Speech-act
I spent Saturday with 40 – 50 aspiring preachers in Spurgeon’s College, where I was honoured to teach for the third time on their ‘Equipped to Minister‘ course. Together we looked at topics ranging from why we bother to preach in the first place, through to exercises for the voice and hand gestures when we do. The seriousness and the enthusiasm which the students brought to the class was enough to gladden any preacher’s heart. These people will give 12 hours of their free time to attending lectures and many more to writing assignments simply because they want to be useful to the Church. ‘Chapeau’ ,as they say on the Tour de France!
Oddly, I came home after those lectures to a Sunday when I was not preaching. Instead, I listened to another person doing it. In the midst of many words which made up his word on The Word, I found myself drawn to a verse he mentioned in Jeremiah:
Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls (Jeremiah 8 v.16)
Those words stirred my heart again for a project which has lain in mothballs for too long: my book on #journey for Paternoster. (You can read more about it here). Words truly are powerful things.
I have just been reading all about artist Barbara Kruger’s new installation artwork at Modern Art Oxford. In it, the visitor finds him or herself literally immersed in a world of text – with words of both affirmation and condemnation. I wonder how it feels?
Image:ohhdeer.com
There are millions of words flying about you every day – like an unseen swarm. They stick to your mental clothes, clog up the air vents of your mind and fall like rain on your horizon. Once in a while, though, they are true purveyors of life.
How are yours doing today?
