Can we just banish the term “lay person”? I’m serious. Even though I grew up with this term, know more or less just what it means, and tend to use it myself, I still think it’s high time to get rid of it. Why? Because it sets up a dichotomy between those who are experts and, well, those who most decidedly are not. Not sure what I mean? Then just tell me what “lay person” means in the first place. Those reading this blog who have spent some time in seminary might be quick to remind me that it comes from the Greek word “laos” which means people. Okay, fine. Now tell me what “lay person” means to anyone who hasn’t studied...
Preaching the Questi...
posted by DJL
Sometimes things fall together better than you could have ever hoped. One of those things at this year’s Celebration of Biblical Preaching was the juxtaposition of Tony Jones and Michael Curry. Tony is theologian-in-residence at Solomon’s Porch, an emerging church in the Twin Cities. He...
Preaching the Story
posted by DJL
This week I am spending most of my time reveling in the annual preaching conference hosted at Luther Seminary (where – full disclosure J – I teach! 🙂 ) called the Celebration of Biblical Preaching. And it is a celebration – full of lively plenary presentations, great workshops,...
Communal Preaching
posted by DJL
If I had room to add a subtitle to this post, it would be “I Don’t Know, Pt. 4.” In three earlier posts, I talked about the importance of admitting when we don’t know something because 1) when we don’t admit our ignorance, we often share bad information and miss an opportunity to...
Ken Burns on Story
posted by DJL
Stories, as we all know, are powerful. They give us the ability to take amorphous thoughts and feelings and make them concrete and accessible. For this reason, we make sense of and share most of our life in and through story – not just big huge narratives but all the little stories we...