Preaching Narrative

Peter Mead makes some helpful observations/suggestions about preaching narrative. I particularly like his first point (reproduced below).

"1. If the message structure reflects the story structure, then some points may be better stated in historical terms. What I mean is that in an attempt to be contemporary, we can end up making three or four life principles out of the developing elements of the story, rather than allowing the story to be told properly. The problem then becomes a moralizing approach to the details of a story, rather than allowing the force of the story to stand behind the main point, which itself might best be the only focus of application. Stories that are told effectively will hold attention, so it is not necessary to generate points of relevance or application throughout the detail of the story. Pay careful attention to the introduction, generating a definite sense of sermon relevance there, then feel free to be in the world of the narrative for a large part of the message, continually building to the relevance that may only become overt in point 3 or 4 (i.e. whenever the main idea is revealed with its abiding theological thrust)."

Read the entire post here.