Slow down to preach: Pray, Read

Any preacher knows that preaching requires speaking at a pace which hearers can understand. Preachers work for years to develop a good rate of speech to make it easier for the listeners to understand what is preached, say, approximately 150 words a minute. Do preachers, however, pace the soul in preparation for preaching? Do they slow down to listen to God?

William Law asserts "...how poorly must they perform their devotions, who are always in a hurry; who begin them in haste and hardly allow themselves time to repeat their very form with any gravity and attention!" (p. 155). Law's advice to the preacher is to slow down; listen to God; take preaching seriously and pay attention to God's voice in His Word!

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Law advises two key elements in the listening phase of preparation: prayer and spiritual reading. Law sustains preaching through prayer: "The devout Christian must at this time look upon himself as called upon by God to renew his acts of prayer, and address himself again to the throne of grace" (p. 184). Prayer creates renewal in the preacher's soul and a nearness to God. Law observes, "Prayer is the nearest approach to God and the highest enjoyment of Him that we are capable of in this life" (p. 146). Prayer guides our interpretation of the Biblical text. It also tills the soil of the preacher's soul.

Spiritual reading, or lectio divina as the ancients called it, also speaks to the preacher's soul. William Law says the preacher "must continually be reading" and gleaning from all spiritual authors. He asks the question in the context of reading, "And is it not reasonable for him who desires to improve in the Divine life, that is, in the love of heavenly things, to search after every strain of devotion that may move, kindle, and inflame the holy ardor of his soul?" (p. 164).

Quality spiritual books open the preaching mind to new ideas. Novels open the preaching eye to human nature. Commentaries open the preacher's voice to a clearer understanding of Biblical passages. John Wesley once lamented, "Either read or get out of the ministry!" Reading speaks to the heart of preaching. It improves preaching. It serves as one way to listen to the Divine (divina) voice. Prayer and spiritual reading overflow from the sermon to hearers when the sermon is preached.

Preaching never removes its eyes from the cross.

When the preacher speaks eye contact with the hearers becomes essential to good communication. While the preacher makes eye contact with the congregation, the preacher never forgets the cross of Christ. A devotion to Christ precedes a devotion to preaching. William Law concurs, "The Christian's greatest conquest over the world is all contained the mystery of Christ upon the cross." Law notes the preacher's challenge: to unlearn many things in seeking Christ and to surrender to Christ in the spirit of humility (p. 194). A serious call to devout and holy preaching requires a serious cry for the cross.

In the words of one of Cambridge's most devoted preachers, "There is nothing that so powerfully governs the heart, that so strongly excites us to wise and reasonable actions, as a true sense of God's presence" (p. 290). Devotion to Christ electrifies the preacher's heart with God's presence. Devotion changes the preacher's heart. Devotion challenges the listener's heart. Devotion comforts the listener's heart with God's presence.

In a world of pain and war, of the NBA tip off for a new season and gambling addictions, of marital strains and economic uncertainties, the cross of Christ invites people into God's presence; in from the swirling storm and into a harbor of peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7). Why not dedicate yourself to the serious call to a devout and holy life of serving and preaching the Christ of the cross?

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John D. Duncan is Pastor of Lakeside Baptist Church in Granbury, TX.

1 William Law, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (New York: Vintage Books, 2002). The book is a reprint in the Vintage Spiritual Classics series. The page numbers in this article come from Law's work in the Vintage Spiritual Classics Edition.