Sunday, May 14, 2006

Sermons, Sermons and more Sermons

Hi all, Things are moving along. I am in the middle of an awesome book called "Slavery, Sabbath, War and Women" the book takes a look at the theological arguments around these issues, and analyzes the way each side uses the bible. This is a very insightful book, and has helped me understand the way I look at the bible, and has shown me some of the flaws in my approach. Really cool. I am now preaching twice a month at McKinley Hill Friends Church, a little church that is between pastors. The cool thing about having to come up with a sermon is that you get to look at scripture in depth. The funny thing is that I found myself over-analyzing scripture, and noticing other over-analysis. For example, today I preached on John 2:1-12. There is a passage in there where Jesus' mom asks him to work a miracle in the middle of a party. Jesus replies with a Now isn't the time, Why are you trying to get me involved? The insight I had is that Jesus was just saying, like any guy at a party when his mom interrupts and asks him to do something, "But Mom, can't you see I'm busy?" Nothing profound, just somebody in normal life, but because Jesus said it, people started trying to read more into it then He probably intended. But I have been doing a lot of preaching lately, and am starting to get into a groove in sermon writing.

Have a great Day,

Gil

1 comment:

Robin M. said...

I like your point about Jesus and his mom.

Have you read Eldon Trueblood's book on The Humor of Christ? He points out places in scripture that make a lot more sense when you realize that Jesus was probably kidding or making a humorously exaggerated point. People who don't get the joke have to work a lot harder at coming up with explanations.