Preacher's Magazine will be distributed three times a year, corresponding with three sacred seasons of the Church calendar: Advent/Christmas, Lent/Easter, and Pentecost.

While each edition will feature different aspects of the pastoral task of preaching, the content will be focused on preaching material for those seasons. In an attempt to be user-friendly, the material will be arranged in a similar format for each magazine.

The headings of each section will list the seasonal Sunday, date, selected scripture, and possible title for the sermon (e.g., Second Sunday in Advent, December 10, 2000, Luke 2:29-32, Jesus: Song of Peace).

Following the headings will be three categories for reflection on the passage: Listening to the Text; Engaging the Text; and Preaching the Text. Because the purpose of Preacher's Magazine is to aid in sermon preparation, each section will have just enough material to begin the process, allowing the preacher to shape and direct the sermon according to the needs of the congregation.

The following are some helpful insights to understanding our method in each category:

LISTENING TO THE TEXT

There are at least four questions that help a preacher listen to the text:

• What is the context?

This includes the historical and literary contexts. Historical context has to do with the time and culture in which a particular book of the Bible was written. In understanding the events that were taking place and the worldview of the first audience to whom a passage was written, the preacher begins to feel the hopes and dreams, conflicts, and tensions of the passage. A good rule of thumb is that a passage cannot mean to us what it could have never meant to its original author and audience.

Literary context simply means that words only have meaning in sentences, and for the most part biblical sentences only have meaning in relation to preceding and succeeding sentences. What is written before and after any given passage is vitally important to understanding the meaning of a text.

• What is the form?

There are many forms of communication in our daily experiences. For example, there is a difference between an encyclopedia and a commentary. There is a difference between a media guide and a short story. They are different because each has a different purpose.

There are even forms within the forms. In newspapers there are headline stories and editorials; there are box scores and advice columns. And yet they are all part of the form of a newspaper. Forms are the vehicles that carry our messages to each other.

The messages of the Bible are also in forms. These forms include different types of literature (genres), such as narratives, letters, poems, proverbs, gospels, psalms, and oracles. Each form has a particular purpose and function in the hearts of its original audience. The task of biblical preaching is to prepare the sermon to accomplish a similar purpose in the hearts of the contemporary audience.

• What is the content?

Content has to do with the meaning of words, symbols, and grammar within the text. It refers to the plot (story line), character development, key words, and themes found in the passage.

Content questions about any biblical passage should include questions such as, Where does the passage begin and end? What was the setting in which this passage was used? What was the passage trying to do and say in its original context?

ENGAGING THE TEXT

Once questions of context, form, and content have been answered, the preacher will move to theological reflection on the text. Although there are many ways to reflect upon a text we have chosen three simple questions* that serve as cornerstones to bridge the gap from exegesis to preaching.

• What is the need of the passage?

This refers to the basic human problem or question that a passage of scripture is addressing. These human needs can be explicit in the words of the text, or implicit through the theme or mood of the text. Need can be as general as the problem of sin, or as specific as how a Christian deals with the loss of a loved one. The task of the preacher is to locate the problem in the text so that resolution can begin to take place through the sermon.

• What is God's answer to that need?

Just as every passage deals with a basic human dilemma, so every passage also offers God's answer to that problem. Any sermonic attempts to provide answers to human problems outside of the grace of God is only a disguised form of legalism-or trying to do for ourselves what only God can do for us.

Until the preacher can give a God-answer to the problem, the sermon is not ready to be preached. A helpful way to identify what God is going to do about a human problem is to discern the image of God being portrayed in the passage. Simply offering solutions that cause people to work harder or do more is to deny the power of God to change a heart.

• How does the passage call us to respond?

While hope for human need rests in God's grace and not our endeavors, good preaching insists that people respond to God's activity in their lives. The faithful proclamation of God's Word always calls forth a decision. The response can be manifested outwardly through an altar call or sharing the Lord's Supper together.

The response can also be an inward call to repentance, gratitude, consecration, endurance, confession, hope for the future, or obedience. Very often the response will naturally flow out of the function of the form (genre) of the passage.

A passage of scripture can be explained without answering these questions of theological reflection, but it cannot be proclaimed until we understand the human problem, God's answer, and our response to God's grace.

PREACHING THE TEXT

Once the preacher has listened to and engaged the text it is time to write the sermon. This becomes the natural time to consider contemporary analogies or illustrations that will highlight and make clear an important aspect of the passage. The preacher now begins to strategize creative and imaginative ways in which the sermon can refunction its message to the contemporary audience and communicate the original intent of the passage.

This is only one method that leads to effective preaching. Another method may work for you. The ultimate goal of Preacher's Magazine is not to make preaching easier. It is to make preaching better, and thereby bring glory to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

*The editors are indepted to Dr. Stephen Green for the threefold model of sermon preparation.