Blah Guy

Bono is my hero. See him at the NAACP awards.

Makes you wonder what a prophet in the 21st Century will be like. The 5 minute sermon Bono gives here is the best sermon I have ever heard. Why? He takes 5 minutes to say everything. The most profound truth takes no time to get across while the most complex and unimportant takes classes and classes to unpack.

Why will people listen to Bono and not a pastor?

Try this. Maybe it is because Bono is cool with people trying to follow Jesus without them having to be Christians first. I mean, come-on. The guy is preaching Christian truth to non-Christians and they are following. Pastors can rarely preach to Christians and get them to be Christians.

When I watch Bono, I realize that preaching must be more non-Christian. THIS IS HOW OUR SUBCULTURE KILLS US. We confuse people with -ologies. Eschatology, soteriology…etc. People don’t care about that, but they do care about the poor.

Imagine the day the Church (big C) is known for being the number one advocate for the poor.

Check out WingClips.com.

It is the best site I have ever found that has a wide range of helpful movie clips that are useable for preaching or communicating. Though there is a subscription for the better quality video player, there are free video clips which are of medium quality.

Read this brilliant article in the American Conservative

Modernity is wonderful, except for the dead Iraqi’s. I found this interesting as well if read in light of denominationalism. Does one corner of the church find a particular philosophy attractive while at the same time, not realizing it, killing softly another.

Praise God that we aren’t saved by a philosophy!

Preaching is alot like Art…you get what you are saying, others rarely do, and it cuts to the bone when someone criticizes it.

One would argue that preaching has lost its value. In some ways, I would agree. It can be watered down, opinion-driven, outdated, and inherently boring. The reality is most people who argue for the relevance of preaching are those who do it, and those who challenge its value are those who have to listen to it. I am one of the first category.

While I preach weekly to a college-group in Eugene, I am one of preachings most ardent critics. I do it, believe in it, but believe it is by and large failing more now than it has since its inception two thousand years ago.

We can’t do away with it. Preaching can change the world.

While preaching might in some ways be a burr in the side of most church-goers, its necesity is clear. The next couple of weeks I will explore this topic.

Here are some newly posted sermons from our friday night group.

Read this article from Relevant Magazine.

Not only are our friends not “getting fed” in church, I would take it a little farther.

What about me? I preach every week, prepare the word for the hearts of the people, spend hours agonizing over each and every sermon. Do I get fed by my own preaching?

It absolutely disarms folks when I admit that my own preaching doesn’t feed me.

What if church’s job was never, is never, and never will be to “feed” anyone? And most of the time we throw that straw phrase around, it is Christian lingo for, “I don’t like the style” or “I get bored of the sermons”. If you aren’t getting fed then you aren’t eating. Getting fed is a function of your desire to eat.

So how do I eat?