Imaginative Preaching

Book excerpt: From generation-to-generation there has been an anguished cry from preachers about preaching – there is no imagination! The Scriptures present the wondrous hope and vision of “Kingdom Come” and yet contemporary preaching can often be mute and blind by comparison. This book explores what is possible when the Scripture to be preached is prayed through the agency of two ancient prayer disciplines: lectio divina and Ignatian Gospel Contemplation. Through the experiences of eight vocational pastor-preachers this study tracks the difficulties, discoveries and delights as they commit to utilizing these prayer disciplines as part of their regular sermon preparation. The reader will be orientated to what a biblical imagination entails and how praying the Scriptures affects the preacher, sermon and listener. Careful explanation of how to pray using lectio divina and Ignatian Gospel Contemplation is included. This work is, in places, a raw examination of the forces that regularly conspire against the preacher as they endeavour to faithfully expound the Scriptures. The study is a rousing exclamation of the joy experienced when a preacher’s imagination and their preparation is formed by the Spirit, bringing the Scriptures to bear on all who speak and hear it.