Amy and Preaching the Gospel — Literally

Preaching the Gospel - Literally

Our Gospel reading appointed for Sunday, June 27 is Mark 5:21-43. These are two stories sandwiched together - the scholarly word for "sandwiched" is intercalation. It just means that one story - the story of the raising of Jairus' daughter - is interrupted by another story - the story of the woman who's been menstruating for 12 years straight. They both come to Jesus for healing, for wholeness, for restoration, for life. The fact that these two stories are smushed together invites us to read one in light of the other and vice versa.

When I prepare to preach, I start with prayer and with a practice called lectio divina or holy reading. I pray with the text and in the text, paying close attention to the text itself, and what words, phrases, or images stand out. I pay attention to what those words or images or phrases stir up in me. I let those percolate within me throughout the week. My aim is to have the text live in me, get under my skin and in my heart as it were, allow it to enlighten me, enliven me, challenge me, unnerve me. What do I learn about God through this passage? What do I learn about myself? What word might our beloved St. Francis community need to hear that comes out of my encounter with this Gospel passage?

Perhaps you would like to pray our Gospel with me this week. You can read the text in many different translations here. Pray through the text, take note on what you notice in the text and what you notice in yourself as you pray through it. If you would like to, I invite you to reach out to me with your observations and your experience of this passage.

Then, as you listen to my sermon on Sunday or whenever you access it online throughout the week, ask yourself those same questions about the sermon. What did you hear about God? What did you hear about yourself? What unsettled you? What bored you? What didn't the preacher say that you would have said? And the most holy question of all sermons: so what? The So what? question is crucial for any preacher and every sermon: what difference has the text and the preached word on that text made in your life?

You can join others in reflection on the sermon on Monday at 9 am. We often start our sermon reflection with the question: what are you still hearing from yesterday's sermon? We can also start it with the holy So What?: What difference has hearing this passage, preached in this particular way, made in your life? I look forward to hearing your responses.