Next weekend, I’m on a training weekend run by Lichfield Diocese as part of my CME. The theme is preaching, and here are the instructions for the prep (quite encouraging really)
Before the weekend you are asked to sketch out the shape of three sermons: one expository, one all-age and one evangelistic.
Please base each of these three sermons on one of the lectionary readings for one of the five Sundays in June. So from a list of twenty Bible readings, you are asked to choose and work with three: one as the basis for an expository sermon; one as the basis for an all-age sermon; and one as the basis for an evangelistic sermon.
Your three ‘sketches’ should enable you to tell the other members of your group, in no more than three minutes per sketch, a) what the point of your sermon would be; and b) how you would get it across.
One of the passages set for June is Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26.
Ever find yourself slightly struggling to find a way into a passage, to find questions to ask that will open it up, etc.? Well here’s one to try:
- If you have been given a lectionary to use (as opposed to devising your own), and if the passage you are studying has a gap in it then ask: What does this passage lose by chopping out the missing section? Does it matter that those verses will not be read on Sunday? Why did the biblical author think it worth including those verses?
So, in the case of Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26, the lectionary misses out the discussion about fasting in the presence of the bridegroom (14-17). Instead, the reading moves straight from the calling of Matthew to Jairus’ request to raise his daughter.
I assume the reason for this is only one of length. We can have one conflict story and one (double) mirace. But it’s instructive to ask: How would Matthew’s gospel suffer if Matthew had done the same thing? What does 14-17 add to the passage?
Sorry: Blogs don’t have a “back of the book”. Answers in the comments section please.
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