New Podcast

I preached at Central Church, Sunday September 11, the story of Scripture. We have a link to it on the church's site. My thesis is that if we will navigate well the world in which we live, we will do so because we know well the story of Scripture. The very structure of the story - where it begins, where it goes and where it will end - will form us, shape us, equip us, and comfort us.

Bible study in the particulars of any given text is needed, useful and helpful. Indeed, God meets us in the diligent, responsible and faithful proclamation of his word. But, that said, my aim in this sermon is not to give new teaching, or even necessarily exegetical or expository teaching, but to trace out the Biblical story in a "big picture" sort of fashion. We need particular preaching; we also need to hear the story as story. We need good exegesis; we also need a sense of the whole of the Bible. We need to know where we came, from, where we are, and where we are going. We need to be formed by the whole panorama of Scripture. We need to be grounded in the fabric of the metanarrative.

Particularly for this September 11 there is no way I could begin to address the problem of evil, the issues of moral and natural evil, disasters and terrorism and how we, as people of faith, ought to navigate our lives. At least I can't do it well in one sermon. Theodicy quickly done is theodicy poorly done. So my goal is to rehearse the story and thereby open us up to think in terms of the big picture of Scripture. I can do that in one sermon.

By the way, I don't often preach. More often than not I'm preaching one sermon here, one sermon there. Occasionally I do both services on Sunday. I have done a few weeks at a time. Were I to preach regularly I would spend much of the time in entire books. I sense another post forming here; I'll come back to that thought.

I say all of that to invite you to listen, critique it, think on it, be encouraged by it. I have already critiqued myself: in listening to it again, I immediately I regret not discussing the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We are blessed by the earnest of the Spirit. I didn't even touch on that in the sermon; I should have. That is a powerful message we need to hear. That God is present to the church and to the world is a message we need to hear. Perhaps you can help me see the story better. What did I miss?

Grace and peace.