theological questions. These are the ones that slip through the cracks when you need to get cracking on this week or next week’s message. Read, learn, and file. At some point you will come back to those notes and find profitable data that will help you better forth-tell God’s Word. 

    God bless you if you live somewhere that still has a real newspaper. Read the thing. In detail. It will help you learn more about your community and region. The newspaper murderers did not realize that there was more to a local paper than advertising and obituaries. With many local radio stations serving primarily as outlets for media conglomerates the radio news is often thin and useless as well. Reading for profit and pleasure was once the sign not only of an educated person but of a person that was interested in the world. 

Rereading for Engagement

    What books helped to form your intellectual approach? What have you read that caught your imagination?  When was the last time you went through one of them? Do you have annal re-reads? Re-engaging with things you have read in the past not only keeps the information fresh, but it also reminds you of how a book contributed to your mindset. Pull quotes and write them down as a To-Do. They will remind you of contributions others have made to your thinking. 

    Throughout the week I have quotations that come up in Things, my task application. Little reminders of the ins and outs of ministry, the nature of learning, the importance of craft. None of these quotations are literary gems. They just remind me that many formative geniuses learned early on to not be impressed with their own genius. 

    I used to re-read The Lord of the Rings and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy every year. The former because it is profound, the latter because it always makes me laugh. I reread William Martin’s Cape Code at least every other year because it launched an interest in and had a shaping influence on my approach to Puritanism and American Theology. 

Listen to some Different Music

I grew up in the 1970’s. I like the music of my generation. Like everyone else I think we had the best music. I’ll listen to it in my truck, and every once in a while, in the office, but generally I cannot work while playing music with words. 

I also like classical music. My favorite composer is J.S. Bach. Over the last 15 years I have also begun to discover contemporary composers such as (Arvo Pärt, Max Richter, John Tavener, Vladimir Martynov)with a focus on Holy Minimalism (You’re going to have to look that one up). Now, with the genius of Spotify I am able, nearly every week, to identify composers and performers whose musical output matches my listening habits in my study. Rarely does a week go by without discovering some new music.  

When we discover new things—musicians, composers, authors—we create a fertile environment for the intellectual curiosity necessary for growth. Incurious preachers preach incurious, cautious messages. When I am incurious, I find it difficult to look at familiar texts with fresh eyes. This makes me a very boring preacher. 

Let me close with this. We all occasionally get into ruts. Going over the same ground, using the same processes we become bored without selves and incapable of noticing the boredom we generate in others. When we find ourselves in that kind of a rut the task is to get out. Better still we need to work in such a way that getting into a rut is an accident—rather than a deliberate decision. Changing pace helps keep us on our toes so that we can focus on the task and hand and be at our best every time we enter the sacred desk.