August 16-23 - Writing, reading and more writing ...

Honestly there was not much to post about this week. I read and I read and read. And then I wrote reflection papers. There was a lot of joy in this endeavor.

One reflection paper was on this book ... The Company of Preachers by Richard Lischer. We have been writing reflection papers on this for the last several weeks as a part of our preaching class. This particular reflection was on the function and place of the hearer in preaching.

The big reflection paper was on these books: Pastor (Willimon), Come, Creator Spirit (Cantalamessa), The Shaping of Things to Come (Frost, Hirsch), The Other Six Days (Stevens), Wounds that Heal (Seamands) and Ministry in the Image of God (Seamands). The big deal is that Seamands is The Rev. Dr. Steve Seamands ... the teacher of our class. I have never had to critique one book, let alone two books by any professor. I think that I may have allowed this novelty to drive me to unwarranted anxiety.

I'll let you know how the class goes. We're in the middle of it right now! ;)

Grace and peace,
Trav Wilson

August 15 - Dissertation and Study

I had a great meeting today with a faculty member who helped me focus my dissertation. The more I think about it, the better I like it and the more excited I become. This meeting alone made today worthwhile and productive, but more details on this later.

I have spent the rest of the day catching up on my reading. We are starting another class on August 23 called Theology of Ministry. I'm a little more behind in the reading than I would like to be and am rushing to catch up. There's a 12 page paper to write before the first day of class. Fingers and keys, don't fail me now.

Here are some pictures of the sermon from yesterday ... as usual: mouth WIDE open and gesturing wildly with my left hand! :)

Yep, I wore the robe. There was a crucifix present as well as several pews in the "preaching room" or "lab" so I thought it was appropriate. I even asked them to stand to honor the reading of the scripture. Here's one more:

I think that I'm reading the scripture there.

Gotta run!

Grace and peace,

Trav Wilson

August 14 - A Poem by Robert Frost

The Investment
by Robert Frost

Over back where they speak of life as staying
('You couldn't call it living, for it ain't'),
There was an old, old house renewed with paint,
And in it a piano loudly playing.

Out in the plowed ground in the cold a digger,
Among unearthed potatoes standing still,
Was counting winter dinners, one a hill,
With half an ear to the piano's vigor.

All that piano and new paint back there,
Was it some money suddenly come into?
Or some extravagance young love had been to?
Or old love on an impulse not to care--

Not to sink under being man and wife,
But get some color and music out of life?

Well, friends, is the house-painting piano playing couple in this poem the best example of foolhardiness and waste? Or do they represent a spirit that will never, never quit.

Never surrender.

Grace and peace,
Trav Wilson

August 14 - White-Knuckle, Green-Wood Preacher

A white knuckle preacher is one who is so nervous she cannot let go of the podium. A greed-wood preacher is one who is very inexperienced at the craft of preaching. As I stood before The Rev. Dr. Ellsworth Kalas to preach today, I was just about as worried as I have ever been. The two preachers before me had been moving and marvelous. Rev. Jim Martin (Western North Carolina Annual Conference) talked about how the music of our lives improves if we just let God play our strings. Rev. Alicia Coltzer (Texas Annual Conference) spoke about over coming our Jerichos.

Bishop Willimon reminds us often that preaching is a craft: we learn by doing. Whenever the Bishop says those words my mind is drawn to the craft of metal working, the boring of holes, the carving and polishing of die-cast cavities that Mark and Jeff and Chris and all my former co-workers C&R Tool & Engineering showed me when I worked there in the summers of '94 and '95. I remember my father glueing together delicate peices on elaborate model rockets, knowing that a launch would risk its destruction. I remember the cuts and callouses and raw places upon my fingers as I learned to weave chairseats in the simple herringbone pattern -- only one of many styles of chair seat weaving. A craft is precious thing, a world of patience unequaled in the rush-rush, mass production of most modern life and industry. Preaching is in the same world as all these. We learn by doing.

Here's my sermon. The names have not been changed, but the last names have been removed except that of great friend of Becca and me ... Miss Kalea Chaplin.

======

Title: Which People? Which God?

Scripture - Ruth 1:16-17 (KJV)

(16) And Ruth said, “Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: (17) Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.”

