Stage 5

To round off this little reflection piece: 

You can imagine, as Principal, the Bible remained central to teaching and preaching. I am not sure how to describe Stage 5 (that I am still in). Perhaps it began when I was asked to preach at the International Congress of Preaching in Westminster Chapel, London. I was also asked to speak to a seminar on ‘How I prepare to preach each week’.  I realized that I had never described how I set about listening to Scripture in order to deliver a sermon.  Honestly, what did I actually do?  What had become my habit?  Fully aware of the need to be truthful I constructed for the first time the pattern.  

It began: Prayerfully read the Bible aloud.  Spending quality time with the Bible expects the Lord to speak to us.  Time, patience and prayer, immersing in the text as though you have never heard it before. Just the Bible and you - for you and your listeners! Yes, commentaries are necessary to investigate and check but not at first.

I look back on this occasion as the beginning of my passionate engagement to teach other preachers about preaching. To make a long story short, this blossomed into my next role as C.W. Koller Professor of Preaching at Northern Seminary, Illinois, USA.  Teaching preachers needs oodles of humility and openness to the Holy Spirit. Part of my job involved writing a text book for seminary students. I knew that I needed to provide imagery that described my journey with the Bible and I prayed for a vivid picture that would justice to the principle of immersing into Scripture. Eventually, because of my stress on immersing myself into God’s word I chose the picture of the ‘preaching swim’. I set out the stages of preparation to emphasize the humility and wonder of immersing ourselves in God’s word with its own dynamic and purpose, flowing like a river, into which the listeners would be encouraged to join in too.  My main text (360 degree preaching, Hearing, Speaking and Living the Word, Baker Academic, 2003), describes how God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is involved in the whole process.  How deeply God desires us to learn, grow and be shaped into Christly community by his living word. 

Yes the Bible has been central to my life. Through childhood pictures, Sunday School exams, Teenage conversion and maturing in Bible study, ministry calling and the teaching of preachers. It's been an extraordinary journey. And I'm still on it. 

Inevitably I wonder about your journey with the Bible!  How is it going?