The densest 25 minutes of my week

A friend of mine stopped by the office when I was working on this Sunday's sermon. When he asked what I was doing, I said, "I'm trying to think of a way to describe the meaning of the hypostatic union without using that term." The hypostyatic union is the 10-dollar-theological term the Church uses to describe the union of the two natures, fully human and fully God, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. This is a very rich theological concept with a distinguished theological heritage, and I was trying, not just to explain what it means, but show why it is, after all, Good News.

Well, you can listen below and see if I was able to or not.

But in addition to theological reflections, I was also trying to flesh out the intertextual resonances between this text and the Book of First Samuel. "Intertexuality" describes the way texts draw on other texts to create layers meaning. The New Testament writers do this all the time, quoting, alluding to and evoking Old Testament texts as easily as breathing; and sometimes to really get to the bottom of a New Testament passage, we have to tune our ears to these "intertextual echoes." The definitive book on this idea, a book that truly rocked my Bible-reading world when I read it in Seminary, is Richard Hays' Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul. Again, however, I wasn't so much interested in explaining this as a literary device as much as unfolding why an intertextual echo of Samuels story (in this case) is Good News for us as Christians.

Again, you can decide, if I did nor no.

But after trying to weave abstract theological concepts, subtle literary interpretations, proclamation of Good News, and suggestions towards life application, together into a tapestry of language that is accessible and compelling and evocative to a wide range of listeners, it's perhaps easy to see why the Sunday morning sermon so often feels like the densest 25 minutes of my life; and I'm once again reminded of William Willimon's line, that "no one who's felt what it is to preach the Word of God will ever feel like they've done it."

Luke 2:52. Older, Wiser, Stronger, Loved