Introduction

These ancient words are from the first chapter of the book of Ruth. Ruth’s husband has just died, along with his brother; and their father just before them. In the culture of the time, Ruth and her mother-in-law Naomi are now absolutely destitute. The only choice for Naomi is to return to her Hebrew relatives and glean a meager living. She tells her daughter-in-law Ruth to go back to her homeland of Moab. Naomi is worried about what her fellow Hebrews will do to Ruth since the Hebrews and Moabites did not get along too well. But Ruth boldly refuses with these famous words of loyalty to her mother-in-law: “whither thou goest, I will go; … thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.”

This morning, I submit to you that every single person on this wayward planet desperately wants to say those very words: “thy people shall be my people and thy God my God.” Every single person, all of us want to say these words and will say those words. The only questions are: which people; which God? Let me share with you a story about a friend of mine who recently came face to face and bone to bone with this truth.

Kalea

On Saturday, July 15, our friend Kalea Chaplin and her family were on a day-trip to Nashville. Kalea is a youth from my last church. Now Kalea is thirteen – you can imagine what makes for a great day for a girl that age -- shopping. They spent the day at the Opryland Mills Mall. Kalea had the chance to shop and browse at all her favorite stores: Gap, Old Navy and even Saks Fifth Avenue. She did more browsing than buying at Saks; but they went there! They even ate dinner at a favorite restaurant. For Kalea life was full of joy, discovery, even security. At around 9:00 in the evening they left the last store, bags in hand, and food in bellies. Then the shots rang out.

Kalea and her family had just walked between two rival gangs. After the bullets flew the gang members scattered like cockroaches, many of them trampling Kalea. They left her bruised on the floor. Her mother rushed to her side. And she was alright, thanks be to God, but her sense of security, and safety and even innocence were trampled just as surely as she had been. She had been within just 2 or 3 feet of the shots. Kalea cried in her mother’s arms, “Why would anyone want to do this?”

What do we tell Kalea? Why would anyone want to come to a public place and indiscriminately open fire? It is not merely the question of a 13 year old girl. It is our question, isn't it? It is a question for the ages. Yet much of the answer is found in those bold words of Ruth: “thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.” But which people? Which God?

Jason and Lewis

As Kalea’s family passed the gangs and the bullets flew, according to the news reports, only two of the 15 or so gang members who were present were shot: a twenty-three-year-old named Jason and a 15-year-old named Lewis. Fortunately, Jason had only to stay overnight at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Lewis had superficial wounds and the emergency room staff released him. I don’t know these two young men, but since they were in a gang we can know something about them. Let me tell you a story about Jason and Lewis.

Like all of us, Jason and Lewis have some kind of void in their life, a deep lack. We don’t know whether that lack is emotional or economic or something else, but Jason and Lewis find power, validation, belonging, connection, relationships, even friendship with their gang. It is that for which they starve.

Now think about Jason and Lewis. Jason is 23 years old. At 9:00 p.m. on a Saturday night he should have just finished college, been spending some of his first paycheck out for a night on the town with people his own age, and trying to catch the eye of the cute girl across the room. But he wasn’t. Now think about Lewis. At 9:00 p.m. on a Saturday night maybe he should have been at the same mall with his friends, trying desperately to think of something cool to say. But he wasn’t. Instead, they came face to face with weapons. These young men are so hungry for connection and validation and inspiration that they have no choice or challenge to turn to anything else but a gang. “ … [T]hy people shall be my people, and thy God my God …” But which people? Which God? And suppose the guns that shot Jason and Lewis had been aimed a little differently. Then another part of Ruth’s cry might have applied: “Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried ….”

The Point

This may come as a shock to you all, but I am white. I have no first hand knowledge about gangs; I read; I research. And I remember. I remember in the halls of my high school, young men, trying to copycat the gang lifestyle, would wear Mercedez-Benz hood ornaments that they had stolen. Yet as I remember, I also wonder. Is there any difference between those young men and their hood ornaments, their demonstrations of ability at petty theft, is there any difference between them and Jason and Lewis? Let’s take it a step further. Is there any difference between Jason and Lewis and the monster homes which we construct in our more affluent neighborhoods, the energy we consume to make them fit our comfort, the bobbles we display to show our own greatness, that get us in the right club, the right circles, that get us into the right … dare we say it … gang. We all do it. “… [T]hy people shall be my people, and thy God my God ….” But what people? What God?

