가을이 깊어가는 에스라 동산에는 감이 바알갛게 익어가고 있습니다. 밤, 도토리, 은행이 지천으로 떨어져서 가을 운치를 내고 있습니다. 해마다 이때쯤은 외부강사를 모시고 <강해설교 특강>을 갖습니다. 올해는 대구대현교회 담임 정광욱 목사님이 <공동체 설교>라는 주제로 10월 마지막 수요일 오후에 특강을 했습니다. 저는 로잔컨퍼런스에 참석하고 돌아오는 길이라 강의의 첫 부분은 학교로 오는 승용차 안에서 듣기 시작해서 나머지 부분은 집에 도착해서 실시간 영상으로 들었습니다. 특강이라는 이름에 어울리는 참 유익한 강의였습니다. 강의의 주제는 “나는 설교자를 어떻게 생각하나?” 그리고 “나는 설교를 어떻게 준비하나?” “나는 설교가 공동제적이어야 한다고 여긴다!”로 크게 세 부분으로 나누어졌습니다. 오늘은 그 첫 부분을 스케취해서 나누고 싶습니다.
첫 주제 <나는 설교자를 어떻게 생각하나?>에서 1. ‘설교자에게 들리는 질문’이란 꼭지에서 흔히 설교자들이 듣는 질문 “설교 준비하는데 얼마나 걸리세요?”를 다루면서 몇 시간의 작업이 아니라 “설교자의 인생이라는 그릇에 담기는 하나님의 말씀”이라고 풀기를 시작했습니다. 2. 설교자는 ‘선포자일 때도 있지만 …” 오병이어를 나누는 제자들처럼 받은 것을 나누어 주는 사람”이란 설명은 참으로 감동적입니다. 그래서 저는 목말라서 울고 있는 자식을 마주보고 대성통곡하는 하갈을 떠올립니다. “화살 한 바탕 거리 떨어져 마주 앉아 바라보며 소리 내어 우니” 하갈의 이 마음을 품은 설교자라면 하나님이 우리 손에 오병이어를 주실 것이라고 믿습니다. 3. ‘설교는 teaching일까?’라는 질문을 하면서 제발 설명충이 되지 않도록 경고합니다. 오히려 하나님의 진리를 알고 싶도록 호기심을 유발하고, 결단을 촉구하는 설교이기를 기대합니다.
이어서 설교자는 4 ‘밥짓는 사람’으로 정의합니다. ‘매일 아무렇지도 않게 먹었던 밥 때문에 사람이 산다!’고 묵묵하게 그 고귀한 직무를 감당하도록 설교자들을 격려했습니다. ‘설교자는 누구인가’하는 주제의 마지막으로 5 ‘천사에게 설교를 맡기셨으면 더 나았을텐데 … ‘하는 가끔씩은 떠오른 생각을 두고 오래 묵상한 결론을 들려주었습니다. ‘불완전하고 깨어진 그릇이어서 약함과 상처를 아는 사람이기에 하나님의 선별을 받은 자들이 설교자들이라고 힘주어 확인해 주었습니다. 네 그렇습니다. 우리는 부족하기에 부족한 성도들을 이해하기에 합당한 자들이고 우리는 상처받은 자들이기에 상처받은 성도들을 치료하기에 준비된 자들입니다.
두 번째 핵심주제 <나는 설교를 어떻게 준비하나?>를 다음 칼럼에서 다루려고 하니 마치 어릴 때 읽던 만화책 끝장이 기억납니다. “다음 호에서~~” 설교를 준비하는데 도움이 되는 공식을 듣고 싶어하는 사람들이 많지만 설교를 처음 해 보는 사람이라면 모르지만 저처럼 은퇴를 하기까지 설교한 사람이든지 이번 강사처럼 현역의 중심을 달리는 사람이든지 그런 공식을 줄 수 있는 사람은 없습니다. 다만 설교자는 누구인가에 대한 진지한 고민을 함께 한다면 세월과 함께 눈이 열릴 것입니다. 이번 특강을 듣기 원하시는 분은 다음 주소로 접속하시면 됩니다.
