Preach Magazine Issue 4 - Preaching in the digital age | Page 25

FEATURE

T

he house of preaching has many rooms. The
sermon could be in a traditional monologue form
within a liturgical setting; it might incorporate
video, drama, poetry, or music. It could involve
round-table discussion, or opportunity for question
and comment. It might be accompanied by an artist
interpreting the sermon using a digitally-projected art
package, in real time. Responses to the sermon might
be fed in via Twitter. The sermon may exist in a digital
form on a website. Whatever the form and medium
of the sermon, what are the theological foundations
underpinning the house of preaching and why does it
matter? Knowing the theological constants gives a real
sense of security and purpose in preaching, freeing us
to be much more open to trying new ideas.

THE HOUSE OF PREACHING
HAS MANY ROOMS. WE
PREACH IN A MIXEDMODE ECONOMY WHERE
TRADITIONAL PREACHING
MODELS CAN INTERACT WITH
DIGITAL POTENTIAL.

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SCRIPTURE
The written word of scripture
shapes the spoken word of the
sermon, which helps us to discern
the presence of the Living Word
speaking afresh into our contexts. If
the relationship between scripture
and preaching is severed then
we may be doing many things:
lecturing, creating art, sharing
ideas, but we won’t be preaching.
Although we might want to give
Scripture the first voice in the
conversation, in a simple oneway move, this is naïve. We never
come ‘clean’ to the Scriptures. We
bring all the layers of our context
and viewpoint into