AP

Recently, my wife and I, along with four hundred residents of Anglicare, Castle Hill were entertained with a delightful rendition of classical music from Brahms, Schubert, Chopin and Prokofiev by two artists of the highest quality – Richard Tognetti (violin) and Constantin Shamray (piano). It was a joyous occasion and in response the audience gave full rein to their appreciation.

Nevertheless, I find that while listening to pleasure-giving music my mind wanders.

The combination of hearing the music, and being enthralled by it, while witnessing at no great distance the two men producing this music led to my reflecting upon them as artists. They are persons devoted to their craft, highly skilled, for the most part playing without sheet music, and doing so with their whole body. Wonderful!

It occurred to me: could the preacher ever be described as an artist?

Well, as a Christian of sixty-five years standing, I have heard a good number of preachers and never considered any of them as artistic. And yet, I have heard over the years marvellous sermons which I still treasure.

So, perhaps the preacher could begin to think of himself as an artist and to act accordingly. Careful, preacher!

While the two artists played for our enjoyment, our question might be: “What is the purpose in preaching that might employ the talents of an artist? What artistic talents might serve the Word of God delivered by the preacher?”.

But there is a prior question.

What is the purpose of preaching?

The purpose in preaching is surely to connect the Word of God into the lives of the congregation, hopefully without the preacher getting in the way. Taking the text as a given, the first thing is determining what is it that the text is saying that the people need to hear. The second thing is that the text must possess me, grip me, thrill me, alarm me, encourage me, so that in preaching I embody the text, so that it is God speaking through me by the Word.

This means the preacher can become quite emotional and at times plead with his people, warn them, drop his voice, raise his voice, speed up, slow down, pause, all in response to the text and hopefully according to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. The preacher’s overwhelming desire is that the congregation will leave the service rejoicing at how good God is, understanding how wonderful it is to be a Christian, and wanting to come back next week for more.

So it was with the two musicians I was listening to.

They thoroughly knew their text and communicated it to us. The music score, stored in their minds, gripped them. They were passionate about their text and passionate in delivery. They wanted to send their audience away celebrating the joy of the music.

And let’s not forget – they kept to the boundaries of their text. They didn’t start with a little Chopin and then move on to variations of their own. Just so, the preacher hears the stern voice of the Apostle: “Preach the Word!” (2 Tim.4:2) Stay with the Word. Explain it, apply it to the situation of the people gathered for just that purpose.

So, is the preacher to be an artist of God’s Word? Could your preaching reflect the full artistry of the Word?

– David Palmer