Yet More On Preaching

It’s a homiletical bonanza…

This is because the Episcopal Preaching Foundation’s yearly Preaching Excellence Program just wrapped up; and here’s an article summarizing the presentations.

A few notes:

  • On Tom Troeger’s poetry selections: perfect! I often use these two poems myself in talking about what Anglican preaching should be. I love George Herbert’s poetry in general and these two are fantastic choices.
  • Speaking of George Herbert and “general”, M and I were thrilled on Sunday to sing one of his texts to one of our favorite tunes—General Seminary. (I forget the hymn number…)
  • As they seem to have noted, a life-long commitment to spiritual practices and disciplines rooted in Scripture is the chief way of becoming a better interpreter of Scripture and therefore a better preacher. The article did not mention if they promoted any particular practices, but you know what I recommend…
  • Playing with the Scriptures is precisely what we do when we read for preaching—but play can only be edifying play when it is in the communal practices of the faith. If the Scriptures are a great field in which we run and play, the boundaries are marked out by the creeds and the playground at the center is the experience of the Triune God rooted in the Mass and Office.
  • As for the intersection of liturgy, preaching and music, the way the article presents the presentation seems almost backward to me. A proper homily is not something separate from the liturgy. Rather, it is an integral part of it. It’s the improv section within the liturgy. Thus, when considering the very shape and nature of the sermon, the preacher should think carefully—yes, about the hymns, but not just the hymns—about the whole liturgy and consider how the homily will be an agent for clarifying how the whole liturgy is an invitation into the presence of God. (And I don’t think, from the sounds of it, that the presenter would disagree with me; it’s just a matter of emphasis…)

Friday Random Shuffle

(h/t LutherPunk and Anastasia (Can’t wait to see her songs-about-death list (or LP’s for that matter…)))

  1. Nobody’s Fault but Mine (Zeppelin)
  2. Tourniquet (Evanescence)
  3. The fiery spirit (Anonymous 4 [Hildegard])
  4. Lullaby (Leæther Strip’s cover of The Cure)
  5. Out of This World [Oakenfold remix] (The Cure)
  6. 1000 BPM (Beck)
  7. The Song Remains the Same (Zeppelin)
  8. Missa Brevis-Credo (Palestrina)
  9. We’re in This Together (Goth Acoustic Ensemble covering NIN)
  10. Rock and Roll (Zeppelin)
  11. Passover (Joy Division)
  12. Jimmy Hickey’s Waltz (The Waterboys)

More on Preaching

This article just came down the wire on the teaching of preaching in Episcopal seminaries.

There’s quite a lot I want to say about this—but don’t have the time at the moment. I’ll just let out a few bullet points for now:

  • First, there is a shortage of trained faculty. No kidding… These days there are basically two kinds of preaching profs I’ve seen around and the situation relates directly to how PhD departments of religion are structured. You either have 1) biblical scholars who did preaching as an outside area (like yours truly…) or 2) people who fall into the “religious practices” category which includes things like missions, Christian Ed, etc. The second group doesn’t fall within the classical German way of seeing things and is often considered “lesser.” The key difference between these groups is formation–how they have been trained as scholars. And that includes languages.
  • The biggest problem that I have encountered in my years of being a seminary student, TAing seminary students, and teaching them is that many have difficulty constructing clear English prose. Good writing skills are not necessarily a prerequisite to good speaking and preaching skills–but they sure don’t hurt. As I keep reminding my students, St. Augustine continually emphasized the importance of clarity. He reminds us that eloquence is wonderful and helpful–but not at the expense of clarity!
  • Large amounts of constructive feedback is an essential part of the teaching process.
  • Hethcock says that those who believe a good preacher from the neighborhood can be brought in as an adjunct professor are mistaken. He’s absolutely right. One of the problems that this band-aid fix perpetuates is that a good preacher is not always a good teacher of preaching. Some people are simply born with a talent for fitting words in memorable and meaningful ways. I’m skeptical whether a natural-born preacher can teach others to do what they do the way they do it–but that’s often what we see happening. Rather, all preachers can acquire habits and skills based on the formal and informal rules of rhetoric that enable them to become better preachers. That’s what needs to happen–not an attempted transfer of eloquence. (I’m not saying that naturally gifted preachers can’t teach preaching–I’m just saying that the attempt to teach their own personal style fails more often than not.)

Motu Proprio On the Way?

Lurkers on NLM and other traditionalist Catholic sites will only have heard this rumor about 278 times before–but this one seems more solid than the usual run of the mill.

