Nervousness about Preaching

Over these next few weeks all my students in preaching classes (21 of them) have to preach in chapel and be filmed. For some it is their first preaching experience, ever! You can imagine how several have expressed their nervousness about the whole event.

However, all this talk about nervousness has particular edge for me. On December 3rd. I will preach at the opening service of the Academy of Homiletics in Washington D.C. This is a gathering of many of the big names in the preaching field - authors whose books are standard in our class rooms, and who have exercised huge influence over decades. Without a doubt, they form the most intimidatingly knowledgable and gifted congregation I have ever faced! In the homiletics world these are household names.

One of the Academy members, David Schlafer, wrote to me: "Of course you tremble at the thought of preaching at the Academy (who wouldn't!). The comforting thing, of course, is that the One before whom trembling is truly appropriate says "Fear not!" That's right! All preachers should always feel some nervousness, no matter how experienced they are. We should never be self-confident that we will get it right for almighty God! What daring opportunities to be ambassadors for Christ. And He promises to be with us.

Shortly I hope to post a summary of my sermon work so far!

Second Anniversary

When I began posting on November 18 2007 I had little idea where my blog might go. I had a three ground rules:
1) To try and avoid narcissism - but inevitably writing about personal events and attempting personal perspectives does stroke ego.
2) To give devotional nuggets for thought on a range of issues.
3) To entice collaborators to help me work on projects, both writing and speaking.

Here we are two years later. Probably I have failed with 1) above, but the best outcome has been the range of collaborators who have been willing to give me input and feedback. I have found it invaluable.

I have been warned that my blog will never develop strongly unless I am pro-active and link up strategically in the blogosphere. I confess failure here - often it's been almost too much effort just to post something coherently on this site never mind connect with others. Anyway, I enter my third year tremendously grateful to you all for reading and caring. I found that out when my son Rob was ill (he's still making slow progress by the way!) Many thanks for journeying with me.

Encountering The King's Singers

Carol and I went to a concert at Wheaton College Artists Series last night. It featured The King's Singers who were concluding a three-and-half-week US tour with this near sell-out performance. You may know their work - high quality capella singing. Just six men (two countertenors, one tenor, two baritones and one bass) filled the auditorium with beautiful harmony, in a wide variety of music ranging from medieval madrigals through to a Beatles number! Some of it was high-brow and (towards the end) low-brow. It was all very English - after all the group began in King's College Cambridge in 1968!

But the point of this posting is that the organizer of the Artist Series, Tony Payne, invited us to go in the interval to meet and greet the famous six, together with other members of the Artist Series Guild. As soon as the intermission began, Carol and I inched through the masses to find the door to backstage was barred by two determined students in tuxedos. They doubted that we had permission to go through, but one went and checked. He returned and said we were welcome to see them.

To our immense surprise (never mind their's) Carol and I spent the entire intermission with the singers undisturbed. They were delightful, reminiscing about English life. One singer had been to the same school as our boys in Blackburn, and now living near Cambridge has one child in a school where Carol taught as substitute teacher! I revelled in recalling my university music memories. They were extremely kind and interested in us, but also shared much about themselves. It was remarkable!

You can imagine how flushed with excitement we were returning to our seats, and how personally involved with them we felt for the second half. Aren't there some surprises in life? We puzzled why others didn't come through?

It struck me that the experience had something to say to me as I continue to write about the huge subject of Christian worship and the privilege of access. On the biggest scale, how can we really get close and involved when it comes to knowing and experiencing God? Yet, precisely through Christ, by the Holy Spirit, we are welcome into fellowship with God the Father. Now that is the most remarkable happening!

Real Life (3)

I need to post deepest thanks for the prayers of so many of you for our son Rob. Several of you have emailed your concern. Carol and I are very grateful indeed to have such a strong circle of prayerful friends.

The latest news is encouraging. Hospital consultants regard the most likely cause of his troubles relates to the impact of migraines. Trying to lose weight, balance his diet, and keep work pressures manageable, he returned to teaching this week. He has had one recurrence of "stroke-like" symptoms since, but that was at the end of an extraordinarily long day of university activity (plus a minor car accident!) With prayer and care he makes progress. Thank you for partnering with us.