Kalea cried to her mother, “Why would anyone want to do this?” What do we tell Kalea? She did not just dodge a few bullets in a minor gang fight. She saw the fundamental human problem. And so do we. Gangmembers or not, Jason and Lewis are sons of the one true God. C. S. Lewis might say that Jason and Lewis were made from the beginning of creation to love and be loved. They would do anything to love and be loved. It is that for which they starve. It is that for which everyone starves. The scriptures tell us that God is love and God made us to love and be loved. But human beings can twist and sin God’s perfect dream into an oblivion of hate, shadow and hot lead. And the real crime is that some would still call that love. That is what sin can do; give the hated thing a blessed name.

Bill Hybels, the great pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago, recently said that fundamentally Christians, regardless of denomination, are a people with a message and not a product to sell. And he said that our message is simply this: Christ died for our sins to offer a place in eternity close to God. With all do respect to Bill Hybels, if one is only worried about the reality of heaven and hell, that’s only half the truth. We are indeed people of a message, yes: but our message is about world changing and life giving: changing this world and preparing for the next; witnessing to the life and love of God in Jesus Christ. Christ surely died for our sins to offer a place in eternity close to God should we chose to accept it, but Christ also lived then and lives even now to call us to craft the colony of the Kingdom of God on earth now so that every single human being may have a healthy community to which they can say “… thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God ….”

Right now every single human being, from the highest to the lowest, if they are close to God or far from God is made to love and be loved and looking to someone or some group to say those all important words: “ … thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God ….” The gang member says this. The hollow man with his manicured lawn says this. Even the odd seminary student is dying to say this; every single one of us. And they will say it to the darkest shadows of this world unless the church stands up, lives God’s dream and fulfills its destiny. We are called to live out a better way in Christ Jesus that we claim to know. We are called to witness to the hard and fast and healing truth that Jesus lived and died and lives again. This is the call, this is the hope of every professing Christian in this room. And to paraphrase Bill Hybels: fulfilling this destiny is worth the life of everyone in this room.

The Good News

When I read the news reports of the shooting, I laughed at what the Opryland Mills Mall General Manager said, “We are committed to the safety and well-being of our shoppers and employees.” He has a responsibility to do that. It is great in its own way. But I could not get over how small a responsibility it is when we compare it to our responsibility. We’re not defending shoppers; we’re changing the world.

After I received news of the shooting, I found great hope that the Holy Spirit was running ahead of us, beginning this world changing for us: the hope was in a note that Kalea’s mom wrote me: “… [W]e all realize that we are so tremendously blessed that we were not in the line of fire during the shooting and we have been talking about how to turn this tragedy around.” How do we turn this tragedy around? We realize the truth that every single person that has lived, does live, or ever will live was made by God to love and be loved. Every single one of us have a hunger in our eyes that longs to turn to a healthy community of faith, rooted in the Triune God and shout at the top of our soul: “… thy people shall be my people and thy God my God ….”

Will we, the people of God, who claim to know the truth, who claim that this same truth has set us free, stand idly by and allow the sons and daughters of God to worship false gods that only want to bind, torture and kill our family? Or will a generation rally; stand for all those who are oppressed by this world, by sin, by wealth, by poverty or politics, and give to them the demanding and the buoyant love of Jesus Christ for which they have been longing, for which they were made? Should we not just proclaim the good news, but be the Good News?

Which people? Which God? We are the people; and He is the God – none other. Amen.

======

Here are some of the reviews of the sermon:
1. Facinating connection between street gangs and middle class America - held together well
2. Good pace of speaking
3. "The Dog Swallowed the Tail" -- that is the sermon created a narrative unity.
4. Could have put the shooting story in the beginning for more effect.
5. Good graphic images -- "cockroaches" -- proclaim the Good News v. BE the Good News.
6. Biblical introdcution needed to be stretched out; it was too hurried. There could have been a better connection between the God we choose and who we are or become, more Biblical paralells could have been drawn there and strengthened the sermon.
7. Christian, Evangelical, Social Gospel -- very Wesleyan
8. Sermon came from your gut.

