On listening to sermons
Over the years in these pages I have made no secret of the value which I place on story in communication. Far from being a threat to truth, it can be its servant. In the hands of a careful and creative preacher, story can slip under the radar of a listener’s defences, unleashing the full force of God’s word close to the heart where it is needed most.
Because of my great love for storytelling, I always love to read other people’s descriptions of of what it is and how it is done. Last week I came across this description from Russian novelist Vladimir Nabokov. After describing the archetypal story of ‘cry wolf’ and saying that story started when there was no real wolf, but only one in the boy’s imagination, he says that:
Between the wolf in the tall grass and the wolf in the tall story there is a shimmering go-between. That go-between, that prism, is the art of literature.
You may feel that such a prism is not a place in which preaching should be found – since we seek to convey truth rather than fabrication. That said, a story well told may convey truth with more clarity and penetration than a bald account of it could ever do.
What interests me especially, though, is Nabokov’s description of how such stories are heard:
A wise reader reads the book of genius not with his heart, not so much with his brain, but with his spine
Tell me – do you listen to sermons with your mind, your heart or your spine?
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