Preaching on Mother's Day

I have just agreed to my pastor's request to preach on Mother's Day. But oh boy, is that going to be a challenge. I don't know - most Mother's Day sermons I have heard goes along the lines of either "kids, honour your mother and you better do this and that" or a whole list of things a mother should be according to Proverbs 31, both of which I am not so inclined to take up.

What do you think? What can one preach on on Mother's Day?

I have till May 9 to work on it.

pearlie

Photo (c) 2007 Scott Liddell

Busy, busy, busy

It was a very, very busy day today.

1. Preaching

Folio 46r from the Syriac Bible of Paris (Bibliothèque Nationale, MS syr. 341), Job

First, I was to preach today. I told my good friend I am a "ganti" preacher, or replacement preacher. All the three times I preached over the last few years have been to replace someone in the last minute. Not that I mind. I am only glad I am able to fill in for them.

I did ask the question recently - How do you know what to preach? I ended up preaching on Job 1. Don't ask me why - somehow I felt God tugging me there and so I did. I preached it the expository way, though someone commented that I gave them a bible study. Well ...

2. Opening Ceremony
Then we attended a friend and his wife's opening ceremony of their music school.









3. Pre-Christmas Party
In the evening, Calvin and I went to a pre-Christmas party with some kids from a home. The kids really had fun.

Would you like to have more ice cream?




The cutest of the lot - the youngest, a 5-year old.






Isn't she pretty?


Want some too?


You see ...




Joy ...


4. Birthday
And it is my brother's birthday today. Happy Birthday, Jason! With the day too occupied and him not pre-arranging it with us until this afternoon, we all decided to take a rain check. Looking forward to the belated celebration with him.

pearlie
Photos (c) 2009 Pearlie Ng

How do you know what to preach?

If you preach, how do you know what to preach? I know that we are just a mouthpiece for the LORD, and we preach what He wants us to preach. But that does not answer the question. How do you know what to preach?

pearlie

Only preach hope

Rev Vincent Lau was our guest speaker today. He was with us this year for the 4th or 5th time already. But this round, he stayed back for quite a considerable length of time to chat with some of us. SH and I had the privilege of his attendance, and also his wife Jaycee.

We spoke about a lot of things, but we soon found ourselves talking about preaching. I had commented that preaching is hard to do, that it is indeed a very pastoral thing. What he said in response I find very interesting but I am still mulling about it though.

He said that he became a Christian at age 19, and began preaching when he was 21. When he started, he was preaching from life experience. But soon, he found himself in a seminary and from then on, he began to preach theology. He found that he “turned dry” in his preaching. There was no life. But after many years of doing it, he concluded on this one thing – that in preaching, the end of the message has to be hope. A preacher can, and in fact should, discipline and exhort, but in the end of it all, there must be hope.

I agree with him on the message of hope. As one worships in a faith community, one also yearns for life and yearns for God. And hope is the Lord’s to give and He will give hope. But I am not sure about not preaching theology.

To me, right theology should drive our lives, right theology should shape our talk and right theology should pace our walk. I would however, have to agree that if theology is all we are, with no compassion, no love, and no hope, we are nothing. After all … If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. (1 Cor 13:1)

Preaching is a message of love and a message of hope. And indeed Rev Vincent does preach hope in our church. We are usually left with a message that encourages us in our walk with our Lord. Yes, as a result of his messages, we do acknowledge our weaknesses and confess our sins, but we are then given a sense of hope in the Lord -- For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:17)

I am so grateful to You, O Lord, that You are a God of love, and a God of hope. In our fleeting lives, that is all that we can hang on to. Amen.

pearlie

Preaching:A monstrous monologue by a moron to mutes?

I have been asking: what is preaching?

I admit I am oh-so-guilty of over-commenting on preachers - I know something is wrong with me. Therefore, in trying to get my bearings back, I started listening to Carson’s Primacy of Expository Preaching. He gave these lectures at the Bethlehem Conference for Pastors in 1995. There are three lectures and I am just midway through the first one.

I knew that preaching is hard work. But after listening to just a small part of these lectures, I am now convinced that preaching is more than hard work, and calling it “work” does not even give it justice.

Preaching is a simultaneous appeal to the heart and mind of the church.

Preaching is to convey the very image of Scripture that must reduce us all into a state of awe and worship.

Preaching is the task of holding up Scriptures as a mirror that make us squirm in our sins.

Preaching is power, holy power, that is with an authority bound up with the fact that it is God’s message – not merely content or God-forbid manner, presentation or style.

Informing, persuading, appealing, inviting response, encouraging, rebuking, instructing in righteousness, are but the immediate goals of preaching.

The ultimate goal of preaching is nothing but the glory of God.

pearlie