Sunday, November 09, 2008
Preaching and nerves
I'm usually a little apprehensive before preaching, and that's as it should be. But I was really very nervous before preaching this afternoon. We had civic Remembrance Sunday service, starting at the war memorial in the town, and then processing up with the uniformed organisations to a service in the church. The different churches in the town were represented, and I'd agreed to preach.I chose to preach the following trajectory:
- as a Christian, I can say that death isn't the end, because Christ died for us;
- that doesn't mean the death is good: the loss of life, more specifically, the loss of lives, saddens God, as it does us. Those who have died would not just have been great musicians, politicians, writers, etc.: the people about whom you hear "their death was such a loss". Most of them would have been bakers, and waiters, and secretaries, and administrators, and fathers, and mothers, and husbands, and lovers and partners;
- we should be ashamed - not just a citizens of our town - but as all humans should be, because things like the situation in the Congo, and Afghanistan and Iraq happen despite Omaha Beach, and the Somme and Passchendaele;
- but today isn't about being ashamed; it's about appreciating the fact that we can be bakers, and waiters, and secretaries, and administrators, and fathers, and mothers, and husbands, and lovers and partners because the people who went before and gaves their lives and health for us did so. We should be proud of them. We have a debt that we cannot fully repay to them, but we can partly repay them by remembering them: with love, and with dignity, and with pride.
Moo brought Jo and Miri to the 1000 service, and Mark and Jen turned up, too. I'd not met her, and she seems good.
Labels: friends, girls, Moo, preaching, services
Comments:
<< Home
Mike,
I've been reading things on your blog for a while. I'm currently an ordinand at Westcott House also sponsored by Norwich. I love the way you approached the sermon and certainly based on that snapshot I can imagine it being very powerful.
Pax Christi
Tom
I've been reading things on your blog for a while. I'm currently an ordinand at Westcott House also sponsored by Norwich. I love the way you approached the sermon and certainly based on that snapshot I can imagine it being very powerful.
Pax Christi
Tom
Tom - always good to discover a lurker. Thanks very much for you kind words. I was pleased with the sermon and how it went, which was a relief, because I'd been really pretty nervous about it!
Good luck with the training: what stage are you at?
-Mike.
Good luck with the training: what stage are you at?
-Mike.
Tom- I am an ERMC student (as was Mike), but am in Cambridge at Wescott every Wednesday for an MA class, it'd be good to say hi.
Post a Comment
<< Home