(x = space)

x

x

a course in homiletics

(to talkers from the hearers)

x

what preachers call

the inexorable return

of the sabbath

x

this is regarding preaching

that in the life

does not go away

until that part of life

is done

x

a homily

a holy guess

its own divining thing

at least once a week

with time off

not for behavior

but

well

time off

x

a chance

an opportunity

to say with some authority

of text and the community

that God exists

and God is love

and God through Jesus

saves the rest of us

while the Holy Spirit

guides us in an amazement of

an inward way

x

lectionary

maybe

a series to a theme

the season

and the calendar

of sacred time

and secular

x

an aim toward a generic kind of prophecy

an affirmation

but don’t unhook

a line of challenge

that shall run throughout the day

into the week

x

those six days

when most of us

are out here

and this is our chance

to take

something from here

x

greed systems

risking the right and wrong of things

in the world

and inside us

x

we’re only human

after all

which excuses us

maybe by degree

factoring age

existence of faith

with accountability

x

(now

don’t be sly

to think

if I don’t believe

then I’m off the hook

for right and wrong

and the discomfit

of the judgment

and the book

some book

maybe the one up front

and in the racks

corresponding)

x

our job

is to listen

and respond

and if we want

something more interactive

we may say so

x

even the magisterium

allows

for dialogue

in proclamation

x

the average size

non-Catholic

congregation

in the USA

is about two hundred

good for acoustics

and a range

of microphonic possibilities

x

a number to reach

and to reach back

while we’re all here

when we return

and in those six days

while all of us

are out there

x

a message

three points

twenty minutes

(what the Presbyterians provided)

really

though

allow for some elasticity

for as someone else has said

(might have been me)

you cannot program

the Holy Spirit

or what stirs inside

the tabernacle

and all consecrations

sabbath day

and time

x

your time

our time

God’s time

we might say kairos

though

yes

we know

some congregants

are bold to check their watches

for some (ersatz) sanctity

we believe

chronology

bears better

x

we’re all here

let’s have a time of it

let’s seek the Lord

who presence

is not hard to suss

or sing

or dance sometimes

or testify

each time

x

so that the talking

and the hearing go

and more importantly

the doing

before

during

and after

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Luiz Eduardo Alves da Silva on Unsplash

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