+강해설교 다시보기 링크 : https://youtu.be/xsvyQeXMKwM +수요예배 다시보기 링크 : https://youtu.be/3ZU9wo4QNy4
As autumn deepens on Ezra's campus, persimmons are ripening to a rich red. Chestnuts, acorns, and ginkgo nuts have fallen in abundance, lending a tranquil autumn charm to the landscape. Around this time every year, we welcome a guest speaker for a special lecture series on expository preaching. This year, on the last Wednesday afternoon of October, Pastor Kwang-wook Jung of Daegu Daehyun Church delivered a lecture on the theme of "Community Preaching." Since I was on my way back from attending the Lausanne Conference, I began listening to the first portion in the car on my way to the school, and watched the rest via live stream once I arrived home. It was a truly rewarding and enriching lecture, fully living up to the name of a special seminar. The lecture was broadly divided into three parts: "How do I view the preacher?", "How do I prepare a sermon?", and "I believe preaching must be communal!" Today, I would like to sketch out and share the first part.
In the first theme, "How do I view the preacher?", the first point addressed a common question preachers face: "How long does it take you to prepare a sermon?" Rather than measuring it in mere hours of labor, he began by explaining that preaching is "the Word of God placed into the vessel of the preacher's life." Second, while a preacher may sometimes be a proclaimer, he offered the deeply moving description that a preacher is "someone who shares what they have received, like the disciples distributing the five loaves and two fish." This brought to my mind Hagar, weeping aloud as she looked helplessly upon her thirst-stricken child. "She sat opposite him about a bowshot away, for she said, 'Do not let me see the child die.' And she sat opposite him, and lifted up her voice and wept." If a preacher carries this kind of heart like Hagar, I believe God will place the five loaves and two fish into our hands. Third, asking the question "Is preaching merely teaching?", he warned us against becoming pedantic "explainer types." Instead, he urged that preaching should arouse a genuine longing to know God's truth and prompt real commitment and decision.
He went on to define the preacher, fourthly, as "one who prepares a meal." He encouraged preachers to faithfully and quietly fulfill this noble duty, reminding us that "it is because of the ordinary, everyday meals eaten without thought that people live!" Lastly, answering the question "Who is the preacher?", he shared the conclusion of his deep, prolonged contemplation regarding a thought that occasionally crosses one's mind: "Wouldn't it have been much better if God had entrusted preaching to the angels?" He emphatically affirmed that preachers are chosen by God precisely because they are imperfect, broken vessels who intimately know weakness and wounds. Yes, indeed. Because we are frail and lacking, we are fit to understand fragile saints; and because we ourselves are wounded, we are prepared to bring healing to those who hurt.
As I prepare to touch upon the second core theme, "How do I prepare a sermon?", in the next column, I am reminded of the final pages of comic books I used to read as a boy: "To be continued in the next issue!" Many people wish to hear a neat formula that will help them craft sermons. Perhaps someone preaching for the very first time might imagine such a thing, but neither someone like me, who has preached until retirement, nor someone like our guest speaker, who stands right in the thick of active pastoral ministry, can offer such a formula. Yet, if we ponder deeply and earnestly together who the preacher is, our eyes will open as the years go by. For those who wish to listen to this special lecture, you may access the links below.