One of the great blessings in being in this program is that there are no "bad" preachers here. Everyone is top notch, especially the teacher. And all of that skill is focused on helping each other preach more effectively. The greatest blessings that God ever gave me are my excellent wife, my excellent parents, and my call to preach the Gospel; but this Beeson Program and the professional development here that is possible, really ranks right up there. So blessed be the name of the Lord! I only pray that I will have the courage to say this should I go through rough and terrible times, for even then, His name will be worthy of blessing.

Grace and peace,
Trav Wilson

August 9-12 - Willow Creek Leadership Summit

This was our first trip, one of many to various locations that we will take as a part of the Beeson program. Willow Creek Community Church is a very, very, very large (10,000+ per Sunday) church that claims no denominational affiliation. However, they clearly have a high view of scripture, accept only a adult believers baptism, and practice a congregational form of church government. Basically the only outward difference between them and the average Southern Baptist is that they allow women to preach. As if one could actually stop or "allow" the Holy Spirit to "blow where it will."

While they are governed congregationally, they have grown to five satellite sites, each with a different preaching pastor. The founding pastor of Willow Creek is now the senior pastor of the whole Willow Creek Church complex. His job description is very similar to what United Methodists would call a district superintendent, or even a bishop. It amazed me that those who would be the most critical of an Episcopal system seemed to be reinventing it before my eyes.
Another thing to note is that there is a Willow Creek Association: a collection of "non-denominational" member churches that are United in Method (caps intentional) and pay an annual membership fee for reduced prices on the Cokesbury ... ahem ... I mean ... uh ...Willow Creek curriculum. There is a "president" of the Willow Creek Association, as well as a governing board which Bill Hybels is on. Again, those Congregationalists who would condemn an Episcopal system seem to be doing all they can to reinvent it.

Here ends my criticism of Willow Creek. Let the praise begin.

People often criticize Willow Creek for being "too much like a business" ... "too corporate." These critics are usually members of dying denominations and are locked in passionless hierarchical systems of government that look more like 19th century, big-government, fill-out-these-form-in-triplicate train wrecks. Talk about corporate! Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!
The difference is that Willow Creek has passion as every level: clergy and laity, from the board room to the Bible study. Everything is about passion.

Bill Hybels opened the conference by identifying different cycles of leadership development and the unique demands these places on a leader to make adjustments to his or her approach along the way. I found this talk helpful because I learned about the different stages of church leadership and why most churches get locked into a certain size: because the pastor thinks that they have to do everything and be everything.

The second speaker was Rev. James Meeks, an African pastor of Salem Baptist Church in Chicago. He spoke about the ten inhibitors of church growth. James Meeks' teaching flowed out of his experience as a leader in the local church, education, and in socioeconomic and political circles. He is also an Illinois State senator in addition to being the pastor of a 20,000+ member church. This was a refreshing dip into positive waters. Many times I am surrounded by negative people: "we can't grow this church ... we're too rural ... we're too near downtown ... people won't cross the highway ... people won't drive over the mountain." It is disheartening to hear trash like that when we all know better than God wants the church to grow. We can sit around and make excuses for our failure, when all we are really doing is blaming God.

One thing about Rev. Meeks ... he's like Paul. He's not the best speaker in the world. But he knows his stuff. I was expecting a slick, almost-Hollywood speaker. He wasn't. He was just a man. And his greatest ministry is yet to come ... and the following might be it.

Also, Rev. Meeks, an unashamed evangelical himself, has done a mighty ministry at Willow Creek. He has put the social justice issue of racial reconciliation on the front burner at this predominately white church. He took 50 leaders from his church and 50 leaders from Willow Creek on a Civil Rights Tour through the Deep South, ending in Selma, Alabama marching over the Edmund Pettis Bridge. What I saw this weekend was an awakening of a social consciousness in the evangelical movement. Rev. Meeks is a big part of that. He is most likely the biggest part, apart from the Holy Spirit. However, I will wait until I write about the Bono interview to say more about that.

The third speaker was Andy Stanley, the son of Charles Stanley. He started a church in Atlanta, Georgia that now has over 15,000 members. Andy Stanley addressed the complex challenge of keeping a church on mission as it deals with the intense pressures that naturally arise in an expanding ministry. Andy is a young fellow, or seemed so. I identified with him the most: he said that most pastors work insane hours at church (70+) and pray that God take care of the family at home. He suggested that we do the opposite: put the priority on the family and let God grow the church. Andy had a great example: he gives the church 45 hours per week. His first challenge was a pastoral care issue: a key family was struggling with an issue, Andy gave them all the time allotted (hang on Methodists) and then went home. After the church member calmed down, they recollected their spiritual maturity and started the congregational care ministry at the church. Instead of expecting the pastor to do everything, someone found a ministry.

