Peter Jonker - Preaching in Pictures: Using Images for Sermons That Connect

Cover

Halftitle

Preaching in Pictures

Other Books in the Artistry of Preaching Series

Other Books in The Artistry of Preaching Series

Preaching as Poetry: Beauty, Goodness, and Truth in Every Sermon

by Paul Scott Wilson

Actuality: Real Life Stories for Sermons That Matter

by Scott Hoezee

Title

Preaching in Pictures

Using Images for

Sermons That Connect

Peter Jonker

Nashville

Copyright

preaching in pictures:

using images for sermons that connect

Copyright 2015 by Abingdon Press

All rights reserved.

No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed to Permissions, Abingdon Press, 2222 Rosa L. Parks Blvd., PO Box 280988, Nashville, TN 37228-0988 or permissions@umpublishing.org.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Jonker, Peter (Peter M.)

Preaching in pictures : using images for sermons that connect / Peter Jonker.

1 online resource. (The artistry of preaching series)

Includes bibliographical references.

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

ISBN 978-1-63088-429-1 (e-book) ISBN 978-1-4267-8192-6 (binding) 1. Preaching. 2. Image (Theology) 3. Homiletical illustrations. I. Title.

BV4226

251 ' .08dc23

2015008775

All scripture quotations unless noted otherwise are taken from the Common English Bible. Copyright 2011 by the Common English Bible. All rights reserved. Used by permission. www.CommonEnglishBible.com.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Material on pp. 7, 19, 2122, and 26 is excerpted from The Four Pages of the Sermon: A Guide to Biblical Preaching , by Paul Scott Wilson (9780687023950) and is used by permission from Abingdon Press. Copyright 1999. All rights reserved.

MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Epigraph

True ease in writing comes from art, not chance,

As those move easiest who have learnd to dance.

Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism

If you want to build a ship, dont drum up people together to collect wood and dont assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.

Antoine de Saint-Exupry

Contents

Contents

the Biblical Text

Series Preface

Series Preface

T he Artistry of Preaching series gives practical guidance on matters that receive insufficient attention in preaching literature yet that are key for preachers seeking greater creativity in their preaching. Fresh, faithful proclamation requires imagination and creative engagement of the Bible and our world. There is no shortage of commentaries on the Bible and books on biblical interpretation for preaching, but the practical resources to help strengthen the creativity of preachers to help them better to proclaim the gospel are much in need.

The first volume of this series, Preaching as Poetry: Beauty, Goodness, and Truth in Every Sermon , redefines preaching for our current postmodern age. Imagination is needed to compose strong theological sermons. Modernist notions of authority, goodness, and truth are challenged by our current culture. The church needs to adapt to a new world, where faith is understood as poetry rooted in the beauty, goodness, and truth of a saving relationship with God.

The second volume of this series, Actuality: Real Life Stories for Sermons That Matter , is a resource for preachers who want guidance to be better story-tellers or to use story more effectively to communicate with a new generation. There readers will also find a collection of stories that both preach and that can stimulate their own imaginations to identify stories from their own contexts. Preachers can easily run out of good stories to use that embody the gospel. The problem is not a shortage of storiesthey are all around in everyday events; the task is learning how to harvest them, as is shown in this volume. Preachers long for good stories, and todays listeners are not content with the canned Internet illustrations that sound artificial and have a predictable moral. Rather they want stories rooted in the actual world in which they live, that depict life as they know it, and that can function as Jesuss stories did, as parables and metaphors that bear Gods grace to their hearers.

This third volume of The Artistry of Preaching series, Preaching in Pictures: Using Images for Sermons That Connect by Peter Jonker, helps preachers add some spark and imagination to their preaching of the sort that can be provided by effective use of a dominant or controlling image. The challenge is not just to find images that are visually captivating or evocative; it is to find ones that are artistic, propulsive, and theologically centered, helping the sermon to communicate Gods saving grace. By moving from a theme sentence to a goal to a controlling image statement, preachers can move their composition from being a beautiful mess to an effective and affective sermon with creative power. Preachers will be engaged by practical exercises adapted from creative writers and poets that help in the art of selecting images and polishing them for use in relation to biblical texts. Equally important in these current times, readers will find guidance on using images on screens in worship as controlling images for sermons. The word comes first, and developing the craft of preaching can powerfully assist the work of the Spirit and increase the joy of preaching.

The aim of the series is to be practical, to provide concrete guidelines and exercises for preachers to follow, to assist them in engaging practice. Preaching is much more than art, yet by ensuring that we as preachers employ artistry in our preaching, we assist the Holy Spirit in communicating the gospel to a new generation of people seeking God.

Paul Scott Wilson, Series Editor

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments

I ve spent more than twenty-five years thinking about sermons, and there have been many companions along the path: teachers, listeners, encouragers, critics, supporters, conversation partners. I couldnt possibly acknowledge all the people who have walked beside me on the path and helped me sort out the craft of preaching. But Ill try.

Thank you to the congregations of Woodlawn Christian Reformed Church and LaGrave Avenue Christian Reformed Church. I served Woodlawn for twenty years, starting from the day I toddled out of seminary and continuing all the way into the relatively confident steps of middle age. The people of Woodlawn put up with my early sermonic mistakes, stood by me in all my insecurities. They gave me room to grow and sustained me with encouragement along the way. I am forever grateful to them. They are my friends. More recently Ive started down the path as pastor at LaGrave, and I have received the same patience and the same grace. LaGrave blessed me with the unprecedented gift of a summer sabbatical after only eight months service. Without that time, this book wouldnt exist. I thank God for LaGrave and Woodlawn.