For those not in this particular loop, motu proprio is a term for a document that the Pope produces of his own accord–not as the result of a meeting or council or something. For a while now, we’ve been hearing rumors that B16 has been preparing just such a document for the liberalization of the Traditional Latin Mass according to the Missal of 1962–an edition within the stream of the Tridentine Rite. Remember, even the mass commonly referred to as the Tridentine very rarely is the authentic “Tridentine”–there were a lot of revisions even to that liturgy through the years. Furthermore the official language of the current mass, the Novus Ordo is, technically speaking, Latin. Yes, any Roman priest in any parish can celebrate a Latin mass at any time he chooses–as long as it’s the Novus Ordo.

As I’ve thought more and more about this eventuality coming to fruition, two questions keep raising themselves in my mind. First, what kalendar and lectionary will it use? Vatican II and the rites promulgated after it made some major changes in both. Will Septuagesima come back? How about octaves? Will it use the three year or one year lectionary? Can a single local worshiping body responsibly use two “official” lectionaries and kalendars at the same time or will it create more problems than it sets out to solve?

Second, the rumors I’ve read have involved the Traditional Latin Mass… And that’s totally in keeping with current Roman piety. But what about the Breviary? Will use of the pre-Vatican II breviary also be liberalized allowing one of them to satisfy a priest’s obligation? And if so–which breviary? As we’ve discussed here recently, there are major differences (not least in psalm allotments) between the “Tridentine” Breviary and that of Pius X.

Not being Roman, the release or non-release of such a document will effect my day to day life not one whit. And yet, as one interested in both ecumenism and liturgy, I’m watching the proceedings with great interest. In considering the various Anglo-Catholic “tribes,” some follow Rome because Rome was the keeper of the tradition and some follow whatever it does because it’s Rome. Many in the second group do a “Novus Ordo” Anglo-Catholic mass (like Smokey Mary’s–case in point being their celebration of Corpus Christi on Sunday rather than today). Many in the first group, however, have never forgiven Rome for Vatican II and are–in many ways–more “Roman” than the Romans. All that is to say, what Rome does does matter to us–despite whether the local Roman parish starts doing a TLM or not…

Any movement in any major church towards a more dignified, more reverent worship of God (which is the point of this move) is a good thing in my book–all the more so if it means cool liturgical and chant books become more easily available!

A Must-Read Post from Caelius

I commend for your immediate perusal and digestion the latest post by Caelius. In it, he ponders a number of truly important things.

It’s not just about youth in church and confirmation, more importantly he is fussing with the key question of what we are teaching our children and how do we do it. And, based on his experience at his current parish, he reveals the danger at the heart of an intemperate social gospel built on the fantasies of the Jesus Seminar and like groups: transformation of life does not occur because a person has affinities for the teaching of a nice guy who died in a political accident a few thousand years ago. Rather, transformation happens when a person encounters the resurrection power of the Living Christ. This the Christ we proclaim in every Office and every Mass, whom we take into ourselves in every Eucharist.

I’m all for being reasonable.

I’m all for being critical and reflective.

But when our reason and our reflection denies the clear evidence of the movement and power of the God present in our lives, that’s when we have some serious problems…

Further Thoughts on Preaching

In the continuing discussion on preaching and originality (begun here and continued here), I have another piece to add from a comment M made while working on a sermon for Trinity.

She reminded me that it is often in the context of writing and attempting to communicate to others we both do our intellectual work and the theological synthesis that connects our studies and meditations with embodied life.

This is an important piece of the puzzle especially when the daily grind of parish ministry seems to devalue intellectual and contemplative work.

Again, I think there’s much attractive about working from patristic and other models for our proclamation. But this observation cuts to one of the things that makes me uncomfortable about it. Bringing up the riches of the past for the edification of our current congregations should not become an excuse to avoid the intellectual and contemplative work–and it certainly doesn’t have to. I fear with most of the Internet borrowing, though, it does… If the integrative work is not done, the priests own spiritual growth and depth suffers and when that happens, it impoverishes the congregation as well.

Quiet Night at the Manse

I didn’t have to work at my usual night job tonight…

So what are we up to? M+ and I are sitting in the office. I’m doing some PHP programming, she’s listening to some German industrial [Massiv in Mensch] which she’s periodically pausing while we stop and compare plainchant mass settings… (I think she’s working on a goth mass setting for those wondering…)

Ah, a normal night at the house.

Article on the Cafe

Speaking of the Episcopal Cafe…there’s an article about it up at episcopallife online right now.

I think Jim in the article is right to note that it’s a growing thing. What it is yet to be, we still don’t know. I’m intrigued by Dean Knisely’s statement that it’s looking to be more representative and that it seeks to add some conservative voices. I’d be in favor of that. I think it currently has a reputation as a “liberal” site and there’s probably some truth to it–though I wouldn’t consider all of the contributors liberal, myself among them.