Thoughts About, Around, Adjacent to Preaching

By Tripp Hudgins, occasional homiletics instructor

The Presiding Bishop has been on campus today. I’ve been thinking about some of his remarks about preaching. One of the students (who will be taking my class next fall) asked a question about his preaching. He immediately launched into a story about telling stories and this bit of truth emerged out of my brain.

Preach the Gospel. Don’t preach about, around, or adjacent to the Gospel.

Give me the Gospel. I don’t want to hear a story about you unless it is a crystal clear lens upon the Kingdom of God. “Noetic” is the word you’re looking for here. The preached word is iconic, sacramental, noetic…don’t add more layers upon it. Tell me the thing. Don’t tell me about the thing.

Thus, the purpose of exegetical work is not so that you can offer a scholarly missive, but to help get past your own assumptions, what you think you know about the scriptures, so that you can get into them more deeply. Then the scriptures can take a deep hold of your heart.

That, dear ones, is a good thing.

I’m going to need a rocking chair. I’ve been told that I teach well from a rocking chair.