Not on my 2022 BINGO card

Preaching

And yet, here I am trying to figure out a sermon for next Sunday.

So many times I have told simple stories from the Bible and shared the lessons they have taught me. It's tempting to teach something that is simple and familiar. It's also compelling to share the things I have learned in the past few years and am still learning, but that is going to take more work, more time, and more focus.
Right now I'm thinking that it will probably be a combination of a familiar story with new lessons. I'm always amazed at how often that happens with reading the stories of the Bible. The lessons seem to speak to fit the situations we find ourselves in.

According to Peter Enns in his book How the Bible Actually Works, that is how the Bible actually works! He teaches that the Bible is an ancient, ambiguous, and diverse book that leads us to wisdom rather than answers.
On the one hand, it's not very encouraging to the person that wants to use the Bible as an answer book that spells everything out in black and white. But it is pretty cool for the person that wants to connect with God and find wisdom rather than answers.

I think that my greatest struggle this week might just be in finding the focus to prepare an organized message. It has been a while since I've done this. I've been struggling just to organize my thoughts enough to type out a coherent blog post!

If you are the praying type and are willing to use your prayer time to speak to God on my behalf, I could certainly use some divine influence and wisdom this week.

Hmmm...

John