The forth speaker was Peg Neuhauser who talked to us about conflict in the workplace. Managers spend between 25 and 60 percent of their workday dealing with conflicts or fallout from people-related problems. Peg Neuhauser helped us deal with the reality of these internal "tribal wars" and gives practical strategies for communicating to bridge the gaps that often create destructive conflict between various people groups. The results include decreased stress levels, better communication, and increased productivity. She was a good speaker, but she talked more about communication than conflict. I would like to have heard more about conflict. Here is a link to all her books.

The second day began with an interview between Bill Hybels and Dr. Ashish Nanda of the Harvard School of Business. Dr Nanda taught that organizations, including churches, often look elsewhere for first rate talent because developing your own people can be more difficult and take more time and money. In an interview with Bill Hybels, Ashish Nanda talks about the risks associated with hiring great leaders from the outside versus developing leaders from within. His talk was wonderful and has radical implications for the current incarnation of the United Methodist Clergy Appointment system. The article may be read here or ordered here. Perhaps clergy are not just cogs in a machine that can be interchanged at will. Perhaps the craft of ministry is more beautiful than that. I was fascinated by that whole talk.

The second talk was by Dr. Jim Collins of Stanford University. He write Good to Great. He has recently published another book called Good to Great and the Social Sectors: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great. This was an awesome book. I read it in one sitting. So often in ministry we hear people say that the church should be run like a business. Collins claims that is just silly: most businesses stink, too. The problem is not business strategy, but following the models of great organizations, whether they are for-profit or non-profit. I recommend reading his monograph soon.

The third talk was by Dr. Patrick Lencioni (that's "Lench-ee-o-nee") ... he is the leader of The Table Group consultant firm and is the author of Silos, Politics and Turf Wars. He also wrote a book called Death by Meeting. He had some great insights on focusing the immediate and long term goals for a group and some good ideas about handling dysfunction in an organization. I just did not connect as well with this talk because he tried to have small group discussions about 6500 people about 5 different case studies.

The fourth talk was a video interview with Bono, the lead singer of U2. I was literally stuck to my seat and amazed at Bono. He preached on of the best sermons that I had ever heard on social justice. He showed a masterful range of scripture in the interview. He had really, really good exegesis ... all the time. When he got through I was just numb with joy that God was working through him like that. He is shockingly orthodox in his thought. This may be a stretch, but he's a bit of a modern C.S.Lewis: an intelligent poetic layman. On the surface this interview promoted his campaign against AIDS in Africa called www.one.org. However, this was just so much more than that, it was a rallying cry for evangelical Christians to get on board with issues of social justice.

One of the great sorrows that I have is that mainline churches are obsessed with social justice to the point that they don't seem to realize that heaven and hell are very real and we have a commission to "offer people Christ" and have "nothing to do but save souls." On the flip side, evangelical churches seem addicted to leaving this world to the demons and preparing everyone for the sweet by-and-by. What we need is a church that attacks in both directions: win and love every last soul to Jesus Christ as well as stand against all injustice.

John Wesley is the only one that I know that could hold those together. Willow Creek, with the ministry of Rev. James Meeks and ... even Bono ... indeed the whole evangelical movement in America may be having a social justice awakening. About 60,000 people took part in this conference on site or via satellite. That's thousands of evangelical churches. And these people are focused and passionate. A United Methodist who is a snob might sneer ... "Well, we've been doing that since before the Civil Right Movement. Welcome to the party!" Don't take such an arrogant view! There was a man who had two sons ... one demanded his inheritance ... went out and fornicated with floosies, wasting his father's money. The other stayed home and sneered and complained, even whined when the other brother returned and repented. You know the story ... unless you can exegete it away like we have done so many other things! : )

The final day was headed up by Wayne Cordeiro. Wayne is pastor of the New Hope community of churches (similar to Willow Creek) in Hawaii. I have rarely seen a more genuine communicator. He is about 50 and was able to shares his recent pain of ministry fatigue, and with his unique perspective, identifies warning signals of burnout and ways to create or rebuild a sustainable life. Andy Stanley shared something similar with us, but I don't know if Andy had as much pain to speak from as Wayne did. No offense to Andy. There was just a steady, happy maturity behind Wayne's playful voice. I got alot out of this talk about setting boundaries in ministry. I appreciated the ethnic diversity that Wayne and James brought. Note well the social justice undertones in this message outline from Wayne.