+Expository Preaching Lecture Replay: https://youtu.be/xsvyQeXMKwM
+Wednesday Service Replay: https://youtu.be/3ZU9wo4QNy4
Soos die herfs verdiep op die Ezra-kampus, word die persimmon-vrugte bloedrooi ryp. Kastaiings, akkers en ginkgo-neute lê wydverspreid en verleen 'n rustige herfskarakter aan die omgewing. Elke jaar om hierdie tyd nooi ons 'n gasspreker vir 'n spesiale lesing oor verklarende prediking. Vanjaar, op die laaste Woensdagmiddag van Oktober, het leraar Kwang-wook Jung van die Daegu Daehyun-gemeente 'n lesing aangebied oor die tema "Gemeenskapsprediking." Aangesien ek op pad terug was van die Lausanne-konferensie, het ek die eerste deel van die lesing in die motor op pad na die universiteit begin luister, en die res tuis via 'n regstreekse uitsending gevolg. Dit was 'n besonder leersame en waardevolle lesing wat die naam van 'n spesiale lesing ten volle waardig was. Die lesing was breedweg in drie dele verdeel: "Hoe beskou ek die prediker?", "Hoe berei ek 'n preek voor?", en "Ek glo prediking behoort gemeenskaplik te wees!" Vandag wil ek graag die eerste deel skets en deel.
Onder die eerste tema, "Hoe beskou ek die prediker?", het die eerste punt gehandel oor 'n vraag wat predikers dikwels hoor: "Hoe lank neem dit u om 'n preek voor te berei?" Eerder as om dit in ure van arbeid te meet, het hy begin verduidelik dat dit "God se Woord is wat in die vat van die prediker se lewe gegiet word." Tweedens, alhoewel 'n prediker soms 'n verkondiger is, het hy die diep roerende beskrywing gegee dat 'n prediker "iemand is wat dit wat hy ontvang het, uitdeel – net soos die dissipels wat die vyf brode en twee visse verdeel het." Dit het my laat dink aan Hagar, wat luidkeels geween het teenoor haar kind wat van dors gekwyn het: "Sy het op 'n afstand gaan sit, omtrent so ver as wat 'n boogskoot trek... en sy het begin huil." As 'n prediker hierdie selfde hart as Hagar het, glo ek dat God die vyf brode en twee visse in ons hande sal toevertrou. Derdens het hy die vraag gevra: "Is prediking bloot onderrig (teaching)?" en ernstig gewaarsku teen die gevaar om 'n pedantiese betweter te word. Hy het eerder gepleit vir prediking wat nuuskierigheid wek om God se waarheid werklik te wil ken, en wat tot beslissende toewyding oproep.
Vervolgens het hy die prediker, vierdens, gedefinieer as "iemand wat kos kook." Hy het predikers aangemoedig om hierdie edele taak stil en getrou te verrig, met die wete dat "mense leef danksy die alledaagse maaltye wat hulle sonder veel nadenke geniet!" Ten slotte het hy die laaste punt oor "Wie is die prediker?" afgesluit deur sy langdurige oordenking te deel oor 'n gedagte wat soms by 'n mens opkom: "Sou dit nie beter gewees het as God die prediking aan engele toevertrou het nie?" Hy het met klem bevestig dat predikers deur God uitverkies is juis omdat hulle onvolmaakte, gebroke erdekruike is wat swakheid en wonde eerstehands ken. Ja, dit is inderdaad so. Omdat ons self tekortskiet, is ons bekwaam om brose gelowiges te begryp; en omdat ons self verwond is, is ons toegerus om genesing te bring aan diegene wat seer het.
Terwyl ek my voorberei om die tweede kerntema, "Hoe berei ek 'n preek voor?", in die volgende rubriek te behandel, dink ek terug aan die laaste bladsy van die strokiesprente wat ek as kind gelees het: "Word vervolg in die volgende uitgawe!" Baie mense verlang na 'n formule wat help met die voorbereiding van 'n preek. Miskien sou iemand wat pas begin preek dit kon verwag, maar nóg iemand soos ek wat tot met aftrede gepreek het, nóg ons gasspreker wat vandag in die fleur van sy bediening staan, kan so 'n formule verskaf. Tog, as ons saam ernstig nadink oor wie die prediker werklik is, sal ons oë mettertyd oopgaan. Vir diegene wat na hierdie spesiale lesing wil luister, kan u die onderstaande skakels volg.
+Skakel na die lesing oor verklarende prediking: https://youtu.be/xsvyQeXMKwM
+Skakel na die Woensdagaanddiens: https://youtu.be/3ZU9wo4QNy4