Preaching Daily - July 24

Today's Reading...

The LORD is my light and my salvation-- whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life-- of whom shall I be afraid.
Psalms 27:1

Today's Devotional Insight...

Writing for the Ear, not the Eye

In a newly revised edition of his text The Practice of Preaching (Abingdon), Paul Scott Wilson reminds us of the need to prepare sermons suited for oral presentation, not as written essays. He notes, "Simpler speech is one of the things that distinguishes spoken from written communication, but the distinction is richer than that. . . . Once we conceive of preaching as an oral event, we begin to shift our ways of thinking. Instead of composing with the eye for the page, we begin to compose with the ear for oral delivery and aural reception...

"The differences are similar to those between a highly oral culture and a highly literate one. We can get a sense of this by looking at the Bible. The biblical world was predominantly oral. Whereas biblical records obviously come from skilled writers, the writer's world was specialized, not the norm for most people. Even those ancient writers were saturated with oral ways of thought...

"Preaching is oral; our sermons are heard aurally; and our rhetoric must reflect our medium. Write for the ear, not for the eye . . ." (Click here to learn more about the book The Practice of Preaching)

Today’s Pastoral Resource...

This Week's Laugh: Bulletin Bloopers

• The youth group has raised almost $500 for drug abuse.
• "Correction: The following typo appeared in our last bulletin: 'Lunch will be gin at 12:15.' Please correct to read '12 noon.' "
• Any church member over the age of 18 is invited to participate in this lay ministry program. It requires a minimal amount of training and time. The orientation will include six weekly classes of about 200 hours each Tuesday night.
• The Seniors group will have a picnic Saturday. Each person is asked to bring a friend, a vegetable, or dessert in a covered dish. Meat and drinks will be furnished.
• The last day of Vacation Bible School will include a field trip to the state game farm. We could use some additional volunteers to help preparing the lunch of sandwiches, potato chips, cheese, crack, and cool aid that morning.
• Remember the youth department rummage sale for Summer Camp. We have a Gents three-speed bicycle, also two ladies for sale, in good running order. 

(from Good, Clean Funnies List)

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