Bill Hybels ended the conference with a stirring call to clarity in our preaching. He gave a spirited defense of Sacrificial Atonement. He seemed a little pressed for time and very excited, but I wish that he had tied this in with the obvious social justice currents that were in the rest of the conference. He took us from the animal skins that covered Adam and Eve to Christ on the Cross. I loved this talk, but the whole thing could be summed up in one sentence from our preaching professor Dr. Ellsworth Kalas: "It's just wicked to speak for 20 minutes or even longer and people leave without any idea of what you said." Amen! Sound the trumpet call!

The journey to Chicago was long. The return trip was long, but a good time and a blessed time was had by all. "So comes snow after winter ... and even dragons have their end. I wish now to only to be in my own arm chair."

Grace and peace,
Trav Wilson

August 5-8 - Preaching Continues with Dr. Ellsworth Kalas

August 7 was a great lecture by Dr. Kalas on the importance of the conclusion in a sermon. He also spoke on how pastors should be the stewards of the language an make strategic use of poetry in sermons. A good sermon is like a good poem, it goes right to the heart. What follows is an edited version of my notes from that day:

The Conclusion

As for the conclusion of the sermon: the goal is to help people make a decision, but not manipulate them. Our orienting question should be: what is the bottom line?

Every sermon should have some kind of conversion. There are so many ways that people need to be converted! The failure of evangelical preaching today is that it only sees one conversion. In Wesleyan tradition we don’t have that: ongoing conversion, daily.

We need to be converted at different points in our lives – or experiences form us and we need to keep growing in Christ. Dr. Kalas was saved when he was 10 years old. But when Dr. Kalas first began preaching this idea he was 51. Therefore, in his view, there was more territory in his life that was more unsaved than saved. People may have been saved, but bear little fruit now … they haven’t been converted in the interim.

People need a better self image: but they despise themselves. We have people who profess to follow Christ, but live under the burden of uncertainty of their salvation. We need to help them with their assurance in our preaching. Also we have to preach about the use of money: the growing gap between the poor in America is tremendous. Those of us who have some money need to find out from God what we should do with it. The major reason that people are uncomfortable is that they keep extending their desires beyond what they need. We want people to go out different than they came in.

The classic Greek form of public address: logos, ethos, and pathos. Those may be considered the three styles of conclusion. The logos: the logical conclusion (this, this and this … now do this). A lot of the best revival preaching has this style to it. This is a logical conversion. The style of the conclusion is straightforward, logical, a vehicle where they can connect.

Then there is the pathos, the emotional appeal. It is associated with a lot of evangelism. It is associated with tears, or at least emotions. The emotion itself is not a bad thing. The Hebrew idea of "understanding" is emotional as well as intellectual. The only difficult issue is manipulating and abusing people’s emotion. There is a place for emotion, yet not manipulation.

Dr. Kalas hesitated to speak too much about the boundaries around emotion. He didn’t want to make you us so nervous about it that we don’t use it at all. He didn't believe that anyone in this class would over use emotion.

Dr. Kalas has found that an intellectual audience is ready for emotion if it is handled well. Example: men are very emotional. Look at when NFL players get in Football Hall of Fame and the acceptance speeches that the former players make. You do need to know your audience, however. What is corny to one audience is just right in another. One audience would be unmoved, another would be in awe.

People are aware of many things intellectually. It’s also more than emotion. There’s a third "thing" that touches people: God. If you touch them where God is meeting them, then emotion will come on its own. This is why it is bizarre to be falsely emotional or put on an act. However, when God does touch people, we should give people a chance or a place to respond to the message. It is just as bizarre to bring people to a special place and then just stop as some preachers often do. The goal is response.

The best conclusions are in your own ethos, your ethical person, who you are. To come to the end of sermon about the power of Christ in the world, a personal witness is almost necessary. “This is what I know to be true in Jesus Christ.”

The Preacher as Poet

Eugene Peterson was asked what was happening to the use of language in the pulpit: “I feel that we should have our preachers reading more poetry, because the ‘poets are the keepers of language’ (Bill Moyers).” If we waste too many words we devalue the currency. Preachers are the keepers of the oral language.

Hebrew is a very graphic language. Sometimes the Hebrew scriptures are translated "God was very angry", but the Hebrew actually says, "God’s nostrils flared." It is a very graphic language. Therefore, use graphic language.

On that note: watch when you use Greek in the sermon. Martin Luther and Paul both said use the language of the home. That doesn’t mean that you don’t use an uncommon word. Just follow the uncommon words with a synonym. Johnny Cash talked about using common language when he said:

"I love songs about horses, railroads, land, judgement day, family, hard
times, whiskey, courtship, marriage, adultery, separation, murder, war, prison,
rambling, damnation, home, salvation, death, pride, humor, piety, rebellion,
patriotism, larceny, determination, tragedy, rowdiness, heartbreak, and love.
And Mother. And God."

Johnny Cash knew what to talk about. That’s what people are living about. Try preach a sermon series about each of them during the course of a year. That will meet people where they are!

Find in poetry the simple way of saying the marvelous thing. Ronald Knox, the English catholic wrote a commentary on the Apostle’s Creed for Girl’s School where he was Chaplin. In there he said this: "The mircle of Easter is that they could keep him in the grave from Friday to Sunday morning." Poetry helps us find simple ways of saying grand and marvelous things.

Amen.

Grace and peace,
Trav Wilson

July 31 - August 4 ... All Quiet on the Wilmore Front

Since we returned from West Virginia, we have had a blessed schedule snafu. We had no class meetings scheduled for this week, except for an all-day lecture on Tuesday, August 1. It was cancelled. In short, we have had an open week. Several people took off for trips to Cincinatti, North Carolina, and other fun locations. Except for West Virginia, Becca and I stayed here and hung out together. I got some important papers done early as well as a lot of reading done. I even began my sermon that is due August 14. I've been 'working' in my cubicle from about 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. everyday and reading a couple hours each night. So it has been a productive time.

Becca and I had dinner last night at Sim's Drugstore: we had a really good Portabello pizza and some malted Mikeshake's. Sim's Drugstore is kind of like Trowbridge's in Florence, Alabama ... except they sell asprin ... and ingraved silver pendants ... and have really thin-crust good pizza.

There is an event tonight called "Grill-A-Palooza", where we all bring a side and some meat to grill and then ... well, you get the idea. We sit around and talk, keeping all our children out of the street. Many BPs (Beeson Pastors) as I said are out of town now, so that crowd will be small but Becca and I are looking forward to a fun time.

Other than that, there's not much to report. I'm still honing the dissertation and I have high hopes about it. The huge football lobes in both our brains are twitching and starting to change color. Becca's of course is garnet and gold. Mine of course is a lovely roasted orange and rich navy blue.

Grace and peace,
Trav Wilson

July 28-30 - Country Road Take Me Home ...

This is a picture of Becca's grandmother. She turned 89 on July 30. As the birthday girl, the reason for the Tiara is obvoius. However, the "Ms. Gulf Coast" will take some explaining later ... just as soon as I get permission to publish the photographs. Long story!

We had several highlights on the trip, beyond the joy of visiting with family. We worshiped in the First Presbyterian Church of Logan, WV with Namur on her 89th birthday. That was grand. We saw Logan itself, which is the home town of the love and gracious, greatest mother-in-law in the world; Ms. Francey Newland. We also saw Man, WV the hometown of the dashing and wise, greatest father-in-law in the world, Mr. Randy Newland.

And we also saw West Virginia itself. I described it as Scotland with trees. Everything is vertical. In the little flat land that is there, the mountaineers have built homes, industry and community. The rest is there to impress. I got a little crick in my neck sometimes looking UP at all the beauty. It's just breathtaking. I walked up to a rockface and picked loose some real West Virginia coal. It makes the world go around!

Here are some other photos:

Cousins Rusty and Sarah ...

Cousins Emily and Abbey ...

New Cousin Dolly (Emily and Abbey's dog) ...

Bibus and Doug ... the lovebirds ...

Becca and Namur ... (kind of look alike don't they?)

And ... Namur's only vice ... her Matlock addiction ...

It was great to be with our family!

Grace and peace,

Trav Wilson