Meanwhile, real life pounds relentlessly on. Regretfully, my postings have been few of late but maybe (!) November will see a resurgence.

Silliness

I have just returned from four days in Idaho, speaking to leaders in the Inland North Western Area of ABC churches. With five sessions, I was keen to develop some new material (always trying to gain feedback for my next book on worship!)... right up to the last minute. The flight (via Salt Lake City) took seven hours, and during much of that time I busied myself creating appropriate talks, with much writing (and crossings-out). Arriving at Spokane, the Area Executive Minister met me and took me for a tour of some spectacular countryside before depositing me in my lakeside room.

With gratitude for safe arrival I unpacked my notes on the desk to discover that I had left all my work on the plane. What! How could I have so stupidly placed all this work in the seat pocket in front of me....and then walked off? I felt so silly.

The saga of the next three hours hardly bears repeating. Yes, I prayed! SW airlines at Spokane airport claimed there was no yellow plastic folder full of notes left on my flight. I begged them to keep looking and said I would call back in an hour. Meanwhile, I was plagued by how best to fill the sessions. An hour later they said there was still no trace. I pleaded: "But if the plane was cleaned someone must have found them...surely they wouldn't have thrown the fat file away." But would they? The woman on the phone said there was one more thing she could check. 3 minutes later she announced they HAD found it! Great was my rejoicing as you can imagine! A pastor, driving past the airport to the conference, was contacted and then brought them into me.

I learned several sharp lessons in a hurry. How easy it is to do silly things...and how grateful I am for prayers answered!

Right Thing, Right Time

This last weekend offered an easy case study of doing the right thing at the right time, though I confess I wobbled in decision-making.

Many months ago I planned to attend the 2009 Evangelical Homiletics Society Meeting in Fort Worth, Texas October 15-17. Especially because its theme was :Promoting Community through Preaching, I was keen to participate. When the call for conference papers was given, I submitted a proposal on the subject of "Exploring Community Formation through Preaching." Invited to give the paper I then spent over six weeks writing it. It was hard work. Actually, I mentioned the process in a blog.....yet I was excited that I was going to be given feedback on new material. In addition to attending the meeting we were planning to spend time with old friends in Texas - everything was booked and projected to be a significant occasion.

And, then, the day before leaving we heard my son Rob was back in hospital in New Jersey. During his first emergency (a week earlier) we had kept in touch by 'phone but this time sounded worse. My first reaction was that we could honor the conference commitment while still keeping in close touch. Really, part of me was arguing that I should stay with the plan! However, the more we prayed and thought about it the more absurd that seemed. Of course, my son's need for his parents over-rode my plans. Why did I even think twice? Because, when it comes down to it, it's rarely easy to give up things we really want to do (and have worked for) even though there are more important things we really ought to do. In a word - to do what God wants.

I recognize that this was an easy decision. As soon as it was made, with flights to Newark instead of Fort Worth etc., both of us sensed such peace.....confirmed by several events. As Carol and I have reflected since, we have remembered how often in pastoral ministry the decisions between responding to church family crises and personal family needs were decidedly more complex. I am sure that I made mistakes then. However, I thank God, I didn't make a mistake this time.

Real Life Interrupts! (2)

As some readers know, my wife and I had to rush to New Jersey for these last four days because my son Rob had another attack which put him back into hospital. It seemed like another stroke because of loss of speech and movement, but after exhaustive tests (day and night) the (many) experts are still not sure about cause and prognosis. They don't think he has suffered strokes! It's been a deeply perplexing time.

Rob is now out of hospital and awaiting further results of tests over the next two weeks, and so we continue to wait and pray. Our presence seemed a real boost to our embattled family out there. We believe there have been answers to prayer in the fact that he has no evident sign of damage to brain or heart in spite of these attacks. Anyway we keep upholding him....

As a sidebar - the title "real life interrupts" can be really misleading, as though other parts of our lives are less real just because they are ordinary. Actually, the mundane should be just as real. But what I have learned is to try and ensure that the right responses are made at the right time when emergencies break into other plans! And by "right responses" I mean - what would God want me to do! Maybe I